Steven Miles

As University of Minnesota bioethicist and torture expert Dr. Steven Miles was researching the deaths of detainees in U.S. custody, he noticed something strange. Although the Department of Defense had in the past issued press releases when detainees died at U.S.-run prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan, at some point in 2006, he says, the “entire prisoner death reporting system was turned off in Afghanistan.” Although at that time deaths in Iraq were still being reported, he says, that system was “turned off” at the beginning of 2008.

The Minnesota Independent contacted four outspoken critics of America’s torture policies and practices — Dr. Steven Miles, Douglas Johnson, Coleen Rowley and Kirk Anderson — for reaction to recent revelations about Bush-era treatment of prisoners. None of them said, “I told you so.” But the truth is … they told us so.

On Sunday, May 4, Dr. Steven Miles was scheduled to speak at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, the progressive South Minneapolis congregation that has played host to hot-button speakers like Gloria Steinem, former Dominican priest Matthew Fox and antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan. But Miles, a professor in the University of Minnesota’s Center for Bioethics, [...]

U of M makes torture documents available

A year ago Dr. Steven Miles of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Bioethics published a book about medical doctors being complicit with torture proceedings in the U.S. military. Though the book was hardly a best-seller (#120,156 in Amazon.com’s book list), it did create some controversy. For example, “when [...]