torture
During WWII, American POWs were waterboarded in Japanese prison camps, a violation of human decency that was rightly condemned as a war crime, its practitioners sentenced to hard labour during post-war tribunals. It did not take long for this sort of moral indignation to become a sham, however, as US military and intelligence agencies routinely practiced torture during the coming decades, conducting medical experiments on American servicemen and teaching its methods to foreign dictators amenable to American interests. (See documentation on CIA training of the Iranian SAVAK for just one example.) After 9/11, the use of torture was sexed up as the mainstream media went into full spin mode, producing apologias for the practice – now rebranded as ‘enhanced interrogation’ – and personified in the chiseled visage of Jack Bauer. As a species, we’re incredibly adaptable, and it should be red flagged that our children are growing up in a culture where rendition and torture are the new normal. Psychologically speaking, as we laugh at the latest atrocities in the ‘Saw’ franchise we have become the enemy our grandparents fought on the killing fields of Europe, cynical and desensitized to the value of human life.
Smoking Guns — Suggested Reading
72% of Guantanamo detainees given hearings found to be wrongfully detained
Report: Afghans in secret jail ‘made to dance’ to use bathroom
Canada wanted Afghan prisoners tortured: lawyer
Government Experiments on U.S. Soldiers: Shocking Claims Come to Light in New Court Case
After Obama praises torture ruling, civil liberties group appalled
US police could get ‘pain beam’ weapons
Canadian MKULTRA project mind control victim to tell of pills, shocks, brainwashing
Archive (Most recent headlines first)
2010
David Cameron agrees to terms of UK torture inquiry | Deal reached on detainee documents – but NDP pulls out | Military wanted detainee whistle-blower pulled from Afghanistan | Maher Arar loses ‘last hope’ for judicial review of rendition case in U.S. court ruling | UK: Fresh torture allegations raised over third British man held in Bangladesh | 72% of Guantanamo detainees given hearings found to be wrongfully detained | UK Torture claims investigation ordered by Foreign Secretary | Abuses at US ‘Black Jail’ in Afghanistan confirmed | MPs reach agreement to share Afghan detainee document information | Afghan torture documents release talks get extension | Afghan authorities beat citizens on ‘whim’: Military inquiry | Khadr routinely trussed up in cage, hearing told | UK Government cannot use secret evidence in Guantánamo torture case, court rules | Detainee documents controlled by a few top bureaucrats | Speaker orders Harper government to cough up Afghan detainee documents | Censors threaten detainee hearings | Afghan torture allegations erupt in UK | CIA chief approved destruction of terrorist waterboarding tapes | Report: Afghans in secret jail ‘made to dance’ to use bathroom | Canada knew in 2007 Kandahar governor tortured prisoners in dungeon, bombed UN personnel | Military Police begin Afghan detainee torture investigative hearings, reporters barred | Tories table thousands more censored Afghan files | MacKay knew of Afghan detainee concerns: diplomat | Tories flood Ottawa with blacked-out documents in response to Afghan torture scandal | British military intelligence ‘ran renegade torture unit in Iraq’ | Opposition threatens contempt motion over Afghan torture documents | NDP tables torture-prevention bill | French bread spiked with LSD in CIA experiment | UK Government attempts to keep torture case secret | Ottawa anticipated Afghan torture allegations: memo | CSIS secretly interrogated Afghan prisoners | Canada wanted Afghan prisoners tortured: lawyer | Harper grilled over prorogation, Afghan detainee torture documents | MP threatens motion on Afghan documents | UK: Government fury as judges attack MI5, security services | CSIS Agents likely contributed to Toronto man’s torture: Inquiry | Poland releases details on CIA ‘black sites’ | Report: France ‘deliberately’ used soldiers as ‘nuclear guinea pigs’ | Bruce Anderson: We not only have a right to use torture. We have a duty | MI5 chief denies cover-up claims over detainees | UK Top judge: Binyam Mohamed case shows MI5 to be devious, dishonest and complicit in torture | Britain reveals details of Binyam Mohamed torture | US Interrogation Squad Doing ‘Scientific Research’ | Military probes beating of Afghan prisoner | US magazine claims Guantánamo inmates were killed during questioning | Regina police probe RCMP torture claims | Tories fail to appoint military complaints chair, torture inquiry may be delayed | PM Harper downplays detainee torture scandal, prorogation
2009
Claims troops mistreated prisoners unfounded: military police | Peter MacKay, Red Cross discussed detainees in 2006 | Canada’s troops investigated for Afghan abuse | Colvin disputes witnesses’ detainee testimony | Tories sabotage Afghan committee meeting | Eyewitness Recounts Forced Organ Removal in China | Canada ‘defended’ torturer | Ottawa won’t release Afghan torture documents | RCMP had no grounds to use Taser on N.W.T. girl: report | Top general’s Afghan detainee reversal hikes pressure for public inquiry | U.S. police taser 10-year-old | Richard Colvin’s Afghan torture memos reveal government concealed prisoner access issues | Torture claims unreliable, officials say, despite having found evidence of torture | MPs vote public inquiry into Afghan detainees, Tories ignore majority motion | Torture claims weren’t probed, official testified | Harper government changes tune on Afghan prisoner issue | Colvin’s testimony true: former Afghan MP | David Mulroney testifies war confused issue of torture | Hillier says he saw no credible reports of torture | Afghan torture emails reached MacKay’s office | UK: Rights watchdog reveals Pakistani spies pressed by British to torture detainees | Opposition wants documentation prior to government torture rebuttal, PM cries foul | Canadian officials discussed torture in 2006 | Canada shamed on Afghan prisoner torture | Canada ignored torture warnings: Diplomat | Guantanamo won’t close by January: Obama | Israelis Want a Pain Ray of Their Own | UK soldier testifies comrades beat Iraqi to death | Military lawyer stonewalls on Afghan torture claims | U.S. court denies Maher Arar’s appeal | UK: Move to withhold evidence in MI5/MI6 torture collusion claim | U.S. artists slam use of music in Guantanamo interrogations | Ottawa was warned Afghan detainees might be tortured | Military commission suspends torture hearings, gags witness | Torture probe delayed; Tories deny gagging witness | Portable heat ray weapon may end up in police hands | Guantanamo January closing deadline may slip | Federal court limits Afghan detainee torture probe | Iraq shoe thrower released from jail, testifies to brutal torture | Sonic weapons used in Iraq positioned at congressional townhall meetings in San Diego county | CIA doctors face human experimentation claims | U.S. probes ‘inhumane’ CIA tactics under Bush | US justice department to investigate CIA over interrogation methods | Obama approves new interrogation unit | UK: New evidence in Binyam Mohamed torture case | UK: Secrets of CIA ‘ghost flights’ to be revealed | UK: CIA ‘put pressure on Britain to cover up its use of torture’ | Microwave weapon will rain pain from the sky | Abdelrazik accuses CSIS, MPs of harassment and interrogation | Pentagon-handpicked 9/11 families want Gitmo kept open | CSIS ignored Khadr’s human rights: Parliamentary report | ‘They were looking for the ideal Manchurian Candidate’ | Revealed — the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing — overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture victim | MPs call for clear policy against torture | New video shows officer shove, then taser 72-year-old great grandmother | US: Ruling allowing Taser use to get DNA may be nation’s first | Gitmo protest captured on film | MI5 faces fresh torture allegations | Skepticism greets launch of Afghan detainee inquiry | Government Experiments on U.S. Soldiers: Shocking Claims Come to Light in New Court Case | Supreme Court of Canada won’t hear Afghan detainee torture case | Reversing himself, Obama seeks to block abuse photos | British soldiers ‘tortured and murdered 20 Iraqis, then covered it up with firefight claim’ | CIA waterboarded 2 al-Qaida suspects 266 times | UK: Government makes ‘unprecedented’ apology for covering up Binyam torture | Psychologists Helped Guide CIA Interrogations | Mumbai attacks suspect alleges torture, retracts confession | Obama publishes torture memos, protects perpetrators | Obama Tilts to CIA on Torture Memos | Document lays bare CIA torture techniques | CSIS chief backpedals on earlier torture statement, claims long-term official ‘misspoke’ | CSIS won’t rule out tips derived from torture | Watchdog rejects government bid to delay Afghan detainee inquiry | Rights groups press for better security oversight | Head of RCMP unit that framed Arar promoted to Assistant Commissioner | Obama administration: Guantanamo detainees have ‘no constitutional rights’ | CIA destroyed 92 interview tapes | Tortured Guantanamo detainee set free | UK agents ‘colluded with torture in Pakistan’ | Obama backs Bush: No rights for Bagram prisoners | U.K. resident held at Gitmo alleges Canadian involvement in torture | Senior judges attack US over ‘torture evidence suppression’ | After Obama praises torture ruling, civil liberties group appalled | Ban stun gun use on young people, Ontario child advocate urges | 24 star Keifer Sutherland opposed to torture, questions role of series in inspiring interrogations | RCMP destroyed evidence, charges dismissed in second torture case for officers | Obama shuts network of CIA ‘ghost prisons’ | Vets Sue CIA Over Mind Control Tests
2008
US police could get ‘pain beam’ weapons | George Bush shoe-thrower ‘too severely beaten’ for court appearance | Conspiracy against Arar reached to highest levels, U.S. court told | Ottawa moves to block Afghanistan detainee torture hearings again | UK Home Secretary orders inquiry into MI5 and CIA torture claims | Tortured trio say report ‘vindicates us’ | Ottawa given evidence of torture, official says | Torture Tactics Endorsed in Secret White House Memos | Tasers being used for pain compliance during interrogation, suit alleges | Lawyers say UK Guantánamo suspect has no hope of fair trial | Defiant military watchdog widens detainee hearings | CSIS faces review in Khadr case | RCMP lays no charges in Maher Arar ‘terrorist’ leaks, declares case closed | Protesters push for Omar Khadr’s release | ‘You don’t care about me,’ Omar Khadr sobs in interview tapes | Remembering Brainwashing | Chinese Torture Techniques Inspired Interrogations at Guantánamo | US Counterinsurgency Manual Leaked, Calls for False Flag Operations, Suspension of Human Rights | Torture was expected in ‘top-down’ decision to deport Arar: lawyer | Bid to Block Afghan Detainee Inquiry Slammed
2007
CSIS suspected U.S. would deport Arar to be tortured: documents | What Ottawa doesn’t want you to know: Government was told detainees faced ‘extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture and detention without trial’ | Canadian MKULTRA project mind control victim to tell of pills, shocks, brainwashing
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