Military use of waterboarding to gather information regarding terrorist activities essay sample

There has always been a heated debate on whether torture especially waterboarding should be used by military to gather information on terrorist activities.  Waterboarding is a form of torture where water is repeatedly poured over an immobilized captive face causing him to feel like he is drowning (Solis, 2010). It is a very painful process that causes lung and brain damage due to lack of oxygen. Terrorism remains a threat to international peace and many people are of the view that every possible means should be used to gather any information that may lead to the capture of major terrorist in the world. However, the use of torture by military to gather this information remains controversial. This essay will show why the military is justified in using waterboarding as a form of torture to gather information.
Terrorist attacks have caused destruction of property, loss of innocent lives as well as causing people to live in fear of attack in their daily activities. September 11 attack on United States still remain so clear in many people lives, over 3,000 people died due to terrorist activities.  It is for such reasons that the military is justified to use any means possible to gather intelligence on such kind of attacks. It is the duty of the military to ensure that the citizens are secured both from internal and external attacks.  If this does not happen, then we cannot be able to do our daily activities in peace and the economy would eventually come to a standstill. The prosperity of any nation is dependent on the peace that prevails in the region. Many people opposed to use of waterboarding as a form of torture by the military on humanitarian reasons forget that the terrorists are not humane in any way that is why they go ahead and kill innocent people for unjustified reasons.
It is speculated that the capture of Osama bin Laden would not have been possible were it not for the use of waterboarding by US military (Kaye, 2011). This even though cannot be verified, saved so many peoples’ lives as we do not know how many people Laden was planning to kill by terrorist attacks like that of September 11. Whichever method the military used to gather the information that led to his capture to me is justified. It is everyone’s right to be safe and secure, and it is the government obligation to make that happen. This cannot happen if we go on questioning every decision that military make to ensure our safety. It is for this reason I co0nclude my essay by stating that if waterboarding will lead to the capture of all terrorists in the world, then the military should go ahead and use it.

References
Kaye, J.  (2011). New Evidence Reveals US Military Used Waterboarding – Style of
Torture, Despite Rumsfeld’s Denials. Retrieved from http://pubrecord.org/torture/9589/evidence-reveals-military/
Solis, G. D. (2010). The law of armed conflict: international humanitarian law in war.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press