tawr-cher? tor-ture? Torture!

Following on from my post regarding Rick Santorum and the debate as to whether waterboarding constitutes torture, I skidded over to an online dictionary to determine what, precisely it had to say regarding torture.

I chose the first definition (in order to be as even handed as possible).

Here it is:-

tor-tured, -tur·ing.

noun

1.

the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty.

2.

a method of inflicting such pain.

3.

Often, tortures. the pain or suffering caused or undergone.

4.

extreme anguish of body or mind; agony.

5.

a cause of severe pain or anguish.

I also read on a blog somewhere that, if you feel up to experiencing the treatment yourself, it cannot be classified as torture.

Hmm.....a few kind comments from Daniel and Christine highlighted something that was very much in my mind when I originally posted - the end never justifies the means. I agree.

But let's re-visit the meaning of torture.
The dictionary emphasizes words such as excruciating, pain, and, even, severe pain.

Does that apply to waterboarding?

I think that one might suffer anguish, even severe anguish but that is not the same as excruciating pain.

Excruciating pain is being stretched on a rack so that all of your joints start popping out of their sockets; it is having electrical clips attached to one's nether regions and the current being switched on.

It's having your fingernails detached by a pair of pliers in strong hands.

I am sorry if all of this seems like dancing on the head of a pin but we do need to be precise about what we are debating here.

I would not like to defend waterboarding per se but, I do think that I could cope with 4 or 5 minutes of it whereas, 4 or 5 seconds of racking or fingernail pulling would have me reaching for the guilty confession statement.

And now, the point I made in my original post; would it be acceptable to waterboard a terrorist if it saved 10,000 lives by obtaining information regarding the whereabouts of a nuclear device in the centre of London or Madrid or Toronto?

If it is not torture then one could go ahead and get the information but, if you think it is....then you are sending a lot of children, women and men to a premature and painful death.

What about 9/11?

What if it could have been avoided by questioning a suspect using this technique?

Would you have been up for it?

Isn't torture a very subjective issue? If you were a sensitive soul then someone shouting in your ear might have you begging for mercy. Or, maybe a hood over your head so that you were cut off from the outside world, or, maybe, being subjected to darkness over a long period of time (or, the reverse).

I am new to this post voting lark but thought that it might be worth trying.

So, here it is; given the scenario that you could glean information by means of waterboarding a known terrorist that would prevent a 9/11 or a 7/7 would you go ahead and do it or.......not?

Please see the vote counter in the sidebar.

The Rosary Crusade for Santorum gathers pace

There is a report on the Guild of Blessed Titus blog that indicates that the Santorum Rosary Crusade is fast spreading, certainly across Europe.

We know, also, that many in America are praying for his victory.

Of course, as predicted, the adverse comments are flying around the ether but, so are the good ones and I have to say that those bloggers who have been positive about Rick Santorum all appear to speak without hype and make a good case for this man (see A Reluctant Sinner).

And from America, posted under the Catholic Vote blog comes a stout defence from Stephen White.




I can think of more violent and abhorrent forms of interrogation

 The thorny issue seems to be the torture question.
Opponents claim that Santorum is in favour of it.

But where is the evidence?
He has said that he does not regard "waterboarding" as torture (and neither does the US Military).

You may read Stephen White's take on the waterboarding issue but I would only add that, if a terrorist was detained with evidence that he or she was privy to knowledge of a nuclear device that was due to be detonated in the capital, then with three children and four grandchildren in London, I would not object to the suspect being waterboarded if it would result in thousands of lives being saved.

It is not nice. It is abhorrent. But, is it torture?

Meanwhile....keep up the Rosaries