Back when I was in middle school we were tasked with writing an argumentative essay on an opinion we disagreed with. I chose torture. While I still believe torture is immoral, I also still believe it's a super valuable skill to be able to present an argument against an opinion that you actually hold. Critical thinking and empathy are skills worth training. While my writing skills as a middle schooler could have also used more training, I present my pro-torture argument as it was originally written. I will reiterate the disclaimer that I still personally disagree with this opinion, but that being said here is the essay.



Torturing Terrorist (April 2, 2014)
On September 11, 2001 nearly three thousand people died from a terrorist plot (“9/11 Attacks.”)--a plot that could have been stopped through the torturing of the responsible terrorists. The United States should torture our terrorist and other people that help aid the terrorist to defend our people. Torturing these people could help unfold future terrorist plots and save more lives. Torturing these terrible people is also completely moral and justified. We as a nation should torture these creatures as a way to stop future terrorist attacks, as it is completely moral to do so.

Torturing terrorist could help us prepare or even stop future terrorist plots on home soil. According to Richard Cheney, vice president under the Bush Administration, two weeks of torture allowed the United States to stop a plot to blow up several airlines in the Pacific Ocean. This method of harsh torturing worked many times in the past, so it is proven to work and can halt future plots. Under harsh torture the United States was able to get lots of information; this torture is what eventually led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden (“Public Opinion”). This also proves that by torturing we can capture or kill known terrorists--the same way that we found Bin Laden. “The first memo, dated August 2002, grants authorization to use harsh interrogation techniques on a high-ranking terrorist, Abu Zubaydah, on the ground that previous methods hadn't been working. The next three memos cite the successes of those methods as a justification for their continued use.” (Soufan) This quote proves that torture has worked before, and we should continue to use this method on highly dangerous and wanted terrorists to gain intel, like what happened with Abu Zubaydah. We could also use these methods to help find terrorist like Bin Laden and stop bombings, like the plot to blow up the airliners.

Torture is moral and should be encouraged as a way of gathering intel. Nearly 50% of poll responders believe that the United States should torture terrorist; about 3% of these responders had no opinion (“Human Rights”). Also, according to Richard Cheney, “[Torture is] legal, essential, justified, successful and the right thing to do.” This proves that torture must be moral because the former vice president and many Americans believe in torture. Torturing terrorist is also moral because we are acting in self-defense, trying to save our country, instead of torturing aimlessly for grins and giggles. Terrorists have killed thousands of humans so why should these “excuses of human beings” be treated with kindness and respect (Buchanan). Torture should be used on terrorists because it is moral and right to hurt terrorists for the defence of our country.

Some might say that under the third Geneva convention in 1949 torture is outlawed (“Torture”), that is true, but the torturing of war criminals is completely legal, and terrorists are considered war criminals (Buchanan). This is because it is completely legal to deny the Geneva laws when dealing with war criminals (Buchanan). Even if a person was not considered a war criminal, you could use enhanced interrogation sometimes called “baby torture” to gain some intel on what that person or criminal was doing/planning (“Human Rights”). This “baby torture” is also completely legal under the third Geneva Convention, and is also encouraged in the United States. Torture should be used on terrorists because it is completely legal and can help stop terrorism, even if officials can only use enhanced interrogation.

The United States should use torture as a weapon against terrorists and terrorism in order to defend our homeland. Torture can help the U.S. because it can give intel about bombings and planned attacks on U.S. soil. Torture should also be used because it is a completely moral way to learn about other terrorists, it is also allowed under the Geneva Convention. We should keep torturing terrorists to stop the next 9/11 and to protect the people of the United States. We don’t need another 3,000 bodies lying lifeless on their ground because we were afraid to harm one terrorist in self-defense.