Question 1
The government of the former President George W. Bush was lenient in the control of torturing of terrorist suspects. In a statement through the department of justice, his government issued a document confirming the torturing of Al-Qaeda suspects. One of the most common ways of torturing suspects was through waterboarding. This is a technique of covering a suspect with a cotton cloth over the head then pouring water over it to block any breathing avenues (the mouth and nose).
The technique is extremely painful and has numerous resultant effects of the individual that is tortured. Sources close to the former president that have read his soon-to-be-released book reveal that he allowed the C.I.A to use coercive methods to extract information from suspects of the September 11 bombing. This shows an approval of the use of torture against terrorist suspects based on a principle justified by the end, whatever the means. This is despite negative effects that may result on the suspects after being tortured such as death, damage to vital body organs such as the brain and lungs, and fractures in case the suspect tries to free himself while bound (Baderin and Manisuli, 106).
Obama, on the other hand, had a zero tolerance policy on torturing of terrorist suspects. To this effect, he banned the use of any form of torture (including waterboarding) against terrorist suspects. This was after the mentioning, by various officials in the Bush government, that waterboarding is not a form of torture. This shows a significant difference on the handling of individuals during questioning and the setting of a new order of democracy, not just hypocrisy.
Question 2
The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 owes its establishment to the strengthening of the national security against forces of terrorism and any other factors that may be instrumental in facilitating the growth and development of terrorist activities in USA. PATRIOT concerns the tools used in the fight against terrorism and the countermeasures to various threats. One such program involves the control of any sort of money laundering schemes that may be in use by terrorist groups to fund their activities. This is through stringent programs to curb such instances of money laundering through government audits and monitoring strategies throughout the year.
Control of the development of terrorist groups through recruiting of new followers is possible through diligent survey of private bank accounts to detect traces of foreign funding of such terrorist groups. This facilitates the crippling of such groups from the foundational level. Insider information is also available through use of spies in the midst of potential terrorist groups. This helps to provide an upper hand in the defense of possible areas that may be possible targets. The immigration department plays a crucial role in the control of the people entering USA (Abele, 64). Most terrorists rely on falsification of travel documents to get across borders. However, vigorous security checks for authenticity of documents and identification documents are an active and fine filter of potential terrorists.
Question 3
One of the theories that seek to explain the conditions underlying terrorism includes the frustration-aggression theory. It is a consequence of a suppression reaction to some stress imposed on a group of people. Minority religious groups or colonized people may be a good scion for terrorism, according to this theory. Alternatively, the relative deprivation theory explains that one may be a terrorist due to lack of certain personal needs or wants which he or she feels are readily available for an undeserving target community. A good example is a citizen in a war stricken area feeling deprived of peace and hence seeking to ensure others in a certain peaceful area experience the same thing. The negative identity theory relates terrorism to a misjudgment of the world and a lack of an understanding of true happiness. It is similar to the narcissistic rage theory that asserts that all the evil originates from poor childhoods and ineffective parenting. A good example is a suicidal bomber who is negative towards the world for an unhappy childhood. The moral disengagement theory is more common whereby suicidal bombers view themselves as religious heroes with predetermined destinies in killing masses of people, especially as punishment (Borgeson and Valeri, 37). A good example is the bombers of 9/11.
Works Cited
Borgeson, Kevin, and Robin Valeri. Terrorism in America. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett,
2009. Print.
Baderin, Mashood A, and Manisuli Ssenyonjo. International Human Rights Law: Six Decades
After the Udhr and Beyond. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Pub, 2010. Print.
Abele, Robert P. A User's Guide to the USA Patriot Act and Beyond. Lanham, Md. [u.a.: Univ.
Press of America, 2005. Print.
