Is torture a legitimate means of combating terrorism?
Step 2 of 5
- Yes? But have you considered...
- No? But have you considered...
…that the United States has enacted several statutes and ratified two treaties that specifically outlaw the use of torture?
Responding in part to the horrors of World War II, in 1949 many of the world’s nations ratified the Geneva Conventions, a suite of treaties that regulates wartime activity and specifically prohibits torture. Today, 194 countries—including the United States—honor the Conventions.
So what do these treaties actually say? They're pretty straightforward: Signatories are bound to treat prisoners of war “humanely.” Specifically, they must protect POWs from “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture,” later adding, “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment” are also forbidden.
To strengthen the prohibition, in 1994 the United States ratified the United Nations’ Convention Against Torture, which broadly defines torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person.” Article IV of the Convention mandates that parties also pass domestic laws prohibiting the practice. So it is that the 1996 federal War Crimes Act makes the act of torture abroad a felony. What’s more, under the USA PATRIOT Act (the acronym stands for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) our federal criminal assault laws extend to overseas facilities used by the federal government.
To make matters even clearer, in 2005 the Senate passed the Detainee Treatment Act. The act, now law, includes the so-called McCain Amendment, which prohibits “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” of detainees.
And finally, in June 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that terror suspects were entitled to protection from “outrages upon personal dignity, and in particular humiliating and degrading treatment,” as outlined in the Geneva Conventions.
In other words: What part of “torture is illegal” don’t you understand?
Step 2 of 5
