The Truth About Torture Analysis

In “The Truth about Torture,” Charles Krauthammer critically analyzes the John McCain, an individual with tremendous moral influence who was tortured by the North Vietnamese, amendment. This amendment would prohibit all forms of torture from being executed on war prisoners of America. In response, Krauthammer states that in certain scenarios, torture is not “just permissible, but also morally required.” He divides the war prisoners into the following three classifications: ordinary soldiers arrested on the battlefield, captured terrorists, and finally, terrorists who possess information. With regards to the ordinary soldiers, McCain’s amendment is justified because although these war prisoners are on the opposite side of the conflict, they are nonetheless lawful fighters who committed no crime. On the contrary, Krauthammer believes that the terrorists are not worthy of the same protection and privileges since they intend to harm innocent citizens.
He asserts that any means should be utilized on a terrorist, who is caught during an extreme situation, such as a bomb threat, since there is a limitation on time and information is needed to protect as many civilians as possible. Krauthammer refers to this as a “ticking time bomb” exception. This is further followed by the “slower-fuse high-value terrorist” circumstance in which an influential terrorist should be tortured as well because her/his information can be utilized to plan for future attacks and tactically protect the lives of numerous people. To support this exception, Krauthammer refers to the detainment and water boarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a member of al Qaeda, by American operatives in order to extract information about plans and cell locations. Clearly, this intelligence would not be obtained by abiding to McCain’s