My next blog for A Question of Torture comes from the chapter Impunity In America. This chapter starts off talking about the famous Abu Ghraib prison situation where prisoners of war were being tortured by United States army. Torture was done physically and psychologically and many disturbing pictures were taken that came out in the press. There were over 94 incidents of abuse including twenty homicides. People didn’t know what to think about torture back home in the United States after this happened. An ABC poll documented that 35% of Americans believed in torture in certain circumstances at that time. In the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the Bush administration and the media didn’t really talk about the word “torture”. They rather focused the blame on the nine military police accused of torturing the prisoners.
Another issue that this section talks about is psychological torture at Guantanamo Bay prison. In 2004, Red Cross found that psychological techniques had grown more refined and repressive involving inhuman acts, solitary confinement, and temperature conditions. Also in 2004, Guantanamo’s commander Jay W. Hood, insisted that, “detainees had not been tortured in any way, “ saying that psychological torture really isn’t torture. Is that still considered torture if these psychological acts were taken place on prisoners? Some could argue that they don’t have morals because they have committed bad acts in the past. I do not agree with that. Yes, people in Guantanamo have made big mistakes in their lives but that is no reason to psychologically torture them. The only time people should be tortured is when they have information that can potentially harm the people of the United States.
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