Minor Analysis Paper #2: Part 1

Argument/Counter Argument

"Challenging Torture" by Scott Horton Harpers Magazine http://harpers.org/archive/2008/02/hbc-90002305

"International Law Targets American Soverignty" by Andrew C. McCarthy National Review
http://www.nationalreview.com/mccarthy/mccarthy200412090815.asp

In the article “Challenging Torture,” Scott Horton claims that the U.S. has a double standard with torture. Americans, the “good guys,” are allowed to employ torture tactics, but we forbid it from being used against our citizens. From his take, torture is “by its nature, contagious and corrosive.” The battle over torture is a moral issue, a struggle for the “soul of the nation.” In addition, Horton noted the religious significance related to torture and the power that sermons have in advocating for change.

Horton uses the warrant of ethos in the expert testimony of nationally renowned torture and interrogation expert Darius Rejali. However, most of Horton’s support came from examples. With a substantive warrant, he examined the Roman Empire ancient use of torture in association with the Bush Administration’s policy. The Romans had even more restrictions against torture than the U.S., but acknowledged that it was ineffective. Horton also discussed the recent prevalence of torture on TV. He associated Americans’ changing morals being reflected on the TV shows especially Fox’s “24”. On 24 “good” Americans are rightfully torturing terrorists to save the US citizens from another terrorist catastrophe.

In contrast, Andrew C. McCarthy’s article, “International Law Targets American Sovereignty,” argues that the ideals set forth by NGOs (such as the International Committee of the Red Cross) are outdated and too lofty for the terrorism that America is facing now. McCarthy claims that the international community’s “idealized vision of U.S. obligations is often importantly different from our actual obligations.” He believes that we should primarily follow our Constitution and consider our self-interest first. After all, he believes that international laws “chip away at the sovereignty and democratic self-determination.”

McCarthy writes from a position of great expertise. He is a former Assistant United States Attorney of New York and has led terrorism prosecutions. Thus his authoritative position grants him an ethos warrant with the audience. Substantive warrants are utilized to disassociate international law and the American Constitutional law. He finds international law to be troubling because it is uncodified and based upon assumptions from various treaties, judicial rulings, etc. Furthermore, vague descriptions classifying torture as “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment” can be interpreted in different manners depending upon the culture and country. McCarthy uses substantive warrants to associate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment with the international ban on torture.