Editorials
Fighting "terrorism" with torture
Torture is a form of terrorism: there are no justifications for it
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
In the middle ages in Europe torture drew distinction from its association with confessed truth, repentance, and salvation, yet by 1874 Victor Hugo could write "torture has ceased to exist." But torture was always likely to outlive its obituarists, and Amnesty International has regularly recorded its use in more than half the nations on earth. Is "the war on terrorism" again legitimising torture as it was in the middle ages?
The accounts of torture victims are horrifying enough but at
least these victims survived: Primo Levi reminded us in The
Drowned and the Saved that the public record is denuded of the
accounts of the drowned.1 In recent years, reflecting the
authority imputed to instrumental reasoning and medical arguments, the
anti-torture movement has publicised the physical or mental injuries
that can result from torture. However, the ordinary citizen does not
regard torture as repugnant because it may have medical consequences, but
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- The moral questions of war
- Richard Smith
BMJ 2003 326: 0.[Full Text] [PDF]
Rapid Responses:
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- Stop the Suffering
- S. Tawqeer Rashid
bmj.com, 11 Apr 2003 [Full text] - War is not the answer
- Hyman Davies
bmj.com, 11 Apr 2003 [Full text] - ARE WE LEGITIMISING TERRORISM
- mohammed shamim absar
bmj.com, 12 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Medical involvement in torture
- Gurli Bagnall
bmj.com, 12 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Shame on Western Democracy
- Muheez Alani Durosinmi
bmj.com, 14 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Human rights for the victims of terror
- A.J Shyam Kumar
bmj.com, 14 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Can this be happening
- Rashan Haniffa, et al.
bmj.com, 14 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Advocacy of Torture not surprising
- Ian J Goodwin
bmj.com, 15 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Both sides of the argument must be considered
- William Carey
bmj.com, 16 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Re: Both sides of the argument must be considered
- Mark Struthers
bmj.com, 16 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Freedom of Speech
- Babar B Chaudhri
bmj.com, 16 Apr 2003 [Full text] - The dangers in making heros of terrorists
- Richard G Fiddian-Green
bmj.com, 16 Apr 2003 [Full text] - ?Time to think
- Anne Savage
bmj.com, 19 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Anti-torture is not anti American (or anti Israel)
- Tom Marshall, et al.
bmj.com, 21 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Power Doctrine
- Siroos Mirzaei, et al.
bmj.com, 22 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Shock
- Kim A. James, et al.
bmj.com, 22 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Re: Anti-torture is not anti American (or anti Israel)
- William Carey
bmj.com, 28 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Medical involvement in torture,psychiatric aspects
- Detlef Degner
bmj.com, 29 Apr 2003 [Full text] - Horrified
- hazel m hawker
bmj.com, 30 Apr 2003 [Full text]
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