Please read A. Dershowitz\'s \'Should the Ticking Time Bomb Terrorist be Torture

Question

Please read A. Dershowitz's 'Should the Ticking Time Bomb Terrorist be Tortured?’ (pg. 617-627 in our textbook). Answer the following questions. The sum of your answers must be at least one-page in length (12font, double space, normal indention, times new-roman). 1. Explain the case for why the ticking time bomb terrorist should be tortured ? How did his visit to Israel impact his views on this matter? 2. What is the strongest argument against the view that the ticking time bomb terrorist should be tortured? How does he respond to it? Do you agree and why?

Explanation / Answer

1. Explain the case for why the ticking time bomb terrorist should be tortured ? How did his visit to Israel impact his views on this matter?

Dershowitz' proposal came for torturing the terrorists who were involved in the ticking bomb was justified by saying that torture would reveal information about any further attacks that these terrorists might want to carry out. This in turn would yield information that would save millions of human life. These proposals came in the wake of the bombing of September 11th , 2001, so as to avoid the reoccurrence of such an incident. Dershowitz said that if tortured, these people would give up and there can be a balance made between security as well as liberty. The ticking bomb was an experiment in which a hypothetical bomb had been activated with only one person having information about it, and torturing him would make him to reveal the information, thus to save many other lives. When Dershowitz went to Israel, he learnt that, in Israel, torture was not encouraged. In exact words, torture " infringes on both the suspect’s dignity and his individual privacy.” It was later determined by the Supreme Court of Israel that both the government and the GSS do not have the authority in using “liberty infringing physical means” while interrogating terrorist suspects “unless these means are inherently accessory to the very essence of an interrogation and are both fair and reasonable.”

2. What is the strongest argument against the view that the ticking time bomb terrorist should be tortured? How does he respond to it? Do you agree and why?

The strongest argument given by Dershowitz is that, we require to chose between human dignity and national security. If dignity of only a few terrorists is greater than the life of many other innocent people whom they don't think twice before killing, then torture is unjust. In fact, if torture is not chosen, there is a huge compromise on the citizens of a country who are losing their lives, or some of their loved ones life by some random person's evil act. Hence, Dershowitz chooses torture.

I definitely stand by Dershowitz. These people, who do not think twice before committing any such act, who do not have mercy for the lives of so many people they are taking, do not deserve mercy in return. In fact, the torture they would be going through would only be physical, whereas the torture that these families and the affected victims are going through, are much more than physical. The loss of a loved one, the loss of some part of their body, is much beyond any torture that the prisoner can receive. Hence, to prevent any further citizens being affected by such atrocities, torture of the terrorists is absolutely Essential.

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