"Believe Me, It's Torture" by Christopher Hitchens

Questions that the Author Attempts to Answer:
1. What are the feelings that a prisoner goes through when they are waterboarded?
Questions for the Author:
2. What are some alternative replacements for torture?
3. Is killing a suspect terrorist more egregious than waterboarding them

 

Since the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11^th, the United States has been involved in a global war on terror. One of the instruments issued to combat this threat is torture, and more specifically waterboarding. In his piece “Believe Me, It’s Torture”, Christopher Hitchens gives his shocking and quite gripping account of his first-hand experience being subject to the tortuous nature of waterboarding. Hitchens argues that it should be banished as a policy used by the United States government. Personally, I agree with Hitchens that waterboarding is torture. However, during this era of the threat of global terror, waterboarding may need to be a necessary evil.

            One cannot deny that since September 11^th the United States faces an imminent threat from radicalized Muslims who seek to create human destruction. The origins of this threat, whether it stems from the desire for retribution against the United States for past injustices inflicted in the Middle East, or the belief to kill on behalf of God, can be debated. But that does not change the fact that al-Qaeda and other radicalized groups are still trying to hurt the American people. The necessary evils of war might have to be used in order to stop this threat. We could just not do anything; but if another attack were to happen, the public would be outraged that we did not do enough.

            Yes waterboarding is torture, but what can we replace it with to stop the threat? We could just kill them, which is what we are doing as President Obama has expanded the use of drones in the Middle East. I find it quite ironic that President Obama, who ardently criticized the use of waterboarding during the Bush Administration, has resorted to killing them instead of torturing them. Both are morally reprehensible, but killing is worse than torturing. The drone attacks exasperate the hatred of the United States by the Middle East as they see innocent civilians being collateral damage in attacks intended for the suspect terrorist. On top of that, they live in constant fear as drones hover above their sovereign territory.

            This is a very complex issue, but we must realize that we are involved in an effort to stop terror. We are not involved in the traditional meaning of a war, one nation against another, but in a war against an ideology. We may never win and it may never end, but we have to do something against it. It will not be pretty, there will be casualties, and feelings will be hurt. Torture should remain a part of this effort to combat terror, unless we can find a more humane way to deal with this effort that is just as effective as torture. Hitchens’ argument could have been much more effective if he could have presented a viable solution.