Many ERHS students said that they object to the use of torture, as documented by a Senate Committee in December, while a few said that they feel torture is appropriate under some circumstances.
In mid-December of last year a report was released by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, evaluating the interrogation techniques used by the CIA for the past decade. Detailed in the evaluation were the various “enhanced interrogation techniques” used to obtain information from suspected terrorists. These techniques included waterboarding and “walling,” in addition to threatening the families of prisoners, all of which warranted an international uproar.
“What?” freshman Roseanne Delacerna exclaimed when she was told that the CIA had been torturing prisoners and referring to it as an “enhanced interrogation technique.” That’s a “strange way to put it,” she added.
It was an appropriate response, considering Delacerna’s definition of torture as holding someone “against their will.” Or, that of senior Gabrielle Barrett, who defined it as “a method someone uses to get what they want out of you.”
However, Freshman Kainoa Sittman said that he was not surprised to hear that the CIA has been using torture as a tactic to gain intelligence. “The country that wants people to follow suit” is the one that is sneaking around, he said.
According to an article published by CNN, several countries were outraged by such techniques, including China, which described the report as a representation of “the sheer hypocrisy of the United States as a defender of human rights.”
Students and staff also didn’t support the hypocrisy of such techniques. If America “preaches humanitarianism, nothing should drive [them] to put people in pain,” said Sittman. Then we go “to other countries telling them to do what’s right. That makes it even worse.”
“You can get some kind of information out of them without torture,” said Barrett, who had similar views.
World History and AP Human Geography teacher Mr. Brendan O’Connell commented on the ethics of the use of torture, saying that “that’s one of our amendments, right? No cruel or unusual punishment.”
Students like freshman Elizabeth Knisely expressed concern regarding the accuracy of imprisoning people. “What if they’re wrong?” she asked. “If they’re not a threat, then they shouldn’t take the fall.”
Others, however, said they felt that the tactics could be appropriate in some situations. “Torture is something that you need,” said junior Yaregal Tiliksew “because if you have something to protect, like a country, and someone is trying to destroy that country you have to stop it.”
“If you told me that if we torture these guys, we’ll prevent 9/11, I’d say okay,” said Mr. O’Connell.
For further reading about this topic, please visit the CNN article mentioned in this piece at http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/10/world/senate-torture-report-world-reaction/
