Quote:Any action, when applied by autorised personnel on persons in their custody, and not as a part of a legal sentence, to force someone to do something against their will, is torture.No. The United Nations Convention Against Torture standard is "severe mental or physical pain." It also bans "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment. There are plenty of interrogation methods, whereby you "force someone to do something against their will" by giving up information, that are neither torture nor otherwise banned.
Were they POWs, they would have immunity. But, many of those captured in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq fail to meet the criteria for being POWs, and therefore are covered under civilian law.
Quote:Well then, are you against Waterboarding, and any other 'technique' employed for the same purpose? Or do you think that laws should be adjusted to allow the methods you find useful enough?Waterboarding to obtain information is torture. Asking questions to obtain information is a 'technique employed for the same purpose', but is not torture. Somewhere in between, as Pete said, there is a line. The thread discussion is partly about "where is the line", but it is more about "where should the line be", and in that regard, it's been interesting hearing what Pete has to say. His providing his opinion is in no way similar to Bush deciding that his arbitrary fiat supersedes international law.
-Jester