Archive for the ‘torture’ Category

The Wrong Way to Take the Right View on Torture

Saturday, July 5th, 2008

I feel a bit churlish criticizing somebody who volunteered to undergo waterboarding and reported that yes, it is torture, considering a) I would never volunteer to be tortured for an article myself and b) Christopher Hitchens’ unrelenting support of the war might make some people receptive to hearing that waterboarding is torture who wouldn’t be receptive to hearing it from, say, me. But then again, it’s not as if Hitchens’ views about religion have gained much currency among his newfound comrades. Nor was it exactly difficult to predict how the denialist right would react to his Vanity Fair report on being tortured.

(more…)

Tags:
Posted in the war in iraq, torture | 5 Comments »

The American Caliphate

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

Okay Frank Gaffney, you want your chance to soil your sheets, Leonidas-style, over the silent and perhaps at this point irreversible Islamofascist conquest of America? You don’t need to resort to fantasizing about Muslim sovereign fund managers putting a hex on their bond issues, or, I don’t know, doing a universal find and replace of “New York” for “London” in whatever Melanie Phillips wrote this week. You don’t need to make up anything at all. Because it turns out that the most cunningly disguised Islamofascist sleeper cell ever has just planted the bloody banner of the false prophet Mahound and his demonic minions in a courtroom a mere stone’s throw from the Capitol: (more…)

Tags: ,
Posted in Republicans, abuse of power, federalism, islamofascism, neoconservatives, surveillance/privacy, the war in iraq, torture | 2 Comments »

We Have Tortured and Thereby Commited War Crimes, Says Ret. U.S. Major General

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

CNN reports that 11 former detainees held by the United States in various sites, including Gitmo, have been examined thoroughly by physicians and show extensive evidence of having been abused or tortured. None was ever charged with a crime. (more…)

Posted in torture, war on terror | No Comments »