A Tortured Twist on Ethics

George Orwell wisely observed that our understanding of the past, and the meaning associated with it, directly influences the future. And as the unprecedented public feud between the CIA and Congress makes clear, there are still significant aspects of our recent...
A Tortured History

A Tortured History

NATO forces have refused to turn Afghan prisoners over to some local jails due to concerns about the torture committed in many of those detention centers. After a dozen years of U.S. efforts to export democracy to Afghanistan, that’s just one example of why this...
Oh, Just Call Them Terrorists

Oh, Just Call Them Terrorists

Terror makes A good excuse For passing laws That despots choose. The terrorist menace is proving quite useful to the U.S. government, much as the communist menace did many years ago. What could be more convenient than tagging dissenters and opponents as “giving...

Enough Already: Close Gitmo

Remember way back when? President Barack Obama promised to close the Guantánamo prison, restore the United States’ moral standing, and end the practice of torture. It was two years ago. In January 2009, as one of his first acts as president, Obama signed an...
Getting it Wrong in Guantanamo

Getting it Wrong in Guantanamo

I was at Guantánamo Bay prison on Halloween. In a ghoulishly fitting coincidence, that was the same day a former child solider was convicted for war crimes for the first time since the end of World War II. Eight years and one day after Omar Khadr arrived at...