CNA<\/a>).- Countering claims by some politicians that torture is an acceptable part of the fight against terrorism, experts in ethics and interrogation say that the practice is both immoral and ineffective.<\/p>\n\u201cTorture is an intrinsic evil, an action that is an evil no matter the circumstances or the consequences,\u201d said Prof. Joseph Capizzi, an associate professor of Moral Theology at The Catholic University of America.<\/p>\n
\u201cOften these arguments begin with the assumption that we need torture to get information. Most people in the intelligence community tell us that it\u2019s false,\u201d he told CNA.<\/p>\n
But torture\u2019s ineffectiveness in itself is not why the Church opposes it, he clarified. Instead, torture ought to be rejected simply because it is wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what the circumstances or the consequences are, acts like torture can never be justifiable, can never be good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The question of torture was raised during the election season. During the Feb. 6 Republican debates, candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was asked to defend previous statements on waterboarding. He responded that he does not believe the practice of waterboarding meets the definition of torture, but is instead a form of \u201cenhanced interrogation\u201d because it is not the equivalent of losing organs or one\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump, who has promoted the use of torture in the past, also told the debate audience he supported the use of waterboarding \u201cand more.\u201d The day after the debate, in a statement to CNN he said that \u201ctorture works.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response to the statements, Human Rights First, a nonpartisan international human rights organization, on Feb. 17 released a letter written by former interrogators who have worked in various federal agencies including the armed forces, the CIA, the FBI and other groups.<\/p>\n
They detailed their opposition to torture practices and enhanced interrogation on practical grounds: the practices provide less trustworthy information than other forms of interrogation and their use by the U.S. can serve as a recruitment tool for extremist organizations.<\/p>\n
The former interrogators urged presidential candidates to uphold current laws banning torture should they become elected.<\/p>\n
Capizzi further explained the religious and ethical reasons to oppose torture.<\/p>\n
While some Catholic rulers or theologians may have felt that the use of force may be permissible, the professor said, there has been \u201ca longstanding prohibition against torture\u201d from within the Church since the Middle Ages.<\/p>\n
That teaching has been added to and supported throughout the centuries. The Church teaches that prohibiting torture is a matter of human dignity, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s been created in the image and likeness of God,\u201d Capizzi stressed, and this teaching is much more than simply a \u201csweet\u201d sentiment \u2013 it is immensely powerful when taken seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we say that people are actually bearing the image and likeness of God, it means we have to respond to them in a way that is appropriate to the image and likeness of God,\u201d he said. Torture \u201crequires a direct violation of the dignity of the person.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Church teaches that to respect the dignity of other people, even prisoners or detainees, one must not treat them as instruments or tools for one\u2019s own goals. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can never treat people simply as a means to our ends, they are an end in themselves,\u201d Capizzi emphasized. \u201cTorture always involves instrumentalizing somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raha Wala, senior counsel of defense and intelligence for Human Rights First, said he is not surprised that many Americans support the use of torture, given its depiction in media.<\/p>\n
However, he told CNA, \u201cIt\u2019s important to listen to the experts, rather than the pundits.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c(T)he experts on this are clear that torture is ineffective: there are better ways to gather intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Human Rights First letter, the former interrogators \u2013 some of whom have interviewed top terror suspects for United States intelligence organizations \u2013 explained that the goal of interrogation is to build \u201ca rapport\u201d with a detainee and to understand him or her as a person. This approach encourages willing cooperation. It can reveal a detainee\u2019s life story which \u201ccan be incredibly useful for understanding terrorist organizations, and detecting and ultimately thwarting terrorist plots.\u201d<\/p>\n
In contrast, they said, torture can provide less accurate and trustworthy information. In this way, it actually harms intelligence gathering and long-term work against terrorism and other national threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you talk to the professionals, they\u2019ll say that torture \u2013 causing pain and suffering to an individual \u2013 actually compromises their memory, disrupts their ability to recall information and transmit it accurately to the interrogator, and often causes them to provide false information if they think that\u2019s what the interrogator wants to hear,\u201d Wala elaborated.<\/p>\n
The use of torture by American forces can also be a recruitment tool extremist organizations use in propaganda, the former interrogators said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a hard truth, but we note that a large proportion of the fighters who opposed the U.S. in Iraq did so expressly as a result of the U.S. use of \u2018enhanced interrogation,\u2019 which the entire world recognizes as, quite simply, torture,\u201d said the interrogators\u2019 letter.<\/p>\n
Wala said that he had heard similar explanations from former extremists. He noted that the Islamic State group is \u201creportedly dressing prisoners in orange jumpsuits, waterboarding them, as part of a propaganda effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s really important in the struggle against terrorism for the United States to as clearly and persuasively distinguish its actions from those of the terrorist groups that we are seeking to ultimately defeat,\u201d he commented. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Under current laws, the U.S. already has the guidelines available to do just that, Wala said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been clear for decades that torture is universally prohibited,\u201d he said. He noted international rules against torture in the Geneva Convention, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the United Nations Convention Against Torture. There are also federal laws banning the use of torture by U.S. forces that were passed with support from both political parties.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven then Congress came together after the abuses of Abu Ghraib, and passed legislation prohibiting cruel inhuman or degrading treatment,\u201d Wala added. A 2015 law limited interrogation to techniques listed in the Army Field Manual, \u201cwhich explicitly prohibits waterboarding and other forms of abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a partisan issue,\u201d Wala said. \u201cAny policymaker or candidate who is suggesting a return to these tactics is essentially going against clear domestic and international law.\u201d
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
This article was originally published on CNA Feb. 25, 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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Washington D.C., Jan 31, 2017 \/ 06:30 am (CNA).- Countering claims by some politicians that torture is an acceptable part of the fight against terrorism, experts in ethics and interrogation say that the practice is both immoral and ineffective.<\/p>\n
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