Does anybody have right to torture?

 

Lately the whole media is covered of news about torture of suspected terrorist at CIA's 'Salt Pit' prison. As I read in this article the first detainee interrogated in the old abandoned brick factory north of Kabul became the model for what would later unfold in the cave-like halls of a CIA interrogation facility known as the "Salt Pit." Suspected terrorists, often were left alone in the shadows, under a barrage of shrieking music, cold, shackled and hooded. Some senior leaders in the factory did not have the linguistic or analytical experience to conduct effective questioning of CIA detainees and the result was diminished intelligence.

After reading this article I thought that nothing else can surprise me about this. But then I read another article which tells about that The United States government paid two military psychologists $80 million to develop torture tactics that were used against suspected terrorists. Even if one could get past the repulsive idea of paying someone to come up with new ways to torture people, the huge amount of taxpayer dollars spent on two individuals is simply unacceptable, especially when they didn’t seem to “invent” anything. So, basically US government paid millions of dollars for nothing. Couldn’t they spend that money for making better living conditions for US citizens instead of paying non-professional people to develop torture tactics. 

Here is one more article that I read about torturing.

This torturing is being done to know more information about Al Qaeda. I think that this torturing can’t have any excuse and the torturers should be convicted. Some people think that “they are terrorists, and they deserve it”, but I’ll say NO. No one deserves being tortured. In my opinion these people who torture terrorists are not better than they. If they require terrorists not to terrorize and torture, do they have right to do the same thing with them? I think that they can use better and more civilized methods to know the information they need. 

    

                             MUCKRAKING

          Muckraking is the action of searching out and publicizing scandalous information about famous people in an underhanded way. Muckraking is considered an early form of investigative journalism. In the early 1900’s before World War I, muckrakers reported on topics concerning crime, politics and corruption in society and were often considered watchdogs. Muckraking is considered an early form of investigative journalism. In the early 1900’s before World War I, muckrakers reported on topics concerning crime, politics and corruption in society and were often considered watchdogs. They revealed scandal among the government and important issues that led to reform. The news today is constantly filled with stories of scandal in the government in politics. Journalists and reporters indulge in different types of reporting, especially investigative journalism and have turned into modern day muckrakers.

    After long research, I’ve found a muckraking article, written by one of “McClure’s” magazine’s journalists. It has been written on February 10^th, 2014. This article attracted my attention from first words. The article’s title is “The Real Story of Slavery”. The author start his article talking about that mentioning the word ‘slavery’ most people think of the American South from the 1600s to 1800s but according to black historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., of the nearly 12 million Africans shipped across the Atlantic, only 388,000 were bound for the United States. Yet as history is told, and widely believed, the United States was the demon of the world, and is held in contempt alone for this shameful period of history.
           In author’s conviction slavery was not an American problem. It was a worldwide epidemic. Throughout history, people have been enslaved because they were vulnerable, not because of the way they looked. For most of history Europeans enslaved other Europeans, Asians enslaved other Asians, Africans enslaved other Africans.
     The author insists that it’s forgiven for student of American history to believe that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves because American education system provides wrong ideas. The worldwide evil of slavery did not come to the end because one man made a speech. Instead there were longer processes at work. It was Africans who enslaved their fellow Africans, selling some to Europeans, some to Arabs, and keeping the majority for themselves. West Africa was a slave-trading region before, during, and after Europeans arrived.  It was primarily the British, who became the destroyers of slavery not only in Europe, but in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and everywhere else. The people who began this movement were conservative religious activists—people who today would be called the “religious right.”
     The author has also mentioned that blaming Western Culture, or America, or even racism, for slavery can only be done in complete ignorance of history. Unlike the African slaves who were at least released onto dry land, these ‘white slaves,’ were often chained to their ships or the rest of their lives.

The reason that this article has been written is to destroy people’s wrong ideas about slavery and its history. Some people still think that the slavery was America’s problem but the author assures with his facts that the slavery was a worldwide epidemic.

   

                                                       Taking Chance

  Recently in our history class we watched the movie “Taking Chance”   that grabbed
my heart in the first few minutes like no other film I’ve seen recently.  This movie quickly became one of my favorites, it truly brought me to tears.

     “Taking Chance” is a movie based on real-life events. This movie has no plot, no outward dramatic conflict.  The movie is about Lt Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort officer, who accompanies the body of 19-year-old Marine Chance Phelps , back to his hometown. Chance was killed in Iraq while protecting his friends from enemy fire. Michael Strobl says goodbye to his wife and children and embarks on the journey.

     The filmmakers show us in striking detail many of the little rituals that are part of the larger procedure, from the gentle cleansing of the dead man’s fingers to the fastening of a bar-code tag to the black body bag.

     Rendering honor is one of the film's themes, and also one of its singular accomplishments. 

     Along the way, we saw the respect, the dignity, and the honor rightly given to fallen heroes. One of the good points of the movie is that not only people from military showed respect to killed hero but also all citizens not matter their age, sex or race.

     The movie teaches us enormous respect for the military uniform. It teaches us to love and honor those young men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for us. They give their lives to make us live in peaceful and safe environment. The only thing that we can give them back is the love and enormous respect.

     The movie shows the incredible gift that goes back to those who serve others without  recompense. The way Michael Strobl showed such honor and the enormous respect showed by ordinary Americans for his service and the dead soldier he was escorting was deeply touching.

     19-year-old Chance who was killed on the war is only example from thousands of victims. I think that all of us have stories of people who didn’t come back from war. They are going to war not even thinking about their own lives.

     How many of us would leave their families at the age of 19 and would join the army? I’m sure that not all of us would be brave and patriot enough to endanger our own lives to serve and make other people, living in our country, live under peaceful sky. But now we live in peace and we have to respect and honor them who make that peace for us. We should not honor only those who died in war but also those who now serve on army and put their life in danger to protect us.

     I think that one of the reasons that this movie touched me deeply is dangerous situation in my country’s border. 18-year-old boys are joining the army knowing about the forthcoming danger. Not only killed solders’ families mourn for their lost but the whole nation. Every soldier means so much for us and we respect and honor them all.

     Seeing people with military uniform make fill enormous respect. They expose themselves to inconceivable dangers under conditions of enormous hardship and fight because they want to keep the country safe. We owe them respect and gratitude - even if we think the wars they’re asked to fight are sometimes wrong.

     When his own mission is over, Michael Strobl says "I didn't know Chance Phelps before he died, but today, I miss him." Just like that we don’t know all of the soldiers who died for us be it shouldn’t prevent us to respect and miss them. 
Click here to read the essay that inspired the movie.