Throughout the ages countries have used torture of many kinds to try and wring the truth out of spies, traitors, and anyone else who might have knowledge about important matters, especially in the course of a war. Some tortures could eventually bring about the death of the tortured if they did not confess what was expected of them. Then again, some that were tortured would say anything or tell anything just have the torture stop.



In our country we are supposed to have risen above using techniques such as torture to get information from prisoners of war. During the time of Hitler, there was so much cruelty delivered to opposing soldiers and civilians alike that most nations agreed that certain acts of cruelty or torture should never be used.

With the 9/11 tragedy come a brand new fear for our country. Not from any specific nation really, but from terrorists groups. Terrorists are supposedly the ones who caused this terrible tragedy that killed and injured so many of our innocent citizens and it is true that there are not many of us who hold any sympathy at all for the ones who are responsible for it whoever they might be.

Whether or not you agree with the war that we are involved in or not, there still remains the subject of torture. There are a lot of our supposed enemies that have been taken captive and imprisoned. While it is probable that many of them are guilty, there is always the possibility that some of them are also innocent. Our country is based of the belief that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Although it has been widely rumored, but not exactly proven, that the torture of water-boarding has been used on some of these captives to try to get them to talk.

The question is whether or not we believe that tactics such as these should be used on people that have not been proven guilty of anything at the time it is used or even if we think it should be used at all. Some officials do not believe that water-boarding is considered torture, but when you make someone feel like they are drowning to get them to talk, what would you call that? The only thing that is disconcerting for some of us is that we do not allow ourselves to turn into the very people we are trying to prosecute.

It is very important that we do all that we can to put an end to terrorism and some would say that if torture is necessary, then so be it, but is there a line we should not cross? If the war on terror continues for many more years as it has so far, the question of to torture or not to torture is sure to come up again and as Americans we might be forced to choose a side eventually whether we want to or not.