" - Rachels, J pg92 (2003).
The Muslim terrorists could argue that by bombing the Atocha train station 200 people died, but as a result, a pacifist government has since been elected to power in Spain. This government has vowed to withdraw all 1000 troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and withdraw support for the American led War on Terror. For the Muslims, this could mean there are 1000 less troops to be killing their countrymen, less chance of their innocent civilians dying at the hands of the occupying forces (many have already been killed), and less countrymen made homeless by the allied force's air raids. .
The Muslims could also argue that it was better for the Spanish peoples greater good, as although 200 Spanish people have died, many more could have been killed if Spain had continued its unwavering support for the War on Terror, as 1000 troops abroad could have been increased to more in the future, and in the long term more than 200 Spanish soldiers may have lost their lives. .
People are only warranted in exercising power over another person for their own protection, according to John Stuart Mill in Rachels (2003). .
Using this theory, terrorists could argue that they exercised power (eg killed) over the Spanish people to protect Muslims from the western oppressors in the Muslim countries, as The Muslim terrorists feel they are being harmed by the western oppressors in their own country, and they see bombing western civilians as a possible way to end this oppression, so it is for the Muslim's own protection.
So using the main Utilitarian theory we could say that terrorists killed 200 people, but thousands more may have been saved, as the Spanish have withdrawn their troops, and it may have helped millions of Muslim people get a step closer to living in democratic nations free of western influence, or Basque people ruling themselves again. Either of these terrorists would argue the sadness caused by the deaths would be overwhelmed by the joy of democracies in these countries, so the attack was for the greater good.
Once torture is justified in an extreme case, it can be more easily justified for less serious cases. ... Do we or do we not torture the terrorist? ... First, one assumes that the bomb actually exists. ... This cannot be certain by any means; what if the terrorist cannot disarm the bomb? ... This could be justified in the sense that the man may be part of the terrorist group, and they may be planning an attack, and if Mr. ...
In his article "The Case for Torture," Michael Levin tries to show that it is morally mandatory to torture in certain extreme situations, specifically when a terrorist has information about a bomb which is set to go off soon and which, if detonated, would result in the deaths of thousands, if not millions, of innocent people. ... Finally, Levin's claim that torture is justified because the terrorist puts himself in harm's way voluntarily is problematic. ... If we cannot be sure that we have got the right person who has the information or that there really is a bomb set to go off...
In Hiroshima John Berger explains the lives of the Japanese after the dropping of two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima. I personally view that action as a terrorist attack. ... In my eyes all the survivors of the Middle East are very similar to the survivors of the Hiroshima bombing. ... It really saddens me to think that those innocent people had to go through all those horrific events that none of us could ever fathom which is just like what happened to the survivors of the Hiroshima bombing "In reality- the reality to which the survivors and the dead bear witness- it can never be justified...
What if we knew where one of the two terrorists where before the hijacking, and he knew where the other terrorist was, but would not talk. ... Torturing the terrorist is unconstitutional? ... What if a group of terrorist planted bombs on all of the bridges in New York? ... What if a terrorist planted a bomb in the stadium on the day of the World Series or the Super Bowl? ... Once you concede that torture is justified in extreme cases, you have admitted that the decision to use torture is a matter of balancing innocent lives against the means needed to save them. ...
America was justified in doing this by the Just war theory. ... All in All America is justified by the Just War Theory to go in to war with the Al Queda. ... Then in 1975 a bomb was planted in fraunces tavern killing four and injuring more than 50 people. ... One of the more publicized events was the bombings of Timothy McVeith, who bombed a federal office building in Oklahoma City. ... The bombings in New York City killed more people than the attack on pearl harbor did by the Japanese. ...
But is the use of evil in situations like these justified??? ... The outcome of the supposedly 'justified' act is no longer seen as "good", but as necessarily and predominantly evil. ... The airforce bombs the targeted factories- killing all the workers inside. ... The terrorist, being a stubborn man, refused to tell the police about the locations of the bomb attacks and the human targets the group was to 'destroy'. ... Clearly, the 500 saved lives were worth more than a single life (that of the terrorist) and so the act is, to an extent, morally justified. ...
The War on Terror is a military effort to eliminate terrorism as well as the funding of terrorist cells throughout the world. ... Innocent people are usually targeted in terrorist acts. ... It is possible that Osama bin Laden felt his motives were justified as self-defense for the wrongs the U.S. has done to the Middle East. ... For example, every time a "smart bomb" is dropped, a point is proven that these bombs are actually "not smart" at all. Furthermore, early in the war a Red Cross building in Kabul was hit twice by stray U.S. bombs. ...
Remember the terrorist attack on September 11 2001, when al-Qaeda hijacked airplanes to fly into government buildings like the world trade center, or the attack at the Boston marathon when the bombs exploded at the end of the marathon. ... Levin's scenarios are a nuclear bomb set to go off imminently, with the terrorist in custody refusing to give up the bombs location, and a bomb on a plane again with the terrorist in custody. ... The articles have some similarties, and one of the similarities was how they use terrorist to explain there views on torture. ... The use of torture can be jus...