One of the few things we are supposed to be able to trust in is our government. However, as the years go by, we are faced with more ethical debates than ever on the actions led by our government. After 9/11, President Bush started the campaign for ‘The War on Terror’ and sanctioned the use of torture at Guantanamo Bay, calling it necessary in the time of terror and war (citation). Even though President Obama’s most promising campaign goals for election was to close Guantanamo Bay within a year of presidency, GITMO is still up and running and has a widespread use of medically sanctioned torture (Crook 115-116). President Obama has made many promises throughout his presidency which he has not fulfilled; one of which is to close Guantanamo Bay. His campaign promise included the closure of Guantanamo Bay within a year of presidency. “The administration’s effort to end detentions at Guanta´namo Bay continues,1 but President Obama’s deadline to complete the process within a year of taking office will not be met. The effort to end detentions at Guanta´namo Bay has become a rallying point for some of the president’s domestic critics, who deem it an expression of weakness in the effort to combat terrorism” (Crook 115-116) “President Obama has pledged to close the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by Jan 23, 2010 (Rubenstein 353).” Obama also wanted to close all “secret” CIA detention facilities ““Military commissions have been used by the United States to try those who have violated the law of war for more than two centuries. Further, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized in Hamdan v. RumsfeldCongress’ power to determine the need for military commissions and to provide their jurisdiction and procedures, and this Congress has recent... ... middle of paper ... ...b. 27 Jan. 2014. Maran, Rita. "Detention and Torture in Guantanamo." Social Justice 33.4 (2006): 151- 181. ProQuest. Web. 2 Feb. 2014. Parsons, Christi. "Detainees Will Move to Illinois Site; the U.S. Will Buy a nearly Empty State Prison that could Hold Up to 100 Inmates from Guantanamo Bay." Los Angeles TimesDec 15 2009. ProQuest. Web. 16 Feb. 2014 . Rubenstein, Leonard S., and George J. Annas. "Medical Ethics at Guantanamo Bay Detention Centre and in the US Military: A Time for Reform." The Lancet 374.9686 (2009): 353- 355. ProQuest. Web. 7 Feb. 2014. White, Josh. "Guantanamo Force-Feeding Tactics are Called Torture." The Washington Post: 0. Mar 01 2006. ProQuest. Web. 27 Jan. 2014 . Yin, Tung. ""Anything but Bush?": The Obama Administration and Guantanamo Bay." Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 34.2 (2011): 453-492. ProQuest. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
Tien, Homer. “The Canadian Forces trauma care system.” Canadian Journal of Surgery 54 (2011): 112-117.
Jus ad bellum is defined as “justice of war” and is recognized as the ethics leading up to war (Orend 31). Orend contends that an...
Rostow, Eugene V., "Great Cases Make Bad Law: The War Powers Act" (1972). Faculty Scholarship Series. Paper 2143.
In her essay Can U.S. Citizens Be Held as Enemy Combatants, Jennifer Vanklausen explores the ethical question of our government’s policy to hold American citizens suspected of terrorist activity against the United States as enemy combatants, withholding their constitutional rights as provided in the fifth and sixth amendments, during an undeclared war.
Gresham M. Sykes describes the society of captives from the inmates’ point of view. Sykes acknowledges the fact that his observations are generalizations but he feels that most inmates can agree on feelings of deprivation and frustration. As he sketches the development of physical punishment towards psychological punishment, Sykes follows that both have an enormous effect on the inmate and do not differ greatly in their cruelty.
26. Glover Julian, “Guantanamo piled lie upon lie through the momentum of its own existence” in The Guardian, April 25, 2011
wars are governed by a set of rules, designed to prevent, as much as possible, "the use of
cases. Most people today think that the prohibition of the 1920©ˆs and the current war
In “The Case For Torture” an article written by Michael Levin, he attempts to justify the use of torture as a means of saving lives. Throughout the article, Levin gives the reader many hypothetical examples in which he believes torture is the only method of resolution. Though I agree with Levin, to some degree, his essay relies heavily on the fears of people and exploits them to convince people into thinking pain is the only way. In certain aspects, I could agree entirely with Levin, but when one reads deeper into the article, many fallacies become apparent. These fallacies detract from the articles academic standing and arguably renders the entire case futile. Levin’s strategy of playing with the fears of people is genius, but, with more creditable details of the issue the article would have sustained the scrutiny of more educated individuals. The addition of more concrete information, would have given people something to cling to, inherently improving the articles creditability.
Is the intentional pain that an individual experiences justified if there is the potential to save the lives of many? Torture is the most used weapon in the “war against terrorism” but does it work? The purpose of this essay is to identify what the motives for torturing are, the effectiveness of torture, and important issues with the whole process of torture.
Many people view being a captive as the worst thing that has ever happened to them, but in many cases it can be viewed as beneficial to that person's strength. Throughout centuries, captivity has been defined as the condition of being imprisoned or confined. Although the horrors surrounding being a captive are terrible, the promise that every captive should keep in mind is: there is always light at the end of the tunnel. That is because every traumatizing event one experiences, just leads one to be a stronger person once one can speak about it. Captivity narratives always end with the captive freeing themselves or being freed, which then propels them to share their story with the world. Being able to write about your experience as a captive
In the article, “The Torture Myth,” Anne Applebaum explores the controversial topic of torture practices, focused primarily in The United States. The article was published on January 12, 2005, inspired by the dramatic increase of tensions between terrorist organizations and The United States. Applebaum explores three equality titillating concepts within the article. Applebaum's questions the actual effectiveness of using torture as a means of obtaining valuable information in urgent times. Applebaum explores the ways in which she feels that the United States’ torture policy ultimately produces negative effects upon the country. Applebaum's final question is if torture is not optimally successful, why so much of society believes it works efficiently.
Ego is that which constitutes the essential identity of a human being. It is defined as the “I” or self of any person; a person that is able to think, feel, will, but perhaps most importantly- reason. The Palace of Corrective Detention has no guards and the locks are old. The convicted, or lack, thereof, do not ever try to escape. From the beginning, the government of Anthem perpetuates its ideology to its citizens. Because of this fact, the citizens never learn of what the Council forbids them to know. In essence, these criminals in the Palace of Corrective Detention are never able to conceive the notion or concept of escape. The people in the totalitarian world of Anthem have no ego- they cannot begin to fathom escape, for the true prison they are trapped in is their own mind. The prisoners are a manifestation of the fact that in the collectivist society, one cannot accomplish anything without the permission of another. The prisoners have been brought up by the system that controls them in the broadest sense. Hence, the prisoners are trapped within themselves. The Palace of Corrective Detention, to a certain extent, represents the mind of the prisoners. The binds that hold down the prisoners at the Palace of Corrective Detention are not physical restraints, but psychological ones.
We stepped off the large tour boat with a look of fright in both our eyes. Some joy was there, but knowing what went on in this place made us feel the way we did. To me, Alcatraz didn't really look like a shut down prison at that moment. It looked more like an old worn down cemetery. The paint on most of the buildings was chipped off all the way down to the wood. Most of the buildings had collapsed down to some cement foundations and old rusted poles hanging every other way. As we walked to the building where you start your tour, that was probably the only building at this place with cleanliness to it. They gave us our tour headphones, which take you through the whole prison with a audio guide telling you how it was in the prison. Not just how it was for the prisoners, but how it was for the guards too.
Around the world and around the clock, human rights violations seem to never cease. In particular, torture violations are still rampant all over the world. One regime, the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, establishes a strong elaboration of norms against torture. Despite its efforts, many countries still outright reject its policies against torture while other countries openly accept them, but surreptitiously still violate them. The US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia have all failed to end torture despite accepting the provisions of the Convention.