Torture camps? (POST #350!! Woo! Yay!)
There's been a lot of stink in the press about CIA torture prisons in Europe, and VP Cheney's penchant for torture in general. They all say it's for the defense of this country; to root out terrorists. But human rights activists are solidly against it.
That having been said, on Nation States, they have a kind of role-play for government afficionados (or whatever). Here's one of the scenarios it suggests to its players
Which would you choose? If you pick option 1, you're siding with the CIA and Dick Cheney; and you're against the rights activists. If you pick option 2, it's flip-flopped. And if you pick option 3, you're probably against both the government (maybe) AND the activists. Is there an option 4? What else can we be doing to extract information from people who KNOW certain things that are harmful to our way of life?
That having been said, on Nation States, they have a kind of role-play for government afficionados (or whatever). Here's one of the scenarios it suggests to its players
The Issue:
Due to the recent capture of a foreign terrorist in First Xanadu, high-level military officials want the government to authorize torture to extract information about other terrorist activities.
The Debate:
"Torture is the only way that we can get these idiots to tell us anything," says General Billy Longbottom of First Xanadu's special forces division. "After all, violence is the only shared language we have with these scum."
"Are you kidding?" states political activist Charles Li. "Torture never works. If anything, it should be outlawed. What do we want to become, genocidal maniacs?
"There's nothing wrong with torture, but we can't make it too obvious," says Secretary of Defense Randy Clinton. "How about we simply ask them nicely, and then, if they don't tell us, we kill them? That's better just from the intimidation."
Which would you choose? If you pick option 1, you're siding with the CIA and Dick Cheney; and you're against the rights activists. If you pick option 2, it's flip-flopped. And if you pick option 3, you're probably against both the government (maybe) AND the activists. Is there an option 4? What else can we be doing to extract information from people who KNOW certain things that are harmful to our way of life?
posted by xanadian at 2:04 PM
1 Comments:
Option #4? If the government tentatively identifies a terrorist, have him shadowed, followed, listened to with all the technology at its disposal. If the identification is correct, you'll be building a prosecution case that will hold up in court, at the same that you are getting all the information that these individuals are privvy too. This isn't new, you know, it used to be called counter-intelligence operations. No point outing an enemy spy - start using them against the enemy... When they lose their usefulness, or seem to become too threatening, use the gathered evidence to have them prosecuted for real. Put them away for life, but encourage them to write books about their life ;).
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