Torture, as defined by Dr. Maureen Ramsay, is described as an act by which intense pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted to a person for the purpose of obtaining information or confessions from him or a third party, punishing him for an act that he or a third party has committed or is suspected of committing, or intimidating or coercing him or a third party , or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, whether such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. In this essay, I will argue for an absolute ban on torture, and that torture should not be permitted under any circumstances, including in a ticking time bomb scenario. To do this, I will compare the arguments and information found in the following articles: Why Understand the Threat Terrorism Meets the Challenge Works written by Alan M. Dershowitz, Can Torture of Terrorist Suspects Be Justified written by Dr. Maureen Ramsay , Revenge Versus Report; Interrogation, Terrorism and Torture written by Laurence Alison and Emily Alison and The Endless Torture of Omar Khadr written by Jeff Tietz for the film Unthinkable. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The plot of the Unthinkable film is essentially a ticking time bomb scenario. Steven Younger is a former military man with expertise in bomb making, precision shooting with assault rifles, combat tactics, and training in case he becomes a prisoner of war. He was arrested for the alleged murder of a police officer, detained at an unknown location, and then tortured for information about nuclear bombs he allegedly hid in three locations in the United States. The bombs are set to explode in three days, so the interrogation methods escalate more and more until the man hired to torture/interrogate must do the unthinkable in order to receive the information that will save thousands of innocents. Right away, while watching this film, I noticed similarities with an alleged case of torture that made headlines fairly recently in Canada. Omar Khadr was a Canadian citizen born in Toronto. Khadr's father trained him in bomb making, marksmanship with assault rifles, and combat tactics. Then, at the age of fifteen, Khadr was arrested for the alleged murder of a US Sargent, detained at Guantanamo Bay and tortured for information on Osama bin Laden and the suspect. terrorist attacks. Omar Khadr's case is eerily similar, yet the current Prime Minister considered his situation a human rights violation and Khadr received a $10.5 million settlement. In the unthinkable movie, you see Agent Brody come in and tell the military. General Paulsen, the man apparently responsible, that the military has no authority on domestic soil and is illegally detaining an American citizen. General Paulsen responds that under the Defense Authorization Act and as an enemy combatant under the Military Commission Act as well as Geneva Convention laws, Younger is stripped of his U.S. citizenship and because he is not a U.S. citizen, he may be subject to what he calls enhanced interrogation under the president's orders. Then "H" comes in to carry out further interrogation or torture and almost immediately General Paulsen passes the accusation to Colonel Kermeniann, showing that he did not want to take responsibility for whatwas about to happen. You also see an officer remove his name badge to keep his identity hidden. Omar Khadr was also stripped of his citizenship because he violated the Geneva Convention which also allowed the US military to interrogate him as an adult/terrorist, using "enhanced interrogation methods". President is exactly why Alan Dershowitz supports the need for some sort of legal policies to be put in place, in situations similar to these. Dershowitz says there are three ways to approach the issue of torture. The first is to “allow the security services to continue to wage their war against terrorism in a “twilight zone” that escapes the domain of the law.” He believes that people are being tortured when this is already against human rights. The second is “the way of the hypocrites: they declare that they respect the rule of law, but turn a blind eye to what is happening beneath the surface.” They act as if nothing happened, without accountability, without records, without standards or limits; and the third “the true path of the rule of law”, namely that “the law itself must guarantee an appropriate framework for the activity of the security agency responsible for the fight against terrorism”. Dershowitz suggests a formal warrant for non-lethal torture obtained only by a judge for acts of torture such as a sterilized needle under a person's fingernails when there is no serious, lasting harm. He then adds that there is of course a fourth option: renouncing all torture to allow terrorist acts to occur. Dr. Maureen Ramsay refutes his ideas, saying that his initial three arguments are flawed and that having a judge make the final decisions only shifts moral reasonableness onto someone else again. Ramsay states that “history shows that torture never has limits. . . Once its use is permitted once, such as in extreme circumstances like a bomb, it makes sense to use it on people who might plant bombs, or on people who might think about planting bombs, or on "people who defend the kind of person who might think about planting bombs," that's a very slippery slope and she says it's a very unreliable method of getting truthful information. An example of false information from the film is that when Younger needs a break from being tortured, he gives a false location of a bomb or when he breaks down in tears states that there are no bombs , I lied and please stop hurting me. This is similar to the Khadr case in that he was tortured until he confessed to killing the Sargent, even though witnesses said he could not have been the one who did it. Another point against incorporating torture into our legal frameworks is that it happens to the tortured detainee after you have obtained true or false information from the person. Dershowitz argues that there is no lasting physical trauma, but what about psychological or emotional trauma? Emily and Laurence Alison explain that when the brain is under so much stress, it impairs the ability to remember information, damaging the reliability of even so-called true memories, and with impaired memory, this impairs all communication and creates trauma significant lasting in the form of post-traumatic stress. disorder, depression, psychosis and learned helplessness, as well as a thirst for revenge and an enduring us-versus-them mentality. Should we simply release a vengeful, psychotic person into a society where they feel they don't belong? In the,.