Use of Torture Against Terrorists

5/19/16
Political Issues Project
Is the use of torture against terrorists suspects ever justified?

Torture has been used for hundreds of years on prisoners-of-war, law breakers, and most recently, terrorists. After the 9/11 attacks 4 members of Al Qaeda were captured under President Bush's Administration. Torture was used on the 4 terrorists in order to gain information and insight about potential future attacks. The 9/11 attacks justified, at the time, the torture of the Al Qaeda terrorists according to the Bush Administration. When the public became aware of the acts of the Bush Administration, it became skeptical in deciding whether the torture was justified or not. 59% of Americans believed the torture was justified, 31% said unjustified, and 9% is undecided. Many different viewpoints have risen, people who are absolutists believe that torture is morally wrong and does not work. There are other ways to gain information, especially with our technology today, so we should not resort to torture. Some believe that under certain circumstances torture is justified and is necessary for maintaining security of the American land and people. But in order to use torture there must be warrants and permission to do so. Many conservatives believe that suspected terrorists should be subjected to torture such as waterboarding. Presidential candidate Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have stated that their administrations would bring back torture and defy President Obama's previous laws put in order against torture. The CIA is under strict law to prohibit the use of torture, and many members have stated that if the future president were to order them to use torture, they would not follow. President Obama stated in his 2012 election campaign "Torture goes against the core values of this nation, it creates enemies rather than defeating them and sets back America's standing in the world". If government officials were to use torture, they would be opposing this nations principles and laws. Even during times of war and when the security of this nation is threatened, torture should not be permitted. The U.S. has the strongest military in the world, and the best intelligence systems. We should not resort to torture and stoop to the level of other countries in the Middle East who use torture to gain pleasure in hurting their enemies. We need to build relationships with other countries and fight the war on terrorism with the least amount of torture. No human being should be subject to torture whether they are an American citizen or not. 

Citations

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/new-poll-finds-majority-of-americans-believe-torture-justified-after-911-attacks/2014/12/16/f6ee1208-847c-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html
• https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/09/17/torture-tool-fight-against-terrorist-groups-like-isis/1Tfqfk1Amck7Rh9kEra8IN/story.html
• http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-torture-hands-arent-entirely-clean
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_and_the_United_States#Domestic_torture_in_modern_times
• https://www.hrw.org/news/2003/03/11/legal-prohibition-against-torture#What

Unit 4 Judiciary Branch

5/4/16
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/us/politics/supreme-court-stephen-breyer-capital-punishment-california
Justice Breyer Assails Capital Punishment


Summary: High on the SCOTUS, political agenda is the debate over capital punishment, commonly known as the death penalty. Justice Breyer has urged his fellow justices to rethink their decision to turn down a case that would have challenged California's death penalty. Richard Boyer was sentenced to death row after murdering two people. From jail he wrote about the stress of a long wait on death row. Justice Breyer has used this to his advantage. Stating that California's death penalty system is a dysfunctional system and is unreliable. Breyer stated that the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendments which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. He believes that the time between a death sentence and when the execution occurs is much too long and can be considered cruel and unusual punishment.


Analysis: The Supreme Court has the jurisdiction to vote on whether the death penalty is unconstitutional or not. Justice Breyer stated "Our Constitution was written at a time when delay between sentencing and execution was measured in days and weeks, not decades". This is an example of judicial restraint because Breyer believes that the Supreme Court needs to consider that the delay is cruel and unusual punishment as described in The Eighth Amendment, meaning that the court should decide laws on the strict basis of the of the Constitution. This is loose constitutionalism however because Breyer believes the federal government should make this delay illegal, which gives more power to the government.