As this article indicates, after WWII, the US punished a Japanese soldier for waterboarding an American civilian.
Assuming that the technique used is the same in both cases, is it wrong for the US to insist that it is acceptable to waterboard terrorists, but unacceptable for a Japanese soldier to waterboard an American civilian?
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Our goal here is to have intelligent, respectful conversations about controversial topics. If someone says something with which you disagree, please either ask questions of the person speaking or state your own position, using facts, reasons, and evidence.
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(104)
-
▼
May
(31)
- Freedom of the Press and XXX-Rated Movies
- Establishment of Religion
- Judges
- Iraq War
- Illegal Immigration
- HPV Vaccine
- Affirmative Action
- Money
- Japanse Research on Stem cells
- US Spending on Medical Care
- Smoking
- McCain's Mistake
- Pastor Wright
- Israel
- 2000 Election
- Getting the US out of Iraq
- Gas Prices
- Weird Science
- Diplomacy
- Marriage between Homosexuals
- Iran and Nuclear Weapons
- The US and Israel
- Digging Deeper
- Iraq War
- Health Insurance
- Death Penalty
- Illegal Immigration
- Waterboarding
- Surveillance without a Judge's Approval
- The Right to Vote
- High Gas Prices
-
▼
May
(31)
8 comments:
It is wrong for the U.S. to insist that it is acceptable to waterboard terrorists when by their own standards during WWII they cried out against it. The only way for it to be okay now is if that our standards changed during the last sixty or so years. If they have changed and it is now acceptable to waterboard our enemies then we would owe a formal apology to the Japanese government for our then actions and must be prepared to have our enemies waterboard our troops as well.
Austin C
Jazmin L.
I belief that it is wrong to waterboard against our own enemies. If the U.S opposed this punishment when the Japanese used this with the U.S soldiers, then who gives them the right to do the same thing with their own enemy? I belief that if our enemy injured or punished us in a wrong way, we should never return the same punishment back to them. Only God has the right to do that. Since there are other ways to interrogate or take away information from terrorist, there is absolutely no excuse to accept this type of punishment.
Jazmin L.
I am not an expert on interrogation, but if it’s the only way to successfully gain useful information that will give our government and armies the upper hand in defeating the enemy, than I would agree to the use of Waterboarding. But there also may be alternative ways in interrogation. Our government must not violate the simple triangle of inalienable rights.
Jake H
Since it proves so successful,
"In the post-Vietnam period, the Navy SEALs and some Army Special Forces used a form of waterboarding with trainees to prepare them to resist interrogation if captured. The waterboarding proved so successful in breaking their will, says one former Navy captain familiar with the practice, "they stopped using it because it hurt morale."
then heck yeah keep using it. Our administrations have changed since the last world war, why apologize to the Japanese for a 60 year old trial? Point is: in the war for American independence from England we used to fight by the rules England used, they lined up/we lined up and shot each other. Not just England in fact, but much of the civilized countries agreed to fight like that. However, during that time we also fought Indians, and learned from them that taking cover was a much better tactic, and henceforth our troops started to use that tactic, much to the bewilderment of the English troops.
And guess what? You didn't see any of our troops or politicians popping up out of the bushes and apologizing to the Englishmen who's chest just got blown open for using on him what was considered by the entirety of England a dishonorable tactic. We have changed tactics again, it's war, and everyone can just deal with it.
John M
The article actually states that the two methods of waterboarding were different. The Japanese technique did come close to drowning its victims. Americans used a different tactic...
Anyways, my gut reaction is that Americans and our allies should use whatever means necessary in order to obtain information, since these are terrorists which we are dealing with. Obtaining information from them could save lives. Doesn’t that seem a worthwhile cause? The POWs are only enduring a limited amount of non-life-threatning discomfort...
Like I said, this is my first instinct. However, we signed the geneva convention and in 1929, an amendment regarding the humane treatment of POWs was added (a brief quote as follows): “POWs must be humanely treated at all times. They must be protected against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults or public curiosity.”
So, my answer would be that we must be follow the treaty which we signed, as it is our current foreign policy.
Honestly though, I do truly wish that interrogation tactics were something that we could do. I would not at all mind putting terrorists through discomfort in order to obtain life-saving intel. However, it is against our policy (geneva convention), to do that. The only information which we are supposed to be able to obtain is stated in the amendment (added in 1929--before ww2):
"While POWs the detaining power may interrogate them, POWs are only required to provide their surname, first names, rank, birth date of birth, and their army, regimental, personal or serial number under questioning. POWs, cannot be punished if they do not but are not required to provide additionalany other information.
"No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind." (Third Geneva, Art. 17). So in reality, our policies have not changed at all in this respect.
To John M:
I agree with you on the subject matter of whatever works works, but keep in mind that this is a world of different societies and in order to save face I think it would be best to offer an official apology if waterboarding is now acceptable. Society limits our ability to be an individual and prunes the choices that we make, and so we can no longer do whatever we want in the world just because it works. Sadly, that time passed us by long before we were even born.
Austin C
I personaly think it is wrong to do it, but we should keep it in pratice. It is highly effective! It has been done by almost every country and I am guessing most still use it, but don't say they do. Even when we did agree not to do we still did. If I were being interigated I would keep my mouth shut if you just asked me.
Post a Comment