I grew up in the South, where the favored punishment for a disobedient child is a spanking. I know that now, especially in America, “spanking” is a charged term that has even become political, so instead of spanking, I’m going to use the more appropriate term, butt-whopping. If you’ve ever heard stories of kids having to go to a tree to pick their own switch, those stories are true. I can testify. For probably my entire childhood, half the trees in my grandmother’s yard had no low-lying limbs, because she used all of them on me. She wasn’t afraid to grab me by the ear and haul me out of the church service if I was misbehaving. Not that she was abusive. Far from it. I am so incredibly grateful for everything that she did for me. After the butt-whopping was over, she made sure that I knew how much she loves me.
When I was a kid, nothing scared me more than the thought of getting into trouble. It wasn’t just the thought of having disappointed Granny, which was torture to somebody as sensitive as I am. It was the dread of knowing that a butt-whopping was coming as soon as she found out what I did. So, like many children, I constantly lied to try to get out of trouble. I would say that my brother found the axe and cut down the pear tree, or the window was left wide open and a strong gust of wind came in and that’s why the lamp is shattered, or that I was out picking blueberries when firecrackers were tied to the dog’s tail. I would even come in with a bucket full of blueberries to back up my alibi.
Here I want to compare the fear that I felt knowing that a punishment was coming, and how it compelled me to lie, to what the inmates at Guantanamo Bay are probably feeling. A 10-second butt-whopping is nothing compared to being sleep-deprived, water-boarded, and isolated, so how much more would the inmates lie to make the torture stop, if only momentarily?
At the end of the day, what always made me tell the truth to Granny wasn’t the butt-whopping. It was when I crawled into her bed after I was already supposed to be asleep, and her telling me how proud she is of me. Or her saying that if I tell the truth this time, neither me nor my brother would get into trouble. Or when we woke up and made blueberry pancakes together. Even though I could be a demon of a child, I was very sensitive and valued my relationships with other people, especially my family, more than anything else.
As odd as it may sound, the principle of relationship and trust is an incredibly effective way of getting terrorists to talk. When they are hooked up to a polygraph machine and told by the interrogator that if they speak their family will not be harmed but if they do not speak their family cannot be protected, they are much more inclined to talk. And what they say is much more trustworthy.
Army Staff Seargeant Eric Maddox led the team that found Saddam Hussein in 2003. Part of his strategy was protecting family members of those involved in the insurgency when he was able. It paid off when he found the man who took him to Saddam’s hideout in Tikrit.
I’m not trying to say that the interrogator should be emotional or sensitive towards the suspect, or that terrorists should not be held accountable for their actions. What I am trying to say is that there are alternatives to torture. While Granny’s butt-whoppings certainly kept me from misbehaving, it was our relationship that made me tell the truth. Water-boarding a suspected terrorist enough times might (or might not) keep them from assisting in future terrorist plots, but it won’t give the CIA the information that it needs to stop terrorist plots that are already in progress. Treating them with enough human dignity to warrant a measure of trust just might be what is needed to break open terrorist cells and stop terrorist plots.

About the author

I grew up in conservative Christian circles in the American South, and majored in theology at an Alabama Southern Baptist college. Without really understanding why, I believed that Muslims were to be avoided at all costs, and we have to unilaterally support Israel. Like many young adults, after college I wasn't sure at all of what I wanted to do with my life, so I traveled to the Middle East for a year and a half. Most of the people I met were descendants of the Palestinian refugees forced out of their homeland in 1948, when Israel was recreated. I fell in love with Arab culture, and realized that on the world scene, Arabs have no voice. Living in the Middle East gave me fresh new eyes to read the Bible, and interacting with Arab Christians, especially Palestinian Christians who live in Jordan, caused me to question all the dogmas regarding Israel with which I had grown up.

Living in the Middle East also gave me the courage I needed to pursue my lifelong dream of being an author. My first book, A Theology of Chaos, will come out this next spring. I plan to use the profits from it to support organizations in the Middle East that are fighting for justice. I have written some short stories as well, which you can find on smashwords.com under my full name, Margaret Elysia McColley.

I now live in New York City, where emergency procedures for a potential terrorist attack are constantly updated, and where the sharp divide between Christians, Muslims, and Jews can be clearly seen on posters in the subways. My goal in life is simple: to end terrorism in my lifetime, by giving a voice to social injustices that compel terrorists to violence.

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There are so many problems people are facing in Pakistan. The major problems are inflation, power shortages, water shortages, and even pollution. It seems like things are getting worse and worse day by day. There have been so many complaints about these issues, but it seems like the government is not really doing anything to resolve them. These dilemmas have led to people of Pakistan believing that their taxes are going nowhere. There are no strict actions that are being taken in order to resolve these issues and people of this country have to suffer every single day. We interviewed many people and we got responses that were mostly like this, “We are tired of living in this country because it seems like it is never going to change. People call Pakistan a developing country, but we feel that it is going to develop for another 50 years. It is so hard to live in a country where prices are skyrocketing, there are power shortages for hours every single day, and the pollution here really makes us sick.” These interviews were quite eye opening and people told us about the things that they had to do in order to get through the day. This is a poor country, but advancements can be made if the government is just given a little push. Students in college and universities also had a lot to say about the problems that Pakistan is facing. Most of them were reluctant about this country and said, “We are trying to obtain a good education so that we can move to a country that will provide us with a better future. There are power shortages everyday and we have to use our generator, UPS, and sometimes even a candle to study. Times have become so difficult and the rising inflation rate leaves us with no money to save.” The wealthy people can live in Pakistan without many issues because they have the means of getting by. However, one must remember that the majority that lives in this country is from a working class or a middle class background. There are so many expenses that one has to take care of and on top of that new problems are arising which make it even harder to survive in such as country. So, we can conclude that problems are not being solved and things are just becoming worse. The poor people are suffering every single day because they do not have the means to afford all the luxury items that are sold in this country. The people of Pakistan need to take a stand in order to resolve these problems or things will just get worse. The government will get used to hoarding the money that it gets and will make it a habit. The conditions will just worsen. People of Pakistan need to take collective action to make a change so that this country can prosper!

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Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan, everywhere Muslim societies are getting polarized rapidly. There are a number of factors and causes associated with this problem. Some causes are internal that are related to their own societies and politics whereas some causes are external that are due to great powers’ politics and foreign interference in their countries. Causes of polarization and extremism are different in every Muslim country. For instance, if we talk about Pakistan, the main cause of extremism and polarization in Pakistan are so Called War against Terror, drone strikes and repeatedly rising foreign interference in the country’s affairs particularly by the United States and other Western countries. As a consequence Pakistan has become a breeding ground for extremists and terrorists who are a big threat for both Pakistan as well as Western countries.

Similarly, if we look at the causes of polarization and extremism in Syria, Muslims in Syria are getting polarized due to increased intervention by Iran and other Muslim countries. Iran is constantly supporting the minority Shia led regime in Syria which is causing a heinous bloodshed in the country. As a consequence Sunni armed militias are also seeking assistance from different Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia and others and as a result country has fallen into the sufferings of the Civil War. Like is the case with Bahrain, the same problem exists in Bahrain as well, Iran is continuously supporting the minority groups of the Shia population whereas Saudi Arabia is supporting the majority Sunni led regime and as a consequence Bahrain is suffering from constant law and order situations.

If we talk about Libya and Egypt, their causes of extremism and polarization are somewhat different. United States and other western powers were supporting puppet leaders Hosni Mubarak as well as Momar Qazafi; both the leaders have a very negative reputation in their own societies. There were considered to be the agents and puppets of the United States and other foreign powers. They were following the policies totally in contrast to the feelings of their general public. The local population of Egypt and Libya hate Israel and United States due to their undue interference in Muslim countries but those two leaders were considered to be close friends of such powers.

Finally, if we look at the causes of extremism and polarization in Afghanistan, there are somewhat same as we see in Pakistan. The Muslim society is getting polarized tremendously due to continuous foreign intervention by United States, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as well as International Security & Assistance Force (ISAF). People are very angry due to the mass casualties of innocent civilians in their country by occupied forces. As a last resort and in order to liberate their country from the intervention of foreign powers they are joining different militant and extremist groups which is a big threat for Afghanistan, its neighbors as well as Western countries.  These were a few common reasons of extremism and polarization in different Muslim countries.

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