Ticking Bomb
To combat terrorism people use torture. Terrorism is claimed to pose such an extreme threat that the prohibition against torture cannot be maintained, we are involved in a new kind of war in which the ordinary moral constraints cannot apply
Read the ticking bomb scenario “Suppose a fanatic, perfectly willing to die rather than collaborate in the thwarting of his own scheme, has set a hidden nuclear device to explode in the heart of Paris. There is no time to evacuate the innocent people or even the moveable art treasures- the only hope of preventing tragedy is to torture the perpetrator, find the device and deactivate it” However this scenario does not explain how the suspect was caught or identified or whether he has the relevant information and the only way to find where the bomb is is by interrogating the suspect.
-Utilitarian justification: sacrifice one to save all the innocent people
Although many ordinary people have the capacity to commit horrendous acts of torture without any training
EXAMPLE:
-Stanley Milgram’s obedience to authority experiment
What kind of training would a torturer require? -torturer must be an expert in interrogational torture -requires finesse skill and discipline
EXAMPLE:
-incompetence of guards at abu Gharaib: allowing amateurs to torture prisoners the good interrogational torturer needs to be entirely in control of the process of torture, no flinching, without hesitation but cannot be sadistic or overly brutal. They need to be able to manage psychological stress and immense strength of mind -However those guards did not posses the skill to extract the information without killing the captive
In the real world, most torturers are soldiers or military policeman who have been trained in elite military units
TRAINING -survival skills, reconnaissance, rescue operations, jungle training, counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency training -intense, brutal exercises, techniques of psychological
Read the ticking bomb scenario “Suppose a fanatic, perfectly willing to die rather than collaborate in the thwarting of his own scheme, has set a hidden nuclear device to explode in the heart of Paris. There is no time to evacuate the innocent people or even the moveable art treasures- the only hope of preventing tragedy is to torture the perpetrator, find the device and deactivate it” However this scenario does not explain how the suspect was caught or identified or whether he has the relevant information and the only way to find where the bomb is is by interrogating the suspect.
-Utilitarian justification: sacrifice one to save all the innocent people
Although many ordinary people have the capacity to commit horrendous acts of torture without any training
EXAMPLE:
-Stanley Milgram’s obedience to authority experiment
What kind of training would a torturer require? -torturer must be an expert in interrogational torture -requires finesse skill and discipline
EXAMPLE:
-incompetence of guards at abu Gharaib: allowing amateurs to torture prisoners the good interrogational torturer needs to be entirely in control of the process of torture, no flinching, without hesitation but cannot be sadistic or overly brutal. They need to be able to manage psychological stress and immense strength of mind -However those guards did not posses the skill to extract the information without killing the captive
In the real world, most torturers are soldiers or military policeman who have been trained in elite military units
TRAINING -survival skills, reconnaissance, rescue operations, jungle training, counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency training -intense, brutal exercises, techniques of psychological