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Use Of Torture

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Use Of Torture
The United States Use of Torture

November 19, 2013

In the decade following the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, the United States has seen a constant struggle with militant terrorist organizations. Groups including the Taliban and primarily Al-Qaeda have been part of an ongoing violent conflict in the Middle East. Throughout these struggles with terrorists, the United States have employed various methods of interrogation and intelligence gathering which have included the torturing of prisoners overseas. While this practice was and still is today widely considered to be exceedingly deplorable, it has shown some advantages, none of which justify the means. According to the United Nations Convention …show more content…
The treaty was ratified in 1994. Following 9/11, the United States became more embroiled in the fight against terrorism than previously seen. Torture became a much more prominent method of gaining information than before (if at all). Led by the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States began to plan and build secret prisons or “Black Sites” where terrorist prisoners would be subjected to, “enhanced methods of interrogation.” The sites were established under an extensive law signed by President George Bush less than one week after September 11 that gave the CIA wide-ranging power to disrupt terrorist operations, with the right to kill, capture, or imprison suspected members of al-Qaeda. Here, several high ranking terrorist …show more content…
2013. Torture, the United States, and Laws of War. [online] Available at: http://www.cfr.org/terrorism-and-the-law/torture-united-states-laws-war/p9209#p4 [Accessed: 20 Nov 2013].
Blakeley, R. 2007. Why Torture?. Review of Internaitonal Studies, 33 (3), pp. 373-394. [Accessed: 20 Nov 2013].
Hannah, M. 2006. Torture and the Ticking Bomb: The War on Terrorism as a Geographical Imagination of Power/Knowledge. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 96 (3), pp. 622-640. [Accessed: 20 Nov 2013].
Moore, W. 2013. What Stops the Torture?. American Journal of Political Science, 54 (2), pp. 459-476. [Accessed: 20 Nov 2013].
Shane, S. 2013. U.S. Engaged in Torture After 9/11, Review Concludes. [online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/world/us-practiced-torture-after-9-11-nonpartisan- review-concludes.html?_r=0 [Accessed: 20 Nov
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