Torture, terrorism, and the moral prohibition on killing non-combatants

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511581199.003

2 - Torture, terrorism, and the moral prohibition on killing non-combatants

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 September 2009

Alex J. Bellamy

Edited by

Werner G. K. Stritzke ,

Stephan Lewandowsky ,

David Denemark ,

Joseph Clare and

Frank Morgan

Show author details

Werner G. K. Stritzke: Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, Perth
Stephan Lewandowsky: Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, Perth
David Denemark: Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, Perth
Joseph Clare: Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, Perth
Frank Morgan: Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, Perth

Book contents

Get access

Summary

It is a curious fact that torture and terrorism tend to go hand in hand. When liberal states that would not normally use torture to extract information and confessions are confronted by terrorism, they are often tempted to use the very means that they would normally repudiate: examples include the UK in Northern Ireland, Spanish authorities in relation to the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), Israel and its various terrorist foes, the French authorities in Algeria, and the USA and its allies in the so-called “War on Terror.” The reverse also seems true; namely, far from stemming the tide of terrorism, the use of torture as a counter-terrorism tool seems to fan the flames. British repression in Northern Ireland coincided with the expansion of the IRA and the increased lethality of its violence. Images of torture at Abu Ghraib in Iraq have helped al-Qaeda recruiters and encouraged the radicalization of Islamic communities in various parts of the world. It is no coincidence, for example, that one of the perpetrators of the failed 2007 bomb attacks on British airports was an Iraqi angered by what he perceived as the mistreatment of his people by the Western occupiers.

This chapter seeks to explore the question of why terrorism and torture appear to be linked. I begin by considering the strategic-imperative argument – the claim that torture is a sometimes unfortunate but necessary response to “ticking bomb” terrorists, a lesser-evil scenario where governments are forced to chose between the rights of the suspected terrorist and the right of those whose life would be preserved by extracting the necessary information.

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Terrorism and Torture
An Interdisciplinary Perspective
, pp. 18 - 43

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511581199.003 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abi-Hashem, P. (2004). Peace and war in the Middle East: a psychopolitical and sociocultural perspective. In Moghaddam, F. M. and Marsella, A. J. (eds.), Understanding Terrorism: Psychosocial Roots, Consequences and Interventions (pp.49–69). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar

Allhoff, F. (2003). Terrorism and torture. International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 17, 355–373.CrossRef Google Scholar

Anderson, S., and Sloan, S. (1995). Historical Dictionary of Terrorism. Metuchen: The Scarecrow Press.Google Scholar

Anon. (2004). Ashcroft: Hold torture memo. June 9. Agence France Presse. Retrieved March 28, 2005, from www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,6119,2–10–1460.

Barber, R. (1974). The Knight and Chivalry (rev. edn.). Woodbridge: The Boydell Press.Google Scholar

Bass, G.J. (2000). Stay the Hand of Vengeance: The Politics of War Crimes Tribunals. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar

Bellamy, A. J. (2006). Just Wars: From Cicero to Iraq. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar

Bellamy, A. J. (2008). The Responsibility to Protect: The Global Effort to End Mass Atrocities. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar

Bellamy, A.J., and Hanson, M. (2002). Justice beyond orders? Australia and the International Criminal Court. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 56, 417–433.CrossRef Google Scholar

Bollardière, J.P. de. (1972). Bataille d'Alger, bataille de l'homme [Battle of Algiers, Battle of Man]. Paris: Desclée de Brouwer.Google Scholar

,British Institute of Human Rights (1975). Detention: Minimum Standards of Treatment. London: Rose Publishing Inc.Google Scholar

Brownlie, I. (1972). Interrogation in depth: the Compton and Parker reports. Modern Law Review, 35, 501–507.Google Scholar

,Center for Cooperative Research (2005). Context of February 1995. Retrieved March 12, 2005, from www.cooperativeresearch.org/context/jsp?item.000293.thirdplot.html.

Christopher, P. (1994). The Ethics of War and Peace: An Introduction to Legal and Moral Issues. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar

Coady, C.A.J. (2002). Terrorism, just war and supreme emergency. In Coady, T. and O'Keefe, M. (eds.), Terrorism and Justice: Moral Argument in a Threatened World (pp. 33–50). Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar

,Compton Committee (1971). Report of the Enquiry into Allegation against the Security Forces of Physical Brutality in Northern Ireland Arising out of Events on the 31st August 1971. London: HMSO.Google Scholar

Conroy, J. (2000). Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People: The Dynamics of Torture. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar

Crenshaw, M. (2003). The problem of objectivity in definition. In D.J. Whittaker (ed.), The Terrorism Reader (2nd edn., pp. 7–18). London: Routledge.Google Scholar

Dershowitz, A.M. (2002). Why Terrorism Works. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar

Elshtain, J.B. (2003). Just War against Terror: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar

Evans, M. D., and Morgan, R. (1998). Preventing Torture: A Study of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman Degrading Treatment and Punishment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Feinberg, J. (1973). Social Philosophy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar

Gedye, R. (2004). British torture row envoy loses clearance for Uzbekistan post. October 12. Daily Telegraph.

Goodin, R. E. (2006). What's Wrong with Terrorism?Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar

Haritos-Fatouros, M. (2003). The Psychological Origins of Institutionalized Torture. London: Routledge.Google Scholar

Hartigan, R. S. (1966). Saint Augustine on war and killing: the problem of the innocent. Journal of the History of Ideas, 27, 195–204.CrossRef Google Scholar

Jenkins, P. (2003). Ages of Terror: What We Can and Can't Know about Terrorism. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar

Kaeuper, R.W. (1999). Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Keen, M. H. (1965). The Laws of War in the Late Middle Ages. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar

Lambert, L. (1945). Traité théorique et pratique de police judiciaire [Theory and Practice of Criminal Investigation]. Paris: Chapitne.Google Scholar

Commission, Landau (1987). Report of the Commission of Enquiry into the Methods of Investigation of the General Security Service Regarding Hostile Terrorist Activity, Part I. Jerusalem: Government of Israel.Google Scholar

Levinson, S. (2003). The debate on torture: war against virtual states. Dissent, 50, 79–89.Google Scholar

Lewis, A. (2004). Making torture legal. July 15. New York Review, 15, 24–30.Google Scholar

Lifton, R. J. (1986). The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar

Lowry, D. R. (1972). Ill-treatment, brutality and torture: some thoughts upon the “treatment” of Irish political prisoners. De Paul Law Review, 22, 553–581.Google Scholar

MacMaster, N. (2002). The torture controversy (1998–2002): towards a “new history” of the Algerian war?Modern and Contemporary France, 10, 449–459.CrossRef Google Scholar

MacMaster, N. (2004). Torture: from Algiers to Abu Ghraib. Race & Class, 46, 1–21.CrossRef Google Scholar

Massu, J. (1972). La vraie Bataille d'Alger [The True Battle of Algiers]. Evreux: Plon.Google Scholar

Mayer, J. (2005). Outsourcing torture. February 14. New Yorker, p. 3.

McKeogh, C. (2002). Innocent Civilians: The Morality of Killing in War. London: Palgrave.CrossRef Google Scholar

Mill, J.S. (1867). Dissertations and Discussions (2nd edn.). London: Longman.Google Scholar

Murphy, D. (2002). Filipino police unscover 1995 leads to September 11 plot. February 14. Christian Science Monitor, 489.Google Scholar

O'Boyle, M. (1977). Torture and emergency powers under the European Convention of Human Rights: Ireland vs. United Kingdom. American Journal of International Law, 71, 897–907.CrossRef Google Scholar

Paret, P. (1964). French Revolutionary Warfare from Indochina to Algeria. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar

Peters, E. (1996). Torture. University Park, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar

Pictet, J. (ed.) (1960). The Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 – Commentary: III Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva: ICRC.

Plato, (1998). The Republic (ed. and trans. Waterfield, R.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Posner, R. (2002). The best offense. September 2. The New Republic, 28.Google Scholar

Press, E. (2003). In torture we trust? March 31. The Nation, 8–17.Google Scholar

Rodin, D. (2003). War and Self-Defense. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Rodley, N. S. (1987). The Treatment of Prisoners under International Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar

Rose, D. (2004). Revealed: the full story of the Guantanamo Britons. March 14. Observer.

Rosenberg, H. (2003). Terror and immigration law. March 31. The Nation, 6–7.Google Scholar

Roy, J. (1972). J'accuse le general Massu [I Accuse General Massu]. Paris: Seuil.Google Scholar

Russell, F.H. (1975). The Just War in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Setunga, P., and Cheeseman, N. (eds.) (2001). Torture: A Crime against Humanity. Hong Kong: Asian Human Rights Commission.

Shue, H. (1978). Torture. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 7, 124–143.Google Scholar

Silke, A. (2003). Becoming a terrorist. In Silke, A. (ed.), Terrorists, Victims and Society: Psychological Perspectives on Terrorism and Its Consequences (pp. 29–53). London: Wiley.CrossRef Google Scholar

Writers, Staff (2002). US decries abuse but defends interrogators. December 26. Washington Post, A12.

Tzu, Sun (1963). The Art of War (trans. Griffith, Samuel). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Sussman, D. (2005). What's wrong with torture?Philosophy and Public Affairs, 33, 1–33.CrossRef Google Scholar

Symons, J. (2007). International Legitimacy: Contesting the Domestic Analogy. Ph.D. thesis, University of Melbourne.

Tilly, C. (2002). Violence, terror, and politics as usual. Boston Review, 27, 21–24.Google Scholar

Twining, W.L., and Twining, P. E. (1973). Bentham on torture. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, 24, 305–356.Google Scholar

Vidal-Naquet, P. (1963). Torture: Cancer of Democracy. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar

Walzer, M. (1977). Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar

Weiss, P. (2002). Terrorism, counterterrorism and international law. Arab Studies Quarterly, 24, 11–24.Google Scholar

Whittaker, D.J. (2002). Terrorism: Understanding the Global Threat. London: Longman.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this chapter is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.