Letter: Torture Antiquated and Useless
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To the Editor:
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s recently released report on the CIA's interrogation program shows that torture is an outdated, inhumane, and ultimately ineffective practice that ruins the lives of innocent people like you and me.
When I learned about the experiences that the suspects were forced to go through by the CIA, the details were, in the words of John McCain, "a tough pill to swallow," to say the least. The everyday things we enjoy were stripped from these people.
Human beings were forced to be nearly drowned multiple times a week, and kept in a dungeon, locked away from their families. They were deprived of basic necessities such as sleep for up to a week at a time. Most of us can’t function if we don’t get our nightly eight hours and cup of coffee. Even their choice of whether to eat or not was ripped away through a grisly process described as "rectal feeding."
But these methods surely must have given us some helpful information, right? Wrong. They gave the CIA absolutely no information that they didn’t already know. Which means that innocent men and women were inhumanely tortured for absolutely nothing for years upon years. Over one hundred people have been scarred for life for no gain whatsoever.
Certainly, the panic surging throughout the United States in the months following 9/11 put national security forces on extremely high alert in order to prevent another attack against America. However, what is not excusable, under any circumstances, is treating a fellow human being, no matter who they are, what color their skin is, or who they pray to, like an animal, which is exactly what the CIA was allowed to do.
These events are disgusting and revolting. They are difficult to read without cringing. However, they must be confronted by and shown to the American people if these barbarian practices are ever to be stopped. Torture belongs to the Middle Ages and the history books. Not the 21st century.
Joseph Liporace
Clarksburg, United States
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