Enhanced interrogation techniques

S

swatiraohnlu

Swati Rao
"Enhanced interrogation techniques" were a series of harsh, coercive interrogation methods employed by the Bush Administration - through the Central Intelligence Agency and US Military - to extract intelligence for the intended purpose of strengthening the War on Terror and national security. Do enhanced methods amount to torture under domestic and international law? Do they inflict "severe pain and suffering", and possibly long-term physical and emotional damage? Even if these methods are not considered torture, are they "cruel, inhumane, and degrading", possibly making them illegal under international and domestic law? Are all coercive interrogation techniques morally abhorrent?
 
Enhanced interrogations don't inflict severe pain/suffering (not torture). The Bush administration told the CIA in 2002 that its interrogators working abroad would not violate US prohibitions against torture if their methods avoided inflicting "severe pain and suffering". The main reason for this is that prisoners can tolerate a little bit of discomfort and even pain, but severe pain and suffering can have the effect of lasting bodily or psychological damage. Enhanced interrogations succeed at allowing interogators to inflict some discomfort and low-level pain - waterboarding, slapping on the belly, sensory bombardment, prolonged isolation all qualify as such - in order to succeed in obtaining critical national security intelligence, while avoiding the higher level "severe pain and suffering" that could be called "torture".
 
The primary purpose of inquisition is to enforce a religious or ideological dogma by prosecuting and punishing heretics. The purpose is seldom about discovering truth or making legal prosecution.This purpose is often achieved through confession and promise of returning to the faith -an act that may be the best alternative for the accused (the alternative being imprisonment or worse).
Inquisitions may also be used to extract information from heretics -typically about other heretics.
 
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