War, a Means to Torture in Itself?

There is a whole lot of debate going on these days about the use of torture in a war to gain information. I wouldn’t mind the debate so much if it weren’t so one-sided. If you are going to have rules that can dictate the outcome of any war then the rules need to be applied and enforced upon both parties of that war. There, unfortunately, is the problem.

Wars are not meant to be treated as fun and games. Wars do not recognize any morality. In fact, one could argue that a war is the most immoral act of mankind. Wars by its very nature do not recognize rules. It is a win at all costs decision of any nation. Wars are not only about taking the lives of the enemy; it is also about keeping your men alive. I don’t know of any man who would go into battle if he wasn’t sure that his commanding officer wasn’t doing all that was possible to make sure he came out of battle alive.

It would be awfully hard to believe that a man would say that he preferred to die before he’d allow another man to be tortured to save his life in a situation of war. I would find it even harder to believe that a commanding officer would allow those under his command to die before he’d approve of the use of torture. Lives are at stake here. Since when is the well being of the enemy more important than you own life or the lives of your own men under you?

I have heard the claim that torture is an unreliable method of obtaining information. I have also heard claims that there are methods that are more reliable. I have never seen any evidence of this. To me, such claims defy common sense. If torture were unreliable then it would make no sense to use it as a method of information gathering. Those other supposedly more reliable methods would be used in its stead.

If we are to speak of torture in terms that it is an absolute immorality in a world where there is no absolutes then what is war itself? Wars are declared and waged with the intent of inflicting torturous results upon the enemy. It is fought for the purpose of maiming the body and soul of those we fight against in knowledge that the men we send off to war will suffer the same torture in return.

If we want to know what real torture is then go to that man who went to the battlefield. You will find a man tortured for the rest of his life. You’ll hear stories of the torture he was witness to and in that witness became a part of that torture. Men going to battle in knowledge that he or one of his fellow soldiers will not live through it, not just thinking he may die, as those waterboarded. Men coming home crippled for life either psychologically or bodily and feeling the pain of it day in and day out with no relief.

If you want to know what torture is ask that child who just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time and must live her life without a leg or arm. If you want to know what torture is just ask that wife who fears opening the door when the doorbell rings because of who might be there to tell her that she no longer has a father to her children.

Ask a mother of one of those who died in war and you will hear a tale of her torture through her tears. War, itself, is an act of torture and for some it is a torture that will be felt a lifetime. The fact we call it something other than torture doesn’t change the effects of it.

So, for those who are advocates of a just war but are against the use of torture for the purpose of obtaining information, I say, think again about your priorities in life. You will find no ally in me. The lives of my fellow countryman is too important to me, even those I do not know personally. I might even add that this applies to you also even if you do not consider my life or the lives of your children that important.