Ten years after 9/11, one of the shameful legacies: A new study by the American Red Cross obtained exclusively by The Daily Beast found that a surprising majority—almost 60 percent—of American teenagers thought things like water-boarding or sleep deprivation are sometimes acceptable. More than half also approved of killing captured enemies in cases where the…
Showing all posts tagged torture
The best way to taint Libyan “democracy” push
This doesn’t sound like a disaster waiting to happen at all. No, it’s wonderful idea to get mercenaries to train Libyans in the art of killing and fighting: Britain is to urge Arab countries to train the disorganised Libyan rebels, and so strengthen their position on the battlefield before negotiations on a ceasefire, senior British…
Slamming US occupation of Afghanistan is too biased for Murdoch
Here’s a non-story to fill the pages of the Murdoch Australian. I appeared on ABC TV News24’s The Drum last week and discussed a variety of issues, mostly foreign affairs. On most nights the show has a range of guests, usually from the soft left to the soft right, and a number of more strident…
Obama defenders find ways to justify use of arms here and there
The New York Times, being an establishment paper, unsurprisingly backs Barack Obama’s military intervention in Libya. Much more revealing, however, is this interview with Samantha Power, a senior director on the National Security Council. I truly wonder if she believes the words she’s telling Politico: Obama “has used his pulpit and a number of speeches…
Assange: internet can liberate and/or imprison
He’s right (though probably exaggerates the influence of Wikileaks in the Arab revolutions): The internet is the “greatest spying machine the world has ever seen” and is not a technology that necessarily favours the freedom of speech, the WikiLeaks co-founder, Julian Assange, has claimed in a rare public appearance. Assange acknowledged that the web could…
US govt says shocking treatment of Bradley Manning is just fine
And who really believes them? Quantico is a military brig, not a prison, and it is not a maximum security facility. http://www.quantico.usmc.mil/activities/display.aspx?PID=588&Section=SECBN Manning, however, is considered a maximum custody detainee. He is not “under isolation 23 hours a day.” Here are the facts of his pre-trial confinement: PFC Manning is not in solitary confinement. He…
Bradley Manning’s father details pain of his son’s incarceration
Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.
How Obama admin brutalises Bradley Manning
Remember this the next time the US talks about spreading democracy around the world: Bradley Manning, the US soldier being held in solitary confinement on suspicion of having released state secrets to WikiLeaks, has spoken out for the first time about what he claims is his punitive and unlawful treatment in military prison. In an…
Our Western leaders must be so proud of backing Egyptian brutality
The West backed three decades of Egyptian-government depravity, all in the name of “stability”. But what did this mean for the people? Here’s Sarah Carr, a freelance journalist and a senior researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, writing about entering the Nasr City State Security Investigations (SSI) headquarters recently: State Security Investigations combined…
The Blair/Gaddafi relationship that reeked of death and torture
As Tony Blair prepares to visit Australia to share his invaluable lessons in killing Arabs and launching illegal wars – organised by one of the country’s largest Jewish families, the Pratts, who clearly love Blair for backing Israeli apartheid – it’s worth recalling what the former British Prime Minister has done. Here’s Gareth Pierce in…