Syrian President Assad can’t be happy about the images and documents of systematic torture and killing smuggled out on the eve of peace talks.
Will Discovery of Torture Trove Weaken Syria’s Hand at Geneva II?
read more
torture
Breaking the Fast at Guantanamo
With arms tied down and feet shackled, Yasiin Bey writhes in anguish as a feeding tube is shoved into his right nostril. Groaning in extreme discomfort as his handlers push the tube deeper, Bey—better known as Mos Def—breaks into sobs as he begs for the torment to...
What Do They Do?
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?
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.