Dear Next President:

The CIA has used several enhanced interrogation tactics to get information from those who are suspected terrorists and confirmed ones alike. The issue comes when people argue over the implications of said tactics. Torture, as most people call it, is the act of causing pain to someone to make them do or say something, as punishment, or for the torturers pleasure. Then this makes the CIA torturers, but to get the big picture one has to look at more than just what the CIA did. The ones that had these techniques used on them are terrorists who were going to or had already caused harm to civilians. When there are individuals willing to kill others, does it not seem justified to harm them if it could save lives?

Some of the enhanced tactics used by the CIA include waterboarding, beatings, stress positions, and sleep deprivation according to theguardian.com. These are very unpleasant and harsh to the detainees; it would be hard to wish any of these on anyone. Let’s compare this to what terrorists have done worldwide. In 2015, terrorists had killed 28,328 people worldwide; the killing methods of these people include shooting, beheading, explosives, and there was even a pilot burned alive in a cage while being filmed according to The Fiscal Times website and Statista.com. The shocking truth is that these methods have been used on men, women, and children. How can someone say that these acts of terror are not a justifiable reason to torture someone as to stop these acts from happening again? What if congress passes a bill that bans all forms of torture and enhanced interrogation? Imagine how much worse terrorism will get; especially considering that in the last two years there has already been an increase in deaths without there being a ban on torture. I urge you to not have torture taken away so we can continue to fight terrorism.