Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Charges Approved For Accused 9/11 Terrorists
On Friday, May 9, a military judge approved charges against five men accused for plotting September 11, including the alleged mastermind, and rejected charges against a man suspected of planning to be the "20th hijacker." If they are convicted, the Guantanamo Bay detainees will face the death penalty. The sixth man, Mohammed al-Qahtani, will remain in custody as an enemy combatant because the charges against him were not approved. The civilian lawyer for al-Qahtani says that he had been tortured at Guantanamo Bay. She was not surprised that the charges against him were rejected because she believes that the military does not want him to be tried because military interrogators abused him. I think it is very good news that the men who took part in 911 are being brought to justice, but was it done so at the cost of torture? Although the claims of torture are not yet proven to be true, how far is too far? Are we willing to have questionable imprisonment methods in order to carry out justice and to possibly enhance national security?
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7 comments:
I don't think we should have any kind of torture. Even though those were terrible people, allowing any kind of torture is just a slippery slope that will lead to people who don't deserve to be tortured being tortured.
Torture is wrong and most people agree but when its a matter of saving many lives or our national security then those methods seem less bad. Most people probably don't care as long as they don't have to listen to the details of the torture. People probably, in this case, will just turn their heads.
I think that the lines to which torture becomes torture is defined in some UN doctrine. But I don't think America should torture people - duh. But I agree with Paul - I think that people will turn their heads in this case. I mean, these people were the perpetrators of 9/11 - they just aren't getting off the hook. Now, does this send a bad sign to our government to what the public does and doesn't permit? Yes. Will that change the fact that thousands of people want to see these particular men tortured? Nope. It may be wrong, but I think it is true.
I'd agree that lots of people would want the 9/11 perpetrators tortured just for the hell of it. And I really doubt there's any way to completely prevent torture. So I think it's all really subjective as to what is right and wrong; people will believe what they want to believe.
they should be tortured.
Using torture as part of interrogation methods could lead to wrong or false testimonies, the hijackers may confess to a crime they didn't commit to stop the torture or to protect the real hijackers. Although I am against torture, the death penalty almost seems like too nice of a punishment in this case, especially because these men probably see dying as an honor because to them this is a jihad (holy war) so they are willing and see it as an honor to sacrifice themselves to win the war.
I don’t think anyone would be surprised that the criminals were tortured and violently interrogated. After all, these are the people that killed innocent American civilians. While it is easy to say that torture is necessary, put yourself in the criminal’s shoes. Don’t you think you have the right to a fair trial without abuse? We are just creating more hatred by abusing the perpetrators. Many US prisoners of war in other countries’ will suffer from these acts.
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