Torturing Terrorists or any person in War-Time activities

But equally during the period a person is being tortured (and in some cases thereafter ) the person 's world is almost entirely taken up by extreme pain and their asymmetrical power relationship to the torturer , i .e . the torture victim 's powerlessness . Indeed , given the extreme suffering being experienced and the consequent loss of autonomy , the victim would presumably rather be dead than alive during that period . So , as already noted , torture is a very great evil . However , it does not follow from this that being killed is preferable to being tortured

. Nor does it follow that torturing someone is morally worse than killing him

A second point pertains to the powerlessness of the victims of torture The person being tortured is for the duration of the torturing process physically powerless in relation to the torturer . By physically powerless ' two things are meant : the victim is defenseless , i .e , the victim cannot prevent the torturer from torturing the victim , and the victim is unable to attack , and therefore physically harm , the torturer Nevertheless , it does not follow from this that the victim is entirely powerless vis-a-vis the torturer . For the victim might be able to strongly influence the torturer 's actions , either by virtue of having at this time the power to harm people other than the torturer , or by virtue of having at some future time the power to defend him /herself against the torturer , and /or attack the torturer

Is Torture a Necessity

Still , many have presented the argument of necessity with respect to the use of torture in war time activities , especially if it will involve the gathering of valuable information from the prisoner /terrorist involved In the January 9th issue of The Economist , it is tempting to argue that torture is justified in rare cases . In...