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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: torture

torture stories: 304 news summaries

1 - 20 of 304 Stories | 1 2 3 4 5 ... 16 Next >>

 Aussie 
 Scientologists 
 Accused of Torture 

Oz senator alleges violence, embezzlement, forced abortions

(Newser) - Scientology's status as a church masks a "criminal organization" guilty of torture, forced imprisonment, coerced abortion, embezzlement and blackmail, charges an Australian senator, whose accusations have triggered concerns by the Aussie prime minister. Nick Xenophon, who yesterday showed the Australian parliament and police letters from ex-Scientologists detailing abuse and... More »

CIA Kept Prisoners Alive So It Could Torture More

Abuse 'sickening': human-rights lawyer

(Newser) - Detainees tortured to the brink of death were sometimes given medical treatment to keep them alive so CIA operatives could torture them further, a human-rights lawyer alleges. “The CIA engaged in some horrendous abuses, but they appear to have taken precautions to have actually prevented people from dying—which... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq CIA torture human rights abuse John Sifton

 Stars Demand 
 Bush 'Music 
 Torture' Files 

Time for torturers to face the music, say celebs

(Newser) - A coalition of celebrity musicians is demanding the release of Bush administration documents revealing how music was used to torture Guantanamo Bay inmates. Songs from Metallica, The Real Slim Shady, and the Star Spangled Banner, among many others, were blasted all day for days on end to rattle prisoners, inmates... More »

 Daughter Liz 
 Revives the 
 Cheney Brand  

She carries on dad's national security message, and her fan base is growing

(Newser) - Move over, Sarah Palin and Megan McCain—the GOP’s newest rising star is Liz Cheney, “our favorite vice president’s daughter,” as she was touted at a recent conservative gathering. Cheney—an outspoken proponent of “enhanced interrogation” who has said “waterboarding isn’t torture”—... More »

CIA Chiefs Ask Obama to Scrap Interrogation Probe

Disclosure of CIA methods will help the enemy, decrease national security, former directors warn

(Newser) - Seven former CIA directors—appointees of both political parties—are calling on the Obama administration to call off the Justice Department’s investigation of Bush-era interrogation practices, the Hill reports. The probe, ordered by AG Eric Holder, will reveal too much about the CIA’s methods in an environment where... More »

 Shoe-Tosser 
 Released, Says 
 'I Was Tortured' 

Reporter al-Zeidi leaves prison after tossing shoe at Bush last year

(Newser) - The Iraqi reporter who was locked up for throwing his shoes at George W. Bush says he was tortured in prison, the BBC reports. He was released today after nine months in a Baghdad jail, Reuters notes, and says he plans to identify those officials who tortured him. Relatives say... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq torture Baghdad prison shoes protests George W. Bush prison release Muntadar al-Zaidi

OPINION

Bush Must Apologize
for Torture

Don't let subordinates take the fall, Sullivan urges former president

(Newser) - The only way to remove the stain of torture from America's name is for the man who authorized it to step up and take responsibility, Atlantic editor Andrew Sullivan writes in an open letter to George W. Bush. Dodging blame while his subordinates take the fall—and watching the country... More »

US Porn Star Helps Convict
Brit Playboy of Murder

Developer tortured tenant to death to sell property

(Newser) - A British playboy and one-time Hllary Clinton fundraiser is facing a life sentence for the torture-murder of a caretaker who refused to move out of a warehouse he wanted to sell, the Times of London reports. Thanos Papalexis, son of a Greek shipping tycoon, was convicted with the help of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
torture murder Britain porn star Thanos Papalexis

Gonzales Changes Tune on 'Legitimate' CIA Probe

Ex-AG compares torture to speeding (really)

(Newser) - Alberto Gonzales did not mean to endorse Eric Holder’s probe of alleged CIA torture during the Bush administration by calling it “legitimate,” the former AG tells the Washington Times, which broke the story. “I don't support the investigation by the department because this is a... More »

 CIA Docs Accused of  
 'Human Experimentation' 

Report from ethics groups says docs in interrogation program guilty of war crimes

(Newser) - CIA doctors who monitored the agency's "enhanced interrogation" of terror suspects may be guilty of war crimes linked to human experimentation, according to a new report from a medical ethics group. The report from Physicians for Human Rights accuses the doctors and psychologists of being involved at every stage... More »

(Newser) - Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is on the same page as Eric Holder when it comes to investigating allegations of CIA torture. “As chief prosecutor of the United States, he should make the decision on his own, based on the facts,” he tells the Washington Times. Gonzales,... More »

OPINION

'Monstrous Liar' Cheney Manipulates the Media

Former VP's defense of torture full of half-truths, falsehoods: Froomkin

(Newser) - Since leaving government, Dick Cheney has realized that TV and newspapers will report anything he says, writes Dan Froomkin for the Huffington Post, even though "he is a monstrous liar”—remember Saddam's WMDs? "After years of speaking in whispers, operating by proxy, and leaving as few fingerprints... More »

(Newser) - After being waterboarded 183 times and deprived of sleep for a week, self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Kalid Sheikh Mohammed transformed from an avowed enemy of the US into a sort of CIA guest lecturer, the Washington Post reports. Two anonymous sources, looking to build the case that harsh interrogation worked,... More »

(Newser) - Leon Panetta couldn't stop the Justice Department's widening inquiry into the CIA's interrogation policies, but the agency's director can make sure his employees don't go broke paying legal fees. The agency will see to it that case officers caught up in the investigation have representation, the Washington Post reports. Most... More »

MORE ABOUT:
CIA torture Abu Ghraib legal defense Leon Panetta detention CIA director

ANALYSIS

 In Obama White House, Justice Trumps CIA 

Eric Holder carves a new, powerful role as attorney general

(Newser) - The appointment of a federal prosecutor to investigate CIA interrogations exposed a long-running turf war between the intelligence agency and the Department of Justice—and demonstrated the substantial clout of AG Eric Holder, who prevailed in almost every dispute with CIA Director Leon Panetta. The New York Times and Washington ... More »

(Newser) - A Guantanamo inmate recently released to his native Afghanistan after almost 7 years of detention plans to sue the US for damages, the AP reports. Mohammed Jawad is considered one of the youngest prisoners held at the Cuban base—he claims he was 12 at the time he was captured,... More »

(AP) - In late 2007, a year after the Bush administration abandoned its harshest interrogation methods, CIA operatives used severe sleep deprivation tactics against a terror detainee twice, keeping him awake for 5 and then 6 straight days, with permission from government lawyers to go over the 4-day limit. Interrogators kept the... More »

ANALYSIS

CIA Manipulated Every Detail
of Interrogation Sessions

Top-level approval of interrogation techniques could complicate Justice probe

(Newser) - As the CIA discloses internal reports concerning “enhanced” interrogation techniques on detainees at secret prisons, the ugliest details—threats of execution and harm with a power drill—have grabbed headlines. But the documents also reveal an intriguing level of control that the CIA and Department of Justice maintained over... More »

(Newser) - Dick Cheney lambasted Barack Obama today for his decision to name a special prosecutor to look into Bush-era terror interrogations. The move raises “doubts about this administration’s ability to be responsible for our nation’s security,” he said in a statement. “The people involved deserve our... More »

(Newser) - Dick Cheney has long insisted that two CIA documents from 2004 and 2005 would prove the value of torture. But after obtaining them yesterday, the Washington Independent says they do nothing of the kind. The documents actually suggest, albeit murkily, that non-abusive techniques were more effective. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’... More »

1 - 20 of 304 Stories | 1 2 3 4 5 ... 16 Next >>