I was beaten, drugged: Hicks

Hick's affadavitVery briefly, Hicks states he has been threatened with guns, kicked, punched, beaten while handcuffed and blindfolded, forcibly drugged, and deprived of sleep, amongst other abuses ( Read more... )

Continuing to think about Ted Lapkin's SMH article defending torture at Guantanamo Bay.

Probably the most misleading aspect of the article is Lapkin's effort to downplay the abuse. I summarised his point like this: The mistreatment was merely "mild discomfort". They were only "denied their full eight hours of slumber ( Read more... )

Numerous letters in today's SMH responding to yesterday's article defending torture at Guantanamo Bay. Amongst the points the letter writers make:

- The Chicago Tribune news report cited does not support the article's premise - that torture has saved civilian lives. (I have a copy of the news report, so more on this later ( Read more... )

I'm completely fascinated by an article in today's SMH defending the mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. So fascinated, I'm afraid I may worry at it for some time, like a dog with a particularly knotty snake ( Read more... )

There are so many ways to react to the [I cannot find a word] horror of the slaughter of Nicholas Berg. One way, which some people will take, is to respond to the murderers' tit-for-tat cruelty with our own tit-for-tat cruelty. You see, they'll say, we're right to torture Those People - see what they're like? Another way is to point out that the ( Read more... )