Torture

Tomorrow, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on whether to cut funding for the School of the Americas (SOA)/ WHINSEC.  This notorious U.S. military training facility has had more than one name, but under its names, torture manuals have been used at the school, hundreds of its graduates of commited crimes including drug trafficking, torture, executions, and forces disappearences, all paid for by U.S. tax-payer dollars.  The history is well documented and more information can be found...Read Full Story

From triumph to torture Israel’s treatment of an award-winning young Palestinian journalist is part of a terrible pattern John Pilger The Guardian, Wednesday July 2, 2008 Two weeks ago, I presented a young Palestinian, Mohammed Omer, with the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. Awarded in memory of the great US war correspondent, the prize goes to journalists who expose establishment propaganda, or “official drivel”, as Gellhorn called it. Mohammed shares the prize of £5,000 with...Read Full Story

W hen George W. Bush was at Yale, he played intra-mural basketball. Decades later, a competitor from those glorified pick-up games could still remember what the man who became our president stood out for most: he played dirty. While most of the other intra-mural players were more interested in a friendly game, Bush threw elbows, shoved other players around beneath the basket and generally evinced a “win at all-costs” attitude that some of the other players found unseemly, according to a...Read Full Story

BBC News Mohammed Omer says he was detained for four hours as he crossed from Jordan into the occupied West Bank on 26 June.  [...] Mr Omer emailed the BBC the following day, saying he had “difficulty in breathing and pain in my chest” because of the treatment he received. He is now back in Gaza, where hospital doctors have diagnosed several broken ribs. [...] The journalist, 24, was returning from London, where he had received the Martha Gellhorn prize for journalism. He has also...Read Full Story

 On 21 October 2010, as part of a month long groundbreaking initiative spearheaded by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Amnesty International Student Chapter to bring awareness to and challenge the perimeters of Torture, EOTO World participated in a panel session on Gender and Torture. The Torture Awareness Campaign (TAC) included a total of more than twenty organizations (including us), 12+ events and 70+ speakers. The following text is taken from part of a speech given by Executive...Read Full Story

Obama Administration not strict enough on anti-torture Source: swampland.blogs.time.com Rarely discussed nowadays is the fact that America's political leadership--under the direction of president Obama--decided to, in effect, let bygones be bygones and not pursue investigations into allegations of Bush-era torture. Tom Usher commented or added the following: "A former CIA officer accused of revving an electric drill near the head of an imprisoned terror suspect has...Read Full Story

Torture methods claimed life of US soldier Sun, 26 Apr 2009 07:22:30 GMT http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=92588§ionid=3510203 A US soldier who worked as an interpreter in Iraq's prisons has shot herself dead after witnessing harsh interrogation methods by the US military . Alyssa Peterson from Arizona shot herself with her service rifle at Tal-Afar air base in northern Iraq on September 15, 2003, the Independent reported on Sunday Peterson had protested to her superiors about the torture...Read Full Story

While the international community banned torture through the International Bill of Human Rights in 1948, the practice continues worldwide. At least 81 countries had documented cases of torture and "other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" in 2007, according to Amnesty International.    The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims  (IRCT) based in Copenhagen, Denmark estimates there are 400,000 torture survivors living in the European Union while the  Center for Victims of...Read Full Story

Ben Allbright’s story is about a nation I don’t know. It’s about an America that doesn’t know that torture is just plain evil and inexcusable no matter what. It’s about an America where people who expose evil are shunned and threatened. It’s about an America where people can call themselves Christians and really be devils. It’s a bout an America where patriotism is not standing up for what’s right but just doing what the system tells you because the other guys are evil too. It’s about people...Read Full Story

John Yoo just got done with a little editorial on NPR wherein he lays out why we can't possibly allow the prisoners in Gitmo to have a day in court. Problem is, throughout his long idiotic tirade he repeatedly referred to them all as "P.O.W.'s". I kept thinking 'but you're the asshole who invented the term "enemy combatants". See the trick is, call them enemy combatants and suddenly there are no P.O.W. protections for the guys. That's how it works when you just make shit up, you play by your...Read Full Story