Torture

Torture has long been a topic of interest to a distinct minority of people interested in world politics and global justice. As it was often seen as the tactic of distant police states, the topic often failed to interest many students. How quickly things seem to have changed after 9-11, with discussions of “tough” interrogation techniques that may or not met some strict definition of torture, or of conditions such as the “ticking bomb scenario” where any tactic, including torture, seems warranted to some.

Listen Up

• Here is an NPR discussion with Sister Dianna Ortiz (10:06), a Roman Catholic nun who was tortured in Guatemala in 1989 and who since founded the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition.
• Here is an NPR debate on the legality of torture (16:58), with David Luban, law professor at Georgetown, visiting professor of law at Stanford University, contributor to the forthcoming book, The Torture Debate in America and
  syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer.
• Here is an NPR interview with Joseph Lelyveld (7:08), from 6-13-2005.
• Here is a three-part documentary from WBUR, Survivng Torture: listen here: Part 1 (11:58); Part 2 (15:59); Part 3 (20:59)

Write Now

• One dimension of the debate over torture has to do with the nature of evil. What makes a person or a group evil, and what actions are wrong in combating that person or group?
• Many of us do things in our lives for which we are not proud. Why?

Read On

• More from Wikipedia on torture
• Editorials from NPR site