Use of Torture to Gain Intelligence Research Paper

Use of Torture to Gain Intelligence - Research Paper Example There are various reasons for torture. They include punishment, revenge, political re-education, deterrence, interrogation or coercion. Mostly the torture proves to be deliberately fatal, however, most of the time this is not the case and killing and injuring the victim is not the sole purpose. According to research, torture is not a very good way of obtaining information and actionable intelligence. This is because after a person received physical or psychological punishment, the mind breaks down as a result of which the information is subject to inaccuracies in memory recall. It was until the development of Humanism in the 17th century, deliberately painful methods of execution for severe crimes was taken as granted as part of justice. Torture was sanctioned by some states previously. In the 21st century, most of the countries have prohibited torture under the international and domestic laws. Under the UN convention and declaration of human rights, it is unacceptable and is conside red the violation of human rights. One of the most controversial aspects of the global ‘war on terror’ was the use of torture during interrogations. The United States of America administration for combating the threat of global terrorism developed several new methods. This happened after the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. The detention and interrogation of the suspected terrorists have been the central to the United States struggle against global terrorism (Walton, 2008). According to the international laws of warfare, the same rules of lawful combatants were not applicable for detained terrorists since they were not fighting as lawful combatants. However, some policymakers of the US argued that the use of torture should be legalized to gain intelligence under certain extreme circumstances. During the Algerian war of Independence (1954-1962), the French armed forces along with the Algerian National Liberation Front (FNL) made use of torture.