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Summary Of Torture's Terrible Toll By John Mccain

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In " Torture's Terrible Toll", an essay written by John McCain, the topic of torture is highly discouraged. McCain feels very strongly that it should not be allowed except in only a very high risk and time sensitive situation. McCain makes six claims throughout the rest of the essay. They are that the abuse of prisoners harms the war effort, that prisoner abuse has a terrible toll and threatens our moral standings, that mistreatment of prisoner harms us more than our enemies, that we shouldn't have to compromise our values to get information, that torture is torture whether physical or mental, and that we should not compromise our values and lose the sense of honor that we hold. Basically, he is saying that the United States should show that they are different from other nations. These claims all back up his thesis which is when he says: "It is far better to embrace a standard that might be violated in extraordinary circumstances than to lower our standards to accommodate a remote contingency, confusing personnel in the field and sending precisely the …show more content…

Dershowitz, he is the author of the essay "The Case for Torture Warrants". Dershowitz is more in favor of torture than Young and McCain. He believes that an authority figure should make the decision to torture and only torture if a warrant is issued. He also believes in non-lethal torture that makes people uncomfortable but does not harm the individual. In his essay, he gives the example of the Israeli security service torturing a suspected terrorist by placing a "smelly sack over his head and shake him violently" (Dershowitz 687). Dershowitz says that if a call needed to be made and a terrorist needed to be tortured in the case of a "ticking time bomb" that " We all agree that this should be a decision made at the highest level possible- by the president or the Secretary of Defense, if there is time to have such a dreadful decision made by accountable public figures" (Dershowitz

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Mahatma Gandhi, the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement states “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” This is important because torture is brutal on the body and mind. The article “Torture’s Terrible Toll” by John McCain is more convincing then the article “The Case for Torture” by Michael Levin because McCain provides more logical reasoning, he adds his own personal experience of being a captured prisoner during the Vietnam War, and he creates an emotional bond with people around the world. Through more logical reasoning McCain Argument is more valid than Levin.

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