Well, I suppose a definition of torture is needed. The word is so overloaded: my date was pure torture; don't take that class, it's torture; my tooth is torturing me.
Let's define it more narrowly as "non-punitive action causing severe mental or physical discomfort aimed at extracting useful information".
As I recall, the government tried to define that level of discomfort to include things like permanent damage, mental anguish, fear of immediate death, etc.
I assert that, since gauging another person's pain is subjective and difficult, it would be near impossible to define a line between 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' pain. With one person, pulling a single fingernail will make them spill their life history, hereas another may take all but name, rank, and serial number to their grave.
That's another reason I think we should just chuck the whole concept - torture, or 'aggressive interrogation', etc - and apply our current protections to all prisoners. Cause it would be too hard to define what is and is not acceptable.... |
