Torture OK?

Is there ever a justification for torture?

"Torture: does it make us safer? is it ever OK?: a human rights perspective "/ edited by Kenneth Roth and Minky Worden; Amy D. Bernstein, contributing editor. Human Rights Watch Organization ISBN 1595580573 HSLS 1830591366 - 179.7 To [current affairs & political science]

Although the writers are coming from various viewpoints, they are all against torture in an esoteric way. I would skip this book.

For more effective arguments I would read "Torture: A Collection" by Sanford Levinson that is written by different writers both for and against. Another better book to read is "Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People, The Dynamics of Torture" by John Conroy, which contains personal accounts from torture survivors and former torturers. Conroy's book is unreadable to those with PTSD, (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), because the whole book is one big trigger. "Torture and the Law of Proof Europe and England in the Ancien régime" by John H Langbein is strictly a legal analysis of the history of state sanctioned torture as was authorized by Rumsfeld published in 1992 Field Manual 34-52 with 10 redacted pages, (see The Color of "Transparency" Is Black.)

http://www.suntimes.com/news/mcnamee/412793,CST-NWS-mcnamee04.article "Fear Up Harsh: An Army Interrogator's Dark Journey Through Iraq Inside America's Policy of Secret Interrogations and Torture in the Terror War" by Tony Lagouranis, Allen Mikaelian Ex-interrogator said "If you don't include torturing helpless prisoners in your definition of evil," he replied, "your definition of evil is meaningless."

"Torture: does it make us safer? is it ever OK?: a human rights perspective"

Table of contents and excerpts.

1. A history of torture / James Ross --
2. Moral prohibition at a price / Michael Ignatieff --
3. Torture and terrorism : painful lessons from Israel / Eitan Felner --
4. Counterinsurgency and torture : exporting torture tactics from Indochina and Algeria to Latin America / Marie-Monique Robin --
5. Torture in Latin America / Juan E. Méndez --
6. Torture : a family affair / Héctor Timerman --
7. Torture spoken here : ending global torture / Minky Worden --
8. On negotiating with torturers / Nigel Rodley, interviewed by Amy D. Bernstein --
9. Sexual violence, torture, and international justice / Cherie Booth --
10. Treating torture victims / Mary R. Fabri --

Page 135 "examples show how individual who survive torture can confront short and long term consequences, including personality changes. Many survivors describe the psychological effects of torture as a shattering of one's personality distorting perceptions, altering one's memories and experiences. Torture has profound and persistent consequences, which sometimes inexplicably, violently recur for years after the actual ordeal is over, causing extreme trauma, even years later.

11. Banned State Department practices / Tom Malinowski --

Page 140 " Most of the world's dictators discover long ago that you can torture a prisoner without leaving visible scars. The deceptively soft methods that some American interrogators employed on Iraqi and Afghan prisoners were perfected in the dungeons of the world's most repressive regimes for precisely that purpose."

Page 141 "United States was revealed to be using, and even justifying, interrogations methods that the U.S. government continues to call torture when they are employed by other countries."

Page 142 - 143 show chart of the various euphemisms that Rumsfeld used for various torture methods such as "stress positions," "sleep management," "environmental manipulation," and "dietary manipulation."

12. The road to Abu Ghraib : torture and impunity in U.S. detention / Reed Brody --
13. Respecting the Geneva Conventions / John McCain --
14. Command responsibility for torture / Dinah Pokempner --
15. Torture in U.S. prisons / Jamie Fellner --
16. Justifying torture / Kenneth Roth.