The Question of Torture: the Bush Administration's War on Terror

THE QUESTION OF TORTURE serves to clarify and concretize the controversy surrounding the debate on torture as it pertains to the War on Terror during the Bush Administration years. It argues that policy and rhetoric decisions made at the top of the political food chain contributed to the instances of abuse and torture that occurred in the various arenas of the war (e.g. Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, and CIA "black sites"). Such an argument is made through an analysis of what defines interrogation and torture, what techniques were in fact authorized, what factors went into determining which techniques to use, and what influence these techniques had on abuses that occurred. THE QUESTION OF TORTURE concludes with policy updates based on lessons learned and briefly addresses the efforts made by the Obama Administration in regards to torture, interrogation and terrorism. The issues addressed in here go to the heart of a liberal democracy's key challenge: how to balance safety and freedom, security and liberty, protection and privacy.