What do torturers do when they return home? Do they make love to their wives and play with their kids? What hobbies do they have? Do they wash the car and take out the trash?
What Do They Do?
read more
torture
Torture Covers a Multitude of Sins
Torture comes in many forms from excruciating pain to death — of the soul, if not the body — by a thousand cuts.
Who’s Degraded More: the Torture Victim or the Torturer?
Our national character is diminished in equal proportions to the degree to which our interrogation practices are “enhanced.”
Africa to the World: “Don’t Tell Us Who We Are or What To Do”
Africa will no longer accept being treated like a second-class continent.
Torture: An All-American Nightmare
Don’t for a second think that the essence of torture is physical pain, no matter what the new film Zero Dark Thirty implies. If, in many cases, the body heals, mental wounds are a far more difficult matter. Memory persists. After the fact, torture can only be dealt with by staring directly into the nightmare that changed us — that, like it or not, helped make us who we now are.
Christmas in Lebanon
A Lebanese Alawite family sits in their living room by a Christmas tree. The Alawite sect is a branch of Shi’a Islam found mostly in Syria. When asked about their Christmas tree, they replied “We obviously don’t believe in the same Christmas story, but its a fun holiday. Nice for the kids.”
Once-Great Journalist Shawcross Now Receives John Yoo Seal of Approval
George Bush’s torture facilitator finds much to like in William Shawcross’s new book.
The Return of Waterboarding?
During the recent Republican presidential primary debates, three candidates said without hesitation that they would authorize waterboarding as an interrogation technique if elected president. In their recent memoirs, both George W. Bush and Dick Cheney admitted with evident pride that they had approved the technique.
Review: Torture and State Violence in the United States
When the U.S. media holds debates about the state using torture to gather evidence or intelligence, the questions tend to be framed hypothetically, as if it is a practice the government might possibly resort to in the future. Robert Pallitto’s collection of official documents destroys this misperception. In reality, torture has been used by government actors in the United States since colonial times.
Bahrain’s Courageous Doctors
The United States continues to ignore the thwarted Arab Spring in Bahrain. Recently, a quasi-military court in the small Gulf state sentenced 20 doctors and nurses to up to 15 years in jail. The charge against them? Treating injured demonstrators opposing the regime.