It appears that the drive to allow torture comes from the conservative right which would boil it down to one question. What would Jesus do?
Joe Miller
York, Pa.

Whether you may or may not realize this, sometimes the government makes mistakes. There could be one or two prisoners in the camps that are actually not guilty of their crimes. Torture is the most inhumane thing to do. Whether all the prisoners are guilty or not, even if they have done some of the worst things possible; we shouldn't lower ourselves to their level. Interrogation is the best thing to do, but torture is just going against everything that we have built this country on. It's just wrong.
Wiam Alwan
West Bloomfield, Mich.

Torture equals terror. It is hippocritical of us to be waging a "War on Terror" while we are committing acts of torture ourselves. We should instead be setting an example for the rest of the world to follow.
Steffi L.
Tucson, Ariz.

Law enforcement uses mental torture every day on suspects. Only in America it is called "interrogation". The C.I.A. should not have less resources than local police when fighting global terrorism.
Jason Bugieda
Bristol, N.H.

I still can't believe this is being 'debated'. President Bush's attempts to relabel POWs 'Enemy Combatants' does nothing to change the fact that the US has been using torture. The people of the world understand that this is wrong, what is wrong with the American public that they think it is even remotely okay--to the point that we have to question if it is or not? Torture is illegal and immoral. Period.
Zach Watkins
Sacramento, Calif.

After living for over sixty years in the U.S., I cannot believe what I am hearing. The greatest country in the world is so cowed and scared that it would embrace torture. What a shame. Let us practice what we preach or don't preach at all. If our enemies spit on us, let us spit back on our enemies? What a moral high ground we have taken.
Juan Castro
Texas City, Texas

If a terrorist knew the location of a bomb that would kill millions of poeple, but he would not divulge the location, I think that it would be appropriate to use whatever measures necessary to obtain that information. What does it have to do with morals? If you are about to die, morality is irrelevant. Terrorists do not care about morals, borders, race, ethnic background, their life, or the lives of others. It seems apparent that people easily forget September 11, 2001, and redirect their focus on their everyday moralistically and politically correct lives.
Howard Zelke
Los Angeles, Calif.

How long before this torture becomes introspective, and the hunt for terrorists is directed towards American citizens themselves? Will you be so cavalier in calling for the use of torture when people are being taken off your own streets and being refused council?
Barry Roche
Ireland

There are 5 important arguments against torture:
1. The enemy will not be deterred, on the contrary he will be more embittered.
2. The party guilty of torture, encourages the propaganda against itself. The winning of the hearts and minds as a strategic means will be almost impossible. What do we remember of Germany and the USSR? Holocaust and Gulag.
3. The information and confessions are infamously unreliable and thus ineffective.
4. It is a kind of self-abasement.
5. It never remains a secret.
G.A.S. Koster van Groos
Dessel, Belgium

Of course the CIA should be exempt from U.S. jurisdiction over torture. First of all, it is up to the CIA to help maintain our national security. Without security, civil liberties are bound to go down the drain as well. Enemy combatants deserve no constitutional rights, and if torture is the only means of gathering intelligence information, then so be it. During the war on terrorism, illegitimate aims such as detainment are necessary, but during peacetime I think the CIA should adopt the U.S. rules on torture.
Anonymous
Lawrence, Kans.

As the saying goes: "All is fair in love and war". War against terrorism is not a conventional war. The Geneva conventions are not applicable. We need to win this war at all cost.
Karl E. Pongs
Corona, Calif.

The CIA should be exempt from rules on torture only if we are willing to have our own military tortured. The rules date back farther than the Geneva convention: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
Shelby Morrison
Orlando, Fla.

Torture is both morally [wrong] and an unreliable way to gather intelligence. Ask John McCain.
Daniel J. Wilson
Seattle, Wash.

Are we really debating this issue? Are we really debating whether or not torture should be allowed? You have to understand: we have to be better than our enemies. Torture only brings us down to their level. We are not like them. Show the world that we are decent and civilized.
Norman Stremming
Portland, Ore.

The country's national security is in jeopardy here. I think the CIA is doing a fine enough job handling these villains. If it costs a terrorist's life to save an entire nation from another attack, so be it. So what's it going to be: protecting the terrorist or the people? There is no middle ground here. Have you taken a side yet?
Denver
Lincoln, England

Absolutely not! When a question like this even has to be asked makes me shudder.
Diane Adis
Vallejo, Calif.

The problem with torture, aside from the moral arguments for and against it, is that torture rarely yields accurate information. How many times have police been given bad information when they have interrogated a suspect for a day? People will say whatever you want them to say just to remove themselves from the situation after a certain point of mental exhaustion. That unreliable methods of extracting information are being debated shows that the war on terror is in desperately poor shape. The CIA in particular should not be exempt from the rules of torture. They should instead be held to a higher standard of legitimate intelligence gathering given their glaring mistakes. That aside, America is fighting terrorists. You don't beat terrorists by acting like them.
Devon Kruggel
Nanaimo, B.C., Canada

Unfortunately, the war on terror isn't going to be won by futher restricting the ability of our intelligence services and our military to do what needs to be done to safeguard the population from an enemy that will stop at nothing to destroy our way of life. Noble ideals of setting standards that the world would have us represent are all well and good but will only serve to hamper our attempts to destroy al Qaeda, its partners and its imitators. Certainly, removing torture as an interrogation technique plays right into our enemies' hands.
David Lloyd
San Francisco, Calif.

We don't like it when other countries use torture and seem to look down on them for it, so why are we entertaining the idea of using it ourselves? By using torture, that is saying that it is okay for other countries to use it.
Lee
California

In case you didn't realize this, torture isn't being used to force confessions about crimes. It is being used to obtain information from known terrorists to locate terrorist cells, weapons caches, and terrorist safe houses. If torturing a terrorist allows us to obtain information that can save U.S. soldiers, sailors, and Marines, then so be it. We need to take the gloves off, not handcuff our troops from doing what they need to do to save American lives.
Anonymous
Norfolk, Va.

What has happened to America? For two hundred years we have prided ourselves on believing "that all men are created equal," and we have championed human rights around the globe, trying to make this a more just world. Should we abandon our morals as soon as we are attacked by foes? The Bush administration has decided to ignore our moral and legal responsibilities as soon as the going got tough. This is weakness, not strength, and brings shame upon us all.
David Olson
Weehawken, N.J.

When difficult circumstances present themselves, I believe that the United States should do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety of our nation. Hopefully when those circumstances present themselves, the government will be meticulous in its decision to use such tactics.
Metts
Eaton Rapids, Mich.

At what point does torture in itself become terror? When do we become the people we are fighting against? I think it is outrageous to think that the United States is even thinking about this. Maybe if we do put this in to law the global community will finally stand up and put America in its place.
Ryan Johnson
Minneapolis, Minn.

A better question is: Should innocent civilians be exempt from being murdered by terrorists? Until they are, the CIA should be exempt from U.S. rules on torture.
Paul Determan
San Diego, Calif.

Imagine your child picked up in a sweep in a foriegn country, taken to a secret location, tortured for information, refused counsel ... I'm sorry. There are other legal, humane ways to get info. Torture is immoral, and anyone who advocates torture is immoral.
Diane Corl
Louisville, Colo.

What happened to this country anyway that could allow members of the government to even think about supporting torture? Until now, I never thought America could be capable of such things.
Dan
Richmond, Va.

These terrorists cut prisioners heads off. They burn and hang the bodies of contractors off bridges. Why should we be forced to use half measures that might save our peoples lives? You are mistaken if you think they would treat you with dignity and not kill you if they had the chance. Torture is a means to gather the information we need.
Anonymous
Dallas, Texas

That allowing torture is being debated is in itself amoral, tantamount to debating the legalization of child pornography. Some detainees are completely innocent, does that help everyone with this "debate"?
Steven Manning
San Francisco, Calif.

The U.S. should not torture anyone, period. But interrogation and torture are different. Physical torture is wrong. Messing with someone's head (lying about family, where the detainee is, etc.) is a good technique. Sleep deprivation or exposure to cold and/or loud music does not seem to be torture to me.
Michael Snyder
Milford, Conn.

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