Torture - and our previous Administration's shady past with it - have been hot topics lately, with many of us calling for actual accountability on behalf of our former leaders. We may soon get our wish - just today, the New York Times … [Read more...]
Teenage victim of rendition may be released
The judge in the current hearings called the case "an outrage.""After this horrible, long, tortured history, I hope the government will succeed in getting him back home," U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle told Justice Department … [Read more...]
It’s torture
Josh Marshall makes a good point: I'm genuinely surprised that he was was surprised that it was that bad. I'm not saying that for effect. Muller really seemed to think it was like getting dunked by your friend in a pool or something. Just … [Read more...]
Proposal for a resolution at the Massachusetts Democratic Convention
I don't know if there is still time for this and since I'm currently in DC and won't be attending convention I'm not in a position to do much about it. I'm wondering if there is any appetite among delegates to pass a resolution … [Read more...]
AG pressed to appoint torture prosecutor
Some of the groups petitioning Holder to appoint a special prosecutor: ACLU moveon.org FireDog Lake … [Read more...]
Legal Affairs: Can We Improve Our Quality of Life at Less Cost?
Legal Affairs: Virginia Senator Pushes For Prison Reform Legal Affairs: Author Examines Effects Of Solitary Confinement The first was an interview with Senator Jim Webb about the bill he has just introduced to study why, as he put it, "the … [Read more...]
Goldsmith on torture investigations
Jack Goldsmith was one of the good guys in the Bush administration, resisting the internal push by David Addington and John Yoo to essentially legalize torture. Therefore his opinion about how to proceed with corrective and preventative … [Read more...]
Charley is right – torture on the basis of mere accusation is a lot like the Salem Witch Trials
The term "witch hunt" comes from the Salem Witch Trials by the Court of Oyer and Terminer. What many may not know is that one of the judges on that court, Judge Samuel Sewall, publicly repented of sending 30 men and women to be hung, two of … [Read more...]
A republic — if you can keep it
I recently finished Jane Mayer's The Dark Side, which recounts the ugly, ongoing history of the Bush administration's policies of torture. As to whether torture happened, there simply can be no doubt; the volume and horror of the … [Read more...]
A show trial with the death penalty
Open and shut, the terrorist confessed. Nashiri said that while in CIA custody he was tortured into confessing to the Cole bombing and other acts of terrorism. ... Nashiri was one of three terrorism suspects subjected to the controversial … [Read more...]