“Water Torture: Is it necessary?” Olivia Chavoen

Waterboarding is a form of torture that has been used as an interogation tactic. It has been a technique that militaries have used to force informaton out of people. When someone recieves “waterboarding”, they are strapped to a board with their feet in the air and their head towards the ground and water is dripped down their face, causing an effect that makes the victim feel as if he/she is drowning. Which causes a question of whether this procedure really is torture or not. Of course it is torture. Anything that is done to someone against their will is a form of torture. However, isn’t there occasions when something like this is necessary? In 2007, it was made public to Americans that the CIA was using this technique on certain prisoners who had been authorized by the United States Department of Justice. This was cleared under the Bush administration, so when Obama became president, he banned waterboarding in January 2009. However, in April 2009, the United States Department of Defense refused to answer whether or not the technique was still used for training purposes. Now I am not a Bush fan like most people, but I do feel that although this may be a cruel and unruly procedure, we may need something like this sometime. I definitley don’t think it should be able to used on an everyday basis and there should be extreme stipulations to be able to use it. Just imagine if your child is kidnapped by someone and there is much reason to think that your child is still alive somewhere…. would you be in favor of using “waterboarding” if it meant getting your kid back? I definitley would. I feel that the people who do this procedure need to take extra precautions and make sure that the person getting waterboarded is properly watched so he/she does not die and any health damages are tried to be prevented.

This entry was posted on 6. June 2009 at 02:01 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.