Jess
May 11th, 2011, 08:04 PM
please check. this is what I have so far.
also need more arguments. need this paper to have TWO pages. only one so far :/
It has been debated on whether or not it is unconstitutional to use torture when interrogating the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Those that say it isn’t believe that they are not citizens so therefore it is not violating the 8th amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Those against it believe that these prisoners are on an US Embassy, so therefore they should have the same rights as American citizens and the interrogation techniques does violate the 8th amendment. They may not be American citizens, but they still deserve the same rights and therefore the interrogation techniques used violates the 8th amendment.
All humans are the same, Americans or not, and all deserve the same and equal treatments and rights. There is no reason why Americans should be more privileged than someone from another country. Although the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay are terror suspects, it does not mean that they are all guilty. For some of the suspects, there is clear evidence that they are guilty for the crimes they have committed. For others, there is little or no evidence, and it is likely that they are completely innocent. In June 2004, the New York Times reported that of the nearly 600 detainees not more than two dozen were closely linked to al-Qaeda and that only very limited information could have been received from questionings. In 2010, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson stated that top U.S. officials, including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld, had that the majority of the prisoners sent to Guantanamo were innocent, but that they have been kept there for reason of political expedience. However that is no excuse to keep innocent men or women. It is completely wrong to imprison someone that is innocent. If they are innocent, they should not be tortured and they should have the same due process rights as American citizens.
Torture itself is a cruel and inhumane technique to use when interrogating someone. Not only is it in violation of the 8th amendment when used, but also international law. It is just wrong to torture someone just to get an answer out of him or her, especially if the ‘enemy’, the prisoners at the prison, are unarmed, which of course they are. According to a recent study, torture is a poor instrument of intelligence gathering. It is useless, because governments cannot get around a basic problem. They cannot make a believable promise to stop torture once the prisoner tells the truth. Most prisoners know this perfectly well and therefore say anything and everything except what the torturers want to know. The people interrogating the prisoners may not know that what the prisoners told them is not the truth, and therefore they get completely wrong or fake information. The 8th amendment states that cruel and unusual punishment can not be inflicted. Torture is a cruel punishment and even if these prisoners at Gitmo are not US citizens, using torture in interrogation is still a violation of the 8th amendment.
Many people in other countries like Germany and Great Britain are opposed to the Guantanamo prison. As a result there has been a decrease in the perception of the US as a leader of human rights. If the international community disapprove of interrogation techniques and the prison, then it is clear that the prisoners deserve the same due process rights.
also need more arguments. need this paper to have TWO pages. only one so far :/
It has been debated on whether or not it is unconstitutional to use torture when interrogating the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Those that say it isn’t believe that they are not citizens so therefore it is not violating the 8th amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Those against it believe that these prisoners are on an US Embassy, so therefore they should have the same rights as American citizens and the interrogation techniques does violate the 8th amendment. They may not be American citizens, but they still deserve the same rights and therefore the interrogation techniques used violates the 8th amendment.
All humans are the same, Americans or not, and all deserve the same and equal treatments and rights. There is no reason why Americans should be more privileged than someone from another country. Although the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay are terror suspects, it does not mean that they are all guilty. For some of the suspects, there is clear evidence that they are guilty for the crimes they have committed. For others, there is little or no evidence, and it is likely that they are completely innocent. In June 2004, the New York Times reported that of the nearly 600 detainees not more than two dozen were closely linked to al-Qaeda and that only very limited information could have been received from questionings. In 2010, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson stated that top U.S. officials, including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld, had that the majority of the prisoners sent to Guantanamo were innocent, but that they have been kept there for reason of political expedience. However that is no excuse to keep innocent men or women. It is completely wrong to imprison someone that is innocent. If they are innocent, they should not be tortured and they should have the same due process rights as American citizens.
Torture itself is a cruel and inhumane technique to use when interrogating someone. Not only is it in violation of the 8th amendment when used, but also international law. It is just wrong to torture someone just to get an answer out of him or her, especially if the ‘enemy’, the prisoners at the prison, are unarmed, which of course they are. According to a recent study, torture is a poor instrument of intelligence gathering. It is useless, because governments cannot get around a basic problem. They cannot make a believable promise to stop torture once the prisoner tells the truth. Most prisoners know this perfectly well and therefore say anything and everything except what the torturers want to know. The people interrogating the prisoners may not know that what the prisoners told them is not the truth, and therefore they get completely wrong or fake information. The 8th amendment states that cruel and unusual punishment can not be inflicted. Torture is a cruel punishment and even if these prisoners at Gitmo are not US citizens, using torture in interrogation is still a violation of the 8th amendment.
Many people in other countries like Germany and Great Britain are opposed to the Guantanamo prison. As a result there has been a decrease in the perception of the US as a leader of human rights. If the international community disapprove of interrogation techniques and the prison, then it is clear that the prisoners deserve the same due process rights.