Information is the most important weapon to be used in every war. When during 'War Against Terrorism', where the nemesis wears no uniform and hides among the civilian population, information can matter even more. But does that actually mean that torture can sometimes be justified to extract information?
The answer in International Law is emphatic: NO. The ban on torture or any barbarous, callous or abject treatment is unmitigated even in times of war. Along with massacre, torture is the only crime that every state must punish, no matter who perpetrates it or where.
To my speculation, countries should be authorized to use torture to obtain intelligence. When terrorists can annihilate thousands of people for no reason, then can't we torture just a single one of them to assassinate all of them. The mythology that "Humanity should be kept above all in any situation, must be stopped if we covet to protect our people from these renegades.
In a BBC survey of 27,000 people in 25 countries in October 2006, more than one out of three people in nine of those countries, including America, considered a degree of torture acceptable if it saved lives. Another poll in 2005 by the Pew Research Centre found that nearly half of all Americans thought the torture of suspected terrorists was sometimes justified.
American President Donald Trump had used his first TV interview as president to say that he believes torture “absolutely” works.
Is the life of a terrorist so precious or are we really so concerned about our Humanism that we feel woebegone or liable while torturing a arsonist for information for the sake of our own country? Why are we jeopardizing the security of our country by letting these sinners live for an another day?
Is torture really a crime? Is it much bigger crime than annihilating people? Didn't you feel sorrowful about September 11 America attacks? Didn't you feel dejected after 26 November Mumbai attacks? Didn't you feel even a little bit wretched when hundreds of little kids were cruelly killed in a school in Peshawar, Pakistan in December 2014? Are our governments so defenseless that we are never able to take retaliation for all those innocent deaths?
"Every single life is precious, protect it anyhow or risk it by letting live a bad soul."