The Collegian

Issue date: 9/12/06 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Ken Fung

In a regrettable move, President Bush has announced that we are now extending Geneva Convention protections to some Islamic terrorists currently in our possession. Those now enjoying this protection are terrorists like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed-the architect of 9/11.

The terrorists follow no laws and target civilians. So, why are we giving them protection? They did not extend Geneva Convention protection to Nick Berg, Paul Johnson, or Daniel Pearl. We should use the best means we have to protect others from similar fates by doing everything we can to get information out of these terrorists, even if that means torture.

Some who oppose the use of torture to extract intelligence feel that the information we would get may not be reliable. They feel that the person being interrogated would say anything to end the pain. But torture can include a wide range of effective coercive measures, not just physical pain. If we arbitrarily take all these options off the table, our ability to protect ourselves is weakened. If the information the terrorist has means lives-innocent lives-then making the terrorist a little uncomfortable seems pretty minor in comparison. Furthermore, we know that many terrorists, as part of their training, receive instructions on how to resist normal interrogation techniques.

It is not inconceivable that harsher and more wide ranging methods could be the only option to extract the needed information. A further reason to shun this move to give protections to terrorists is that by announcing these new rules to the world the terrorists now know what to expect. This would heavily limit our interrogation options even further.

We should go so far as to declare the fact that we do torture as a deterrent to those thinking about committing terrorist acts. They should know that if they commit violent acts, we will get them. When they are detained, it will not be pleasant for them in anyway.

Instead, in too many cases, when we capture a terrorist we give them clean clothes, a warm place to sleep, a copy of the Koran and food prepared to the dietary guidelines of their culture.

If you want to talk about torture, listen to the phone recordings of those trapped in the World Trade Center. Listen to the people call for help, saying that they do not want to die, but realize their life is over. That is real torture.

The terrorists who would gladly inflict that on every one of us have no right to get any protections from us.

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