Torture and the American Culture

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the use of torture is counter to the U.S. constitution; however, American ethnocentrism, which includes the beliefs that the country represents all that is good and decent and honorable and that freedom and the American way of life must be defended at all costs tend to underscore the acceptance of the use of torture in the case of preventing terrorism. The author believes that the White House response to photos of young military personnel at Abu Graib prision sexually assaulting and humiliating prisoners was to imply that only a few poorly supervised bad apple MPs would do such things. The paper states that, although President Bush says publicly that the U.S. is committed to the worldwide elimination of torture as an inalienable human right, the Bush administration actually fosters and encourages torture.

From the Paper:

"Information and confessions obtained by torture are notoriously unreliable. People will say anything to escape the pain being inflicted upon them. Pain and fear are what torture is all about in tactics such as holding a person's head under water or wiring a mans hands, legs, and penis in order to deliver electric shocks. The people who are tortured are not necessarily guilty either. Many haven't even been charged. When Congress watched 1800 slides and several videos (three hours worth) of Abu Ghraib Prison, they saw American soldiers sexually assault prisoners with chemical light sticks."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Barger, K. (2004). What is ethnocentrism? http://www.iupui.edu/-anthkb/ethnocen.htm
• Barry, J., Hirsh, M., and Isikoff, M. with Hosenball, M. Gutman, R., Gegax, T.T., Scelfo, J., Liu, M., Nordland, R. and B. Dehghanpisheh (2004). The roots of torture. Newsweek, 24 May, 143, (21), 26-34.
• Hedges, D. (2002). War is a force that gives us meaning. New York: Anchor Books.
• Koh, H. H. (2005). Legal principles and torture. Dissent, Spring, 52, (2), 7-10.
• Ross, J. (2005). Bush, torture and Lincoln's legacy. America, 193 (4), 15 Aug., 10-13.

More papers on Torture and the American Culture:

• Descriptive Essay # 119059 : "Torture in "Christ Mocked" and "Torture of Cuauhtemoc"
• Term Paper # 122621 : "APA Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct"
• Book Review # 125909 : "The Slave Community"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: