Most people would consider torture to be cruel… maybe even unusual.
Isn't that what makes it torture?
Is it torture if after having experienced it, you can stand up, cough and blow you nose, then walk away normally? I'd say it's intense hazing.
Punishment is not interrogation.
Are we to assume everyone on the planet, even enemy nationals, are protected by the constitution?
That certainly makes war a tough row to hoe.
The key is cruel AND unusual. Even if it is cruel, if it is not unusual, it can’t, by definition, be “cruel and unusual”.
Either change the constitution to be “cruel or unusual”, or shut up about it.
As with most things, when they get around to doing it to us, we’ll call it what it is. Of course, by then it will be too late.
I believe that the Constitution only applies to (or was only intended to) protections for US citizens.
The Constitution says very little about how wars should be fought.
by the court as a result of the trial...the court cannot sentence someone to torture...
Most people would consider torture to be cruel… maybe even unusual. Isn't that what makes it torture?
The Bill of Rights applies to American citizens or legal residents.
The terrorists aren't members off this class. Nor are they members of any class covered by the Geneva Convention.
As "illegal combatants", they are subject to being shot on sight, if the capturing force prefers. From there, it's not a long stretch to allowing "extreme interrogation tehniques".
Personally, I would not consider waterboarding "torture". The subject is not injured or maimed. They walk out of the room in the same condition they walked in.
And, since we subject 28,000 of our own troops and agents to the practice to familiarize them with it, I don't think we're in the business of torturing our own troops.
You're talking the difference between punishment under the penal system for crimes committed - a bit different than trying to stop a large-scale murder that is in the mill.
One case is someone stole your daughter's car and has been through the process.
The other scenario is the person has kidnapped your daughter and she will die a horrible death if you don't get info from him right now - what constraints do you put on yourself?