Does Torture Really Work

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Almost immediately after the September 11th attacks on the United States, the government at that time authorized the C.I.A to conduct enhanced interrogation on suspected terrorists. The aim of this program was to extract as much information possible from the detainees. This information was to be used to prevent any future attacks on the United States and to eventually destroy Al-Qaeda. However, the program became controversial with a significant percentage of the population opposing the program. Other than being viewed as wrong and immoral, many began to question the effectiveness of the program. So, does torture actually work? If the average person was asked this question, he or she would probably say yes. For decades, on television …show more content…
The United States is not alone when it comes to torturing. For centuries, other countries have tortured and continue to torture people. And almost always the results are not what the countries expect. For example, during the 1930s, the Soviet Union conducted large-scale torture of its own people in order to find traitors and spies. Eventually, thousands of people falsely confessed, which led the government to believe that the Soviet Union was full of traitors and spies. Nevertheless, in reality, the number of spies and traitors was far less than what the government believed. This is one good example from another country that shows just how ineffective torturing is. Based on my research, torturing seems to bring more harm than good. For nearly, a decade the United States tortured detainees to prevent attacks and to destroy Al-Qaeda. Today, Al-Qaeda continues to exist, and terrorist attacks continue to occur. Therefore, one would raise the question if the enhanced interrogation program was ever really necessary. The United States Military needs to abandon all torture techniques. Torturing has not benefited the United States in one way. The program was very

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