U.S.A. tortures. Go ahead, deny it Bush lovers.

[Diomedes]

So, you'd be fine with our enemies subjecting U.S. soldiers to it?

[Munson]

So, you'd be fine with our enemies subjecting U.S. soldiers to it?

As long as they're subjecting prisoners to deaths like slowly sawing off their head, I'm fine with waterboarding.

[Diomedes]

So you're happy to set your standards relative to what the enemy is doing, to let the enemy's moral compass define yours?

[Munson]

I'm happy to torture those who deserve it and those who associate themselves with the people that deserve it.

[Diomedes]

I would torture you, but lucky for you, I'm not allowed to torture even those who deserve it.

[Munson]

No, you're right, people that behead Americans in a slow, gruesome, agonizing way deserve to live out the rest of their lives in prison, getting fed three times a day.
Or die nice and painlessly from lethal injection.

[Father Demon]

My opinion only:

Torture sucks.  It shouldn't happen.  But it does.

To turn a blind eye to it because it is beneath "us" gains us nothing, while the enemy uses it to his gain.  We can take the higher road, but lose out in the big picture because it isn't soft and cuddly.   

If torture can gain us intelligence that may stop an attack, battle plan, or the whereabouts of a very highly placed leader, then it's a necessity.  Do I feel OK if it's used against a US service member?  Of course not.  Do I feel OK with it's use against the enemy?  Of course not.  From a person to person point of view, it is a despicable act, as even the enemy is a person with a mom, dad, and kids.   I empathize with not only the victim, but also with the person charged with doing it.

From a war perspective, I understand the value of it.  The enemy uses it for intelligence, and we use it for intelligence.  It is a wartime tool that will always be used to protect the lives and infrastructure of the side that imposes it, and as such, an invaluable one.  That will never stop.  It's a cruel and unthinkable truth in the art of warfare.  Certainly, torture will provide you with false intelligence, as any person will say anything to stop the pain and fear.  But it also gets real intelligence, which is needed to understand what the home team is up against.

I don't condone torture, but I understand the reasons it is used.

[General_Failure]

Torture is not the most effective means of getting information. It is only ever good for getting to hear what you want to hear. If there's one constant for every civilization, it's that they forget this.

[Diomedes]

^^

Neverminding that torture is immoral and uncivilized, this is the most cogent point yet made.  It doesn't work.

Munron, you're painfully young, so I'll give you a pass.  Someday I hope you'll realize that when you stoop to their level, you become them. 

[rjs246]

This is another one of those issues that seems more and more to fall along political lines and I can't for the life of me figure out why conservatives would believe one thing while liberals would believe another. Admittedly I fall on the side of the liberals more often than not, but what do political beliefs have to do with the right and wrong of torture or stooping to the level of our enemies?

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

In life, that is an excellent question.  But on this board, it's simple, really.

Conservatives are always wrong, and Liberals are always right (er, correct).
It could be worse, though.  They could be posting to from their cell phones.

[Cerevant]

I don't see how a country that justifies the use of torture can make any claim against other countries' human rights abuses.  On what basis do we have the right to call Saddam Hussein evil?  Because his country wouldn't allow western oil companies to drill in his country?

What makes a democracy (or republic) different from a dictatorship?  When congress knowingly and willingly flush the constitution down the toilet and grant unrestricted and unsupervised power to the executive, there is no difference.

[ice grillin you]

This is another one of those issues that seems more and more to fall along political lines and I can't for the life of me figure out why conservatives would believe one thing while liberals would believe another. Admittedly I fall on the side of the liberals more often than not, but what do political beliefs have to do with the right and wrong of torture or stooping to the level of our enemies?

its not so much a political issue...its simply the way a person thinks about the world and how they look at things...of course there are sheep out there but mostly people dont say im democrat so i have to be against torture...or im a pub so im all for it...they became dems or pubs long before torture was an issue

in this particular case it goes back to right wingers generally not caring about anyone but themselves...they dont look out for the person who could get hurt...they dont care that torturing another human being is uncivilized...that the person being tortured might actually not know anything or be completely innocent...that the method accomplishes nothing (as gf keenly pointed out)...or that this could come back on our own people...they dont care until:

IT HAPPENS TO THEM (which in most of these issues it never will)

its armchair quarterbacking at its worst...its easy for a munson to sit in ma dooks basement playing the fake drunk solo on his guitar or ff in his huntersville, nc cul de sac searching for his next dollar or dick cheney on his pheasent farm to all scream bloody murder because they will never be tortured and who cares if it happens to someone else

of course im generalizing and its not always this black white on issues but look across the board and youll see where the right stands on human rights issues for the most part and then youll see why this does primarily go along party lines but not because of political thinking

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

its armchair quarterbacking at its worst...its easy for a munson to sit in ma dooks basement playing the fake drunk solo on his guitar or ff in his huntersville, nc cul de sac searching for his next dollar or dick cheney on his pheasent farm to all scream bloody murder because they will never be tortured and who cares if it happens to someone else

of course im generalizing and its not always this black white on issues but look across the board and youll see where the right stands on human rights issues for the most part and then youll see why this does primarily go along party lines but not because of political thinking

So, in summary:

In life, that is an excellent question.  But on this board, it's simple, really.

Conservatives are always wrong, and Liberals are always right (er, correct).

[ice grillin you]

its not a matter of wrong and right...you believe one thing i believe another...i was just exaplaing to rjs how we each get there