Torture

Bush DOJ Official Agrees "Torture Memo" Lawyers Should Be Investigated

Nan Aron | Posted 11.06.2009 | Politics


Nan Aron

A change in leadership does not eliminate the need to examine our system and learn from our history, even when -- especially when -- our Department of Justice was corrupted to the point of sanctioning torture.

What Obama Is Up Against

Russ Baker | Posted 11.04.2009 | Politics


Russ Baker

We Americans harbor a quaint belief that a new president takes charge of a government that eagerly awaits his next command. But that's not how things work at the top, especially where "national security" is concerned.

NY man charged with torturing kitten, making video

AP | Posted 11.03.2009 | Home


SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Police are accusing a 22-year-old upstate New York man of hanging his girlfriend's four-month-old kitten with a belt and making...

CIA Rendition Plane Spotted In Birmingham UK

The Guardian | Robert Booth | Posted 11.01.2009 | World


An American plane named in an inquiry by the European parliament into alleged CIA torture flights landed at Birmingham airport last month and was met ...

Source: 6 Gitmo Detainees Resettle In Palau

AP | JONATHAN KAMINSKY | Posted 11.01.2009 | World


KOROR, Palau — Six Chinese Muslims released from Guantanamo Bay but still wanted at home as separatists arrived Sunday on their new tropical isl...

The 'Bright Line Rule': New Papers Detail FBI, CIA Wrangle Over Torture

AP | DEVLIN BARRETT and PAMELA HESS | Posted 10.31.2009 | Politics


WASHINGTON — Newly released documents show the FBI interviewed a naked, chained terror suspect back in 2002 as the bureau struggled with the CIA ove...

Stephen Colbert Signs Campaign Letter to Close Guantanamo Now (Video)

Tom Andrews | Posted 10.30.2009 | Politics


Tom Andrews

Rosanne Cash appeared on the Colbert Report last night on the use of music to torture at Guantanamo, and she made it clear: using music as torture is wrong and there's no gray area.

No Toilets or Air For "Forgotten Prisoners"

Betwa Sharma | Posted 10.29.2009 | World


Betwa Sharma

Prison conditions worldwide are worse than the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture could have imagined. Jails without air, toilets and food are not rare.

"Friending" Binyam Mohamed

Naomi Wolf | Posted 11.04.2009 | World


Naomi Wolf

Recently I have been in touch with Binyam Mohamed, who was released from Guantánamo in February -- after seven years' captivity without charges.

The Lawyers Who Would Torture

David A. Love | Posted 10.29.2009 | Books


David A. Love

Throughout history we have witnessed the ways in which societies compromise their legal systems to oppress the many, benefit the few, and sanction the unconscionable.

Daniel Weston, Mary Ann Parmelee: Los Angeles Couple Allegedly Beat, Torture Loan-Modification Agents

Reuters | Steve Gorman | Posted 10.27.2009 | Business


As Los Angeles housing advocates launched a campaign warning of mortgage rescue scams, a couple hit by foreclosure are charged with torturing two loan...

Friday Talking Points [99] -- Misdirection

Chris Weigant | Posted 10.26.2009 | Politics


Chris Weigant

The real head-scratcher for serious media-watchers right now is what the "war" between the White House and Fox News was meant to distract us from this week. The "war" itself is laughable, for a number of reasons.

Stop Using America's Top 40 for Torture

Eric Dezenhall | Posted 10.23.2009 | Media


Eric Dezenhall

Call me a socialist, but I have believed for decades that the Department of Justice should actively monitor Top 40 Hits because certain songs could lead upstanding citizens to confess to crimes that they did not commit.

Why Musicians Are Right, Liz Cheney Is Wrong

Jon Soltz | Posted 10.23.2009 | Politics


Jon Soltz

By lobbying to keep Guantanamo Bay open, Liz Cheney's group is helping keep alive one of the greatest recruiting posters that al Qaeda ever had.

Music Matters

Matthew Alexander | Posted 10.24.2009 | Impact


Matthew Alexander

Music is perhaps the freest expression of art in an open society. In my travels to more than 50 countries, a sense of pride has always emerged for American culture abroad in the form of music.

Stop the Music...and the Torture

Harry Shearer | Posted 10.22.2009 | Politics


Harry Shearer

Those who focus solely on the closing of Gitmo merely invite the US government to move any detainees still in need of further 'care' to Bagram, which is in a similarly lawless situation, if not more so.

When to Hunt for Witches

Stephen Baldwin | Posted 10.21.2009 | Politics


Stephen Baldwin

Why, after his boss, President Obama, has publicly expressed a position to the contrary, would Attorney General Eric Holder continue on a rogue course of "seeking truth"?

Torture Accountability at Last - for Peru

Allison Kilkenny | Posted 10.20.2009 | Politics


Allison Kilkenny

It is not cliche or radical to demand the U.S. hold our own torturers (at all levels) to the same level of accountability as British mining corporations.

Monterrico Torture: Mining Company Accused Of Torture In Peru

The Guardian | Ian Cobain | Posted 10.20.2009 | World


A British mining corporation is facing a multimillion-pound claim for damages after protesters were detained and allegedly tortured at an opencast cop...

The Weakness of Liz Cheney

Jon Soltz | Posted 10.19.2009 | Politics


Jon Soltz

In the end, Liz Cheney and Keep America Safe are just a re-run of what was already tried and failed in 2008. Namely, using the veil of fear to mask an un-informed, false, and weak position.

ReThink Interview: Daniel Ellsberg -- the Most Dangerous Man in America Speaks, Part Two

Jonathan Kim | Posted 10.14.2009 | Entertainment


Jonathan Kim

The second part of my interview with Daniel Ellsberg, the true American hero who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971.

The Nobel Prize Wasn't for Obama -- It Was for the American People. Do We Deserve It?

Jonathan Kim | Posted 10.13.2009 | Politics


Jonathan Kim

That means it's our responsibility to force Obama and other electeds to recognize our priorities and pick up the pace. So call your representative and your senator, and let them know how you feel.

Cornel West Comments On Obama's Nobel Peace Prize: Hard To Be War President With Peace Prize

The Huffington Post | Posted 10.10.2009 | Politics


Dr. Cornel West spoke at the Central Library in Los Angeles Friday, Oct. 9, and weighed in on what winning the Nobel Peace Prize will mean for Preside...

Forever: A Letter to Obama

Ariel Dorfman | Posted 10.09.2009 | Politics


Ariel Dorfman

Amnesty USA asked me to write a letter to Obama asking him to prosecute all those responsible for torturing in the name of the USA during the previous administration. This is the letter I sent to him

The Next Generation of American Interrogators

Matthew Alexander | Posted 10.09.2009 | Politics


Matthew Alexander

There are two areas in particular where interrogators would benefit from improvement. The first is in adapting non-coercive criminal interrogation techniques. The second is the realm of cultural knowledge.