TORTURE =S

For me, torture is treathing someone, physical and psychological abuse, and putting him/her in a situation in which his/her life is on the hands of another person(s).

I think that torture either mental or physical is something really bad, but though I'm catholic and I believe in god, I think that there are some persons that really deserve torture, maybe not death, but a really severe punishment so that they pay what they did.

In the case of death row inmates, I think that they really suffer a lot, imagine just being locked between four walls, just waiting for the day in which your life will end; and of course, it is a form of torture, mental because they might go nuts with their heads spinning around with the thought that everything is over, and physical because the government has taken the decision to kill him, and if he is lucky, he won't suffer a lot.

I think that this situation violates human rights, because the Constitution of Human Rights states that no one has the right to private anybody else from his/her life; but in death penalties, the government is kind of breaking this law because they choose to kill; and in my opinion I think that the ones who must be killed are rapers, pedophyles, high risk kidnappers, and narcotraficants, because if not, years later they will be put out on liberty, and most of them will just go and commit more crimes again.

Excerpts on Death Penalty

 

The Death Penalty is a form of torture

 

The cruelty of torture is evident. Like torture, an execution constitutes an extreme physical and mental assault on a person already rendered helpless by government authorities. Abolitionist groups claim that the cruelty of the death penalty is manifest not only in the execution but in the time spent under sentence of death, during which the prisoner is constantly contemplating his or her own death at the hands of the state. Prison is an extraordinarily severe punishment that should not be exacerbated with torture or the death penalty.

 

Torture Defined

Torture of prisoners violates the Eight Amendment’s provision against Cruel and Unusual Punishment, and also constitutes a violation of several international laws. The United Nations Convention on Torture defined torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.”

 

An example of torture in the US Criminal Justice System

 

In May 1998, a lawsuit was filed concerning conditions for death row inmates in Idaho Maximum Security Institution. The suit states that inmates are held in solitary confinement for 163 of every week's 168 hours in small concrete and steel cells with solid metal doors and a narrow slit for a window. Inmates are allowed out of their cells for a maximum of one hour a day, excluding weekends, for recreation, alone and handcuffed in one of 12 enclosed wire mesh pens measuring approximately seven by 15 feet. The prisoner named in the lawsuit, Randy McKinney, states that he has lived under such a regime for 16 years, and that such treatment constitutes torture.

The Bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma took the lives of 168 and left over 800 injured. April 19, 1995 at 9:02 a.m. CST, the Ryder truck, containing an excess of 6,200 pounds (2,800 kg) of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, nitro methane, and diesel fuel mixture, detonated in front of the north side of the nine-story Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The blast destroyed a third of the building and created a 30-foot (9.1 m) wide, 8-foot (2.4 m) deep crater on NW 5th Street next to the building.^[30] The blast destroyed or damaged 324 buildings in a sixteen-block radius, destroyed or burned 86 cars around the site, and shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings (the broken glass alone accounted for 5% of the death total and 69% of the injuries outside the Murrah Federal building). The destruction of the buildings left several hundred people homeless and shut down multiple offices in downtown Oklahoma City. Some investigators determined that they were sympathizers of a militia movement and that their motive was to retaliate against the government's handling of the Waco and Ruby Ridge incidents. The only vehicles used were a Ryder truck and a mercury merquis.   

World Trade Center bombing (1993)

The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a car bomb was detonated below Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,500 lb (680 kg) urea nitrate-hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower (Tower One) into the South Tower (Tower Two), bringing both towers down and killing thousands of people. It failed to do so, but did kill six people and injured 1,042.
The attack was planned by a group of conspirators including Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, and four other guys, who received financing from Khaled Shaikh Mohammed, Yousef's uncle. In March 1994, four men were convicted of carrying out the bombing: Abouhalima, Ajaj, Ayyad and Salameh. The charges included conspiracy, explosive destruction of property and interstate transportation of explosives. And in November 1997, two more were convicted: Yousef, the mastermind behind the bombings, and Eyad Ismoil, who drove the truck carrying the bomb.
Ramzi Yousef and a Jordanian friend, Eyad Ismoil, drove a yellow Ryder van into Lower Manhattan, and pulled into the public parking garage beneath the World Trade Center around noon. Yousef ignited the 20-foot fuse, and took off. Twelve minutes later, at 12:17:37 pm, the bomb exploded in the underground garage.

Though the cause of the blast was not immediately known, with some suspecting a transformer explosion, agents and bomb technicians from the ATF, FBI, and the NYPD quickly responded to the scene. The magnitude of the explosion was far beyond that of a transformer explosion.
A granite memorial fountain honoring the six victims of the bombing was designed by Elyn Zimmerman and dedicated in 1995 on Austin J. Tobin Plaza, directly above the site of the explosion. It contained the names of the six people who perished in the attack as well as an inscription that read:
"On February 26, 1993, a bomb set by terrorists exploded below this site. This horrible act of violence killed innocent people, injured thousands, and made victims of us all."

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/1993_World_Trade_Center_Bombing_by_Eric_Ascalon_WTC5.jpg

The World Trade Center bombing

Lockerbie bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 (1988)

The explosion of the Pan Am Flight 103 was the the second worst terrorist attack, after the one at the World Trade Center in 2001. This attempt took place on December 21, 1988 during the flight from London to New York, but the explosion occurred in Lockerbie, Scotland. Unfortunately, all the passengers died, who were 243 and 13 crew members, besides the eleven persons who were on ground; which makes a total 270 victims.
A person described this attack like meteors falling from the sky. Documents say that at 6:56 p.m. reached 31,000 ft. and that seven minutes later, at 7:03 p.m. that plane exploded. The residents of Scotdale saw pieces from the plane and pieces of human body falling from the sky, as well as gasoline who spit all over the roofs and turned all the houses on fire.
One of the wings of the plane hit the ground with too much force that it created a crater about 155 ft. long; the nose of the plane landed almos intact in a field; and wreckage was thrown over 55 squared miles, causing 21 houses to be destroyed.
Many people think that besides the flight carried with 21 passengers from different countries, it was an special attack to the United States becuase 189 of 259 were American citizens and because the attack shattered with sense of safety and security in America.
Besides the terrible consequences, no one could do justice, until eleven years later because the two men that were form Lybia and who were thought that caused the attack, were protected by their own country. It was until on January 31, 2001, Megrahi was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Fhimah was acquitted.
The bomb was made out of the plastic explosive Semtex and was activated by a timer. The bomb was hidden in a Toshiba radio-cassette player which in turn, was inside a brown Samsonite suitcase. But the real problem for investigators has been who put the bomb in the suitcase and how did the bomb get on the plane?The investigators believe they received a "big break" when a man and his dog were walking in a forest about 80 miles from Lockerbie. While walking, the man found a T-shirt which turned out to have pieces of the timer in it. Tracing the T-shirt as well as the maker of the timer, investigators felt confident they knew who bombed Flight 103 - Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah.

The Sinking of the Lusitania

Its construction had begun in 1903 with the goal of building the fastest liner afloat. She soon was known as "Greyhound of the Seas". On May 1, 1915, the ship departed New York City bound for Liverpool. On the afternoon of May 7, she was steaming off the coast of Ireland within easy sailing distance of her destination. Since she was the fastest liner, she relied on her speed to defend against submarine attack. However, she was not running at full speed because of fog and was not taking an evasive zigzag course. Actually, the menace of submarine attack had reduced her passenger list to only half her capacity.
Still, unfortunately, the Lusitania and the German submarine U 20 converged at about 2 pm. At 2:10 pm the submarine fired a torpedo that hit its target amidships. The initial explosion was followed quickly by a second, more powerful, detonation. Within 20 minutes the great liner had slipped under the water, taking 1,198 victims with her out of 1,924 initially aboard. Among the dead were 138 Americans.
The reason for the attack was probably that the Germans were aware that her cargo mainly consisted of munitions and contraband destined for the British war effort. For the British Admiralty had secretly subsidized her construction with the agreement that the ship would be consigned to government service at the outbreak of war. In 1913, the Lusitania quietly entered dry dock in Liverpool and was fitted for war service. This included the installation of ammunition magazines and gun mounts on her decks.
Technology was transforming the world - this was particularly true in the world of seafaring. Just 40 years earlier, timber-framed sailing ships ruled the seas. Now, great ocean liners were cutting through the waves, carrying thousands of passengers, in relative comfort and in a short period of time, across the Atlantic divide between Europe and America. Britain, the United States and Germany fought for dominance of the seas, creating ever bigger, ever faster, ever more luxurious ocean liners.

www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snpwwi2.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A4803284

December 7th, 1941, - a date which will live in infamy - President Roosevelt

The Japanese Attack in Pearl Habor

Pearl Harbor is located in the island of Oahu in Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the Harbor is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. This attack brought the Unites States into World War II, it took place at the Pearl Harbor in Hawaii a December 7th of 1941.
This was a surprise attack of which the U.S. Navy in Pearl Harbor was not prepared for, causing devastating lass and damage to the naval fleet. The attack started with the launching of 183 planes composed mainly of dive bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters. This first attack started at 7:53 AM and the second at 8:55 AM with 180 planes of the Japanese fleet. By 1:00 PM the carriers who launched the planes were already gone back to Japan. 9 of the American fleet ships were sunk and 21 were severely damaged. About 3 hours later, the Japanese made an attack on American facilities in the Philippines.
This “war” started because the Japanese didn’t want the involvement of the American army in the war he was preparing in launching in Southeast Asia against Great Britain, the Netherlands and the United States. What made the U.S. declare war to the Japanese were because of the “surprise” nature it and the whole attack thing, and this was because the U.S. also changed opinion of the isolationist it was going to have in the previous wars in it’s direct participation.
Behind them, they left 2,403 dead and 1,282 wounded; 188 destroyed planes, and a damaged Pacific Fleet that included 8 damaged battleships. While the Japanese damages were minimum.
The Role that technology takes place here is really important because without the advanced ships they had in those times and the well prepared they were this attack would have been a very different story, maybe the Americans wouldn’t be able to defend themselves and maybe they could even have destroyed Pearl Harbor. In the other hand, if they had had the adequate technology in machines and in the naval base, they could have prevented this attack or they could even have been prepared with the necessary equipment to attack back.

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pearl.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor

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