Torture

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 Associated Press asks prominent evangelicals and leaders of the religious right if Jesus would condone torture. Some evangelicals say every life is sacred and torture is not peaceful and therefore incongruent with Christian teachings. But religious right leader Gary Bauer says that while Jesus wouldn’t torture, he would permit his followers to do so.

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will cooperate with a “truth commission” proposed by Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy to look into possible unlawful conduct by the Bush administration, the Washington Independent reports. This morning reporter David Weigel caught up with Gonzales after a forum on Republicans and the Hispanic vote and posed the question.
Gonzales’ reply:

For two years of the Bush era beginning with Hurricane Katrina, the Star Tribune published a weekly comic strip on its opinion page that was unlike anything else in American newspapers, sending up current events in a serial format with heaping doses of dark humor and giddy gore. “Banana Republic” dispensed satire so bruising and brutal it made you want to die of shame — but also so funny and true it gave you reason to live. Now cartoonist Kirk Anderson’s new book compiles every episode of “Banana Republic,” letting readers re-live tortuous times and die of embarassment all over again.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar will support Eric Holder’s appointment as attorney general today. Now peace activists want to know whether she’ll also support a bill to restrict torture. Meanwhile, the House is set to vote today on its version of Klobuchar’s bill to delay the national conversion to HDTV.

Both civil libertarians and ex-CIA officials involved in interrogations and detentions policies welcome the changes.

A coalition of progressives and evangelicals are uniting to end the culture war. Organized by the think tank Third Way and called the “Come Let Us Reason Together” coalition, the group seeks common ground on issues like abortion, gay rights, immigration and torture in hopes of ending the bitter divisiveness that has characterized the culture war.

On ABC News Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledged knowing about and approving of the torture technique known as waterboarding.
“I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the agency in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn’t do,” Cheney said. “And they [...]

While we’ve had fun looking at the social-media mashups spun off of the Bush/shoe-throwing incident, here’s a sobering issue: The BBC reports that the man, Muntadar al-Zaidi (pictured in a BBC photo), has been beaten while in Iraqi custody. His brother told the British news agency that al-Zaidi allegedly “suffered a broken arm, broken ribs [...]

Members of a committee of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) brought a striking yet silent protest to the plaza outside St. Paul’s Ecolab on Wednesday.
Group members stood vigilantly on the steps, wearing bright orange bodysuits with black bags draped solemnly over their heads. Some of the demonstrators held banners and displayed posters that identified torture [...]