Torture Discussion
Today I attended a lecture by Stephen Rickard, a director at the Open Society Institute, on American Values and The Struggle Against Terrorism. I learned that the US garnered testimony from a terrorist connected to the 9-11 attacks by taking his children into custody and water torture (holding someone repeatedly under water so that he thinks he is drowning). Cheney and the CIA argues that this isn't torture because the official definition of torture is something the puts a vital organ in danger or could cause death. Sounds like torture to me. Is torture ever justified? Rickard claims that evidence shows that torture only makes the detainee more absolved to refrain from divulging information. Does that ring true with what you all have learned? What tactics should and should not be considered torture?