Throughout the past century, the United States has faced a multitude of foreign and domestic threats against the homeland. Several of these terror plots have been successfully executed, most notably the September 11th attack of 2001 and then more recently the Boston Marathon bombing of 2013. While it is nearly impossible for a country to avoid such attacks, it is the responsibility of the acting government to defend its its people from possible threats. Organizations such as the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security have developed specific tactics to exploit information from those involved with the goal to subdue the plot and save many lives as possible. These techniques have been utilized in bases such as Guantanamo Bay or Bagram, which have …show more content…
Although article three addresses torture, it does make a distinct difference between POWs and foreign unlawful combatants; in which case the Geneva Convention does not apply to unlawful combatants (Convention). Also, a country must torture a prisoner on it’s own soil in order to violate the Geneva Convention of 1949, which shows why bases such as Guatanamo Bay prison are still abiding the international law. When it comes to protecting numerous innocent lives against protecting the life of a terrorist, extreme interrogation techniques, which are legal, should be …show more content…
This tactics has been used and has produced results (Khazan). While this is an alternative torture, it isn't effective in situations such as the ticking time bomb scenario. In this scenario, time is of the essence and information is needed quickly. The friendly approach requires the trust of the terrorist, which takes time to get. Under the Bush administration, extreme interrogation was used under this exact scenario (Debate). Former CIA agent, John Kiriakou, claims that through waterboarding a Pakistani terrorist “it was like flipping a switch”, where within about thirty seconds he transferred from uncooperative to obliging (Freedman). As there may be other alternatives to torture, in a time sensitive scenario extreme methods are most