Last week, Vice President Joe Biden joined Senator John McCain in calling for the public release of the Senate Intelligence Committee's recently adopted report on torture. Biden -- a Democrat -- and McCain -- a Republican -- provide bipartisan support for public release of the report -- something many in...

A non-governmental, bipartisan task force recently completed a two-year investigation into the U.S. government's treatment of 9/11 detainees, concluding indisputably that the United States government engaged in illegal torture.

The Task Force on Detainee Treatment of The Constitution Project released its 500-page report today,

More than 11 years after the U.S. government transported the first prisoners from Afghanistan to the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, and four years after President Obama signed an executive order promising to close the prison within a year, it remains open. It remains an open moral wound, a symbol of...

Veteran news anchor Ted Koppel ended his piece on kids locked away in solitary confinement on Rock Center with Brian Williams this past Friday by describing the practice as a "national disgrace."

The religious community shares in Koppel's sentiment. People of faith are particularly concerned...

The critical outcry over the depictions of torture in the film Zero Dark Thirty has led to a series of interviews with the film's director Kathryn Bigelow, in which she has addressed the negative reactions to this provocative subject. Despite her public condemnation of torture, Bigelow takes little responsibility for...

As President Barack Obama prepares to be inaugurated for his second term, he re-enters the Oval Office with several challenging tasks in front of him. One of the most challenging, and most important, is his unfulfilled commitment to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

Today marks the 11th...

(RNS) Nothing was tortured more in the making of Kathryn Bigelow's film "Zero Dark Thirty" than the truth about torture.

While it's just a movie, it runs the risk of becoming the basis for a false view of reality for millions of moviegoers who have largely ignored a decade of...

Dec. 13, 2012 marked an auspicious day for members of the Senate Intelligence Committee and all Americans who oppose torture. The committee voted (with bipartisan support) to adopt the report on the CIA's use of torture as an interrogation technique. This report is the culmination of a more...

The Denver Sheriff Department opened its jail doors to ABC reporter Dan Harris so he might get a dose of the "American nightmare" experienced by more than 80,000 inmates today. Last night, ABC's Nightline aired "Locked Up Alone." Harris volunteered to spend 48 hours in the Denver Downtown...

The New York Times this week published an editorial, "No Penalty for Torture," responding to Attorney General Eric Holder's decision last week not to prosecute those responsible for brutally torturing two detainees -- both of whom died during their imprisonment by the CIA.

Gul Rahman and Manadel al-Jamadi...

Tuesday (June 26) was the U.N. International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the focal point of Torture Awareness Month, which is observed throughout the month of June. On Tuesday, groups in at least 23 states and the District of Columbia organized vigils and other events to honor the...

"It was so painful, that I forgot every enjoyable moment in my life," said Maher Arar, of the beatings he suffered while held captive in Syria.

Arar, a Canadian citizen, was arrested at New York City's JFK Airport on September 26, 2002. U.S. authorities held him for 12...

I walked out of the Dirksen Senate Office Building Tuesday feeling proud, but at the same time disappointed. I was proud because under the leadership of Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights...

Since 9/11, there has been a vigorous debate in this country about the morality, legality and efficacy of using torture as a means of obtaining needed information. It is clear that President Bush believes that torture is sometimes needed, while President Obama believes that torture is always wrong...

Jose Rodriguez, former chief of the CIA's Counter-Terrorism Center, has written a book, Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives, about his involvement in the CIA detention/interrogation/torture program for 9/11 detainees. It is one more effort by former Bush Administration officials, including former President Bush himself,...

The religious community knows well the power of symbols. Religious symbols motivate people of faith to do good and even courageous acts. Some religions see God in the symbol itself amplifying its power to motivate.

Symbols can also be destructive. They can confuse...

For thousands of years, there have been rules of war. As much as a nation wants to win an armed conflict, there are certain steps that should never be taken -- steps that take us to the dark side. In ancient times, there were prohibitions against cutting down olive trees....

It is hard to believe. The former vice president of this great nation is admitting that he gave leadership to acts which are immoral under God and unlawful under our criminal code and Constitution, and he proudly declares he would do it again.

In an NBC interview that aired this...