Is Torture Justified Essay

Torture, a conflict for many centuries still raises the question, is torture justified to gain information to prevent terrorist attacks? Many believe torture is the key component to stopping imminent terrorist attacks. Whereas, others believe torture will be the end of the United States’ social standards because of such immoral practices. However, supporters believe torture is necessary in halting terrorist efforts, while others believe the use of torture is immoral and inhumane.
Although many people try to contest the idea of torture today, torture has been around for hundreds of years. There are many cases and conflicts that have been the cause of torture. Author of the “Torture Debate,” Seth Stern states that torture was “banned in Europe

Since the use of torture is immoral, many believe the United States are at risk of lowering our social standard. One way this issue was suppressed is the “Bush administration declared the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay ‘enemy combatants’”(“Torture Report”). As long as the detainees in Guantanamo were "enemy combatants" they no longer had the protections of the Geneva Conventions and were able to be tortured if needed. The Geneva Conventions were a set of documents to protect the human rights of prisoners. Without these in place, a prisoner declared an “enemy combatant” was subject to torture at any time. Opponents of torture had a very one-sided opinion on the matter. They believe that foreign relations would become complicated. For example, the opponents of torture stated "establishing new, stable government proved enormously difficult"(“Torture Report”). Although the United States had achieved the goals of overthrowing opposing regimes, establishing a government proved difficult as a result. Supporters blame the people that wrote and made the “Torture Report” a public concern. Supporters of torture in the “Torture Report” believed that the declassification of the “Torture Report” was not needed and it hurt the country’s standards. The release of the torture report hurt the United States more than help, other countries will now have less confidence in the U.S. Foreign complications would then be at the fault of the people who released the report rather than those who committed the wrongful acts of torture. However, some claim the “Torture Report” should not remain classified. They make this known in the “Torture Report” by stating the following “the detention and interrogation program, they contend, not the issuing of the report itself, that truly undermined the United States ' stature and image