After Al-Qaeda’s attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, the United Sates felt it time to punish those responsible so as to ensure another attack would not be forthcoming. The CIA began “enhanced interrogation of detainees”; in other words, the torture of people believed to have information about the enemy. Here, I examine the reduction of a human being who lived a bios life and became a detainee whose life changed suddenly to zoe and therefore became homo sacer.
The life of an individual who is homo sacer is that of zoe or bare life, that life which is common to all animals. Giorgio Agamben states that “it indicates, rather, a life that may be killed by anyone-an object of a violence that exceeds the sphere both of law and sacrifice” (pp 86). The torture victims embody this definition, as they were subjected to the most imaginative, disdainful, pain-inducing treatment possible with no legal recourse to pursue had they survived or been released. In the name of national security, the sovereign of the United States proclaimed that it was acceptable to treat a human being like an animal for the purpose of gaining information that the individual may, or in most cases, may not have.
The quote prefacing this paper was said by a man who experienced the worst torture by the CIA. Agents were trained to have command of ten torture tactics, all of which …show more content…
Those who conducted the torture and those who sanctioned the treatment are, in a sense, above the law; they were not subjected to any kind of punishment for their actions. In fact, only one CIA official – the operation whistleblower – was imprisoned for his actions. In contrast, the homo sacer is below the law as he/she lacks access to habeas corpus. No detainees during this almost decade long practice were permitted a trial for their supposed crimes, but merely detained for suspected terrorist activities or links to
The life of an individual who is homo sacer is that of zoe or bare life, that life which is common to all animals. Giorgio Agamben states that “it indicates, rather, a life that may be killed by anyone-an object of a violence that exceeds the sphere both of law and sacrifice” (pp 86). The torture victims embody this definition, as they were subjected to the most imaginative, disdainful, pain-inducing treatment possible with no legal recourse to pursue had they survived or been released. In the name of national security, the sovereign of the United States proclaimed that it was acceptable to treat a human being like an animal for the purpose of gaining information that the individual may, or in most cases, may not have.
The quote prefacing this paper was said by a man who experienced the worst torture by the CIA. Agents were trained to have command of ten torture tactics, all of which …show more content…
Those who conducted the torture and those who sanctioned the treatment are, in a sense, above the law; they were not subjected to any kind of punishment for their actions. In fact, only one CIA official – the operation whistleblower – was imprisoned for his actions. In contrast, the homo sacer is below the law as he/she lacks access to habeas corpus. No detainees during this almost decade long practice were permitted a trial for their supposed crimes, but merely detained for suspected terrorist activities or links to