Torture Via Insects

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have proven to be controversial for the military’s use of various torture techniques, mainly waterboarding. However, in documents declassified by Barack Obama, the Bush Administration either used or toyed with the idea of using insects as a method of interrogation.

This method of torture by insects was meant to be used against only one particular suspected terrorist by the name of Zubaydah. This method was considered for this terrorist because he had a known fear of insects. The idea was to put Zubaydah in a “confinement box” and to tell him that a dangerous insect that cause extreme pain through stings would be dropped in the box unless he furnished his interrogators with satisfactory answers to their questions. However, in actuality the insect that they would drop into the box would actually be a harmless insect, and therefore this method of interrogation does not constitute torture.

It turns out that this method was scrapped and never used due to fears that it may be argued to constitute torture afterall. In Zubaydah’s case it seems as though good old fashioned waterboarding did the trick.

If you were in charge, would you use insects to torture people?