Talking Rights

“If Americans torture and it comes to light — as it inevitably will — it embitters and alienates the very people we need most.“
Charles C. Krulak was commandant of the Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999. Joseph P. Hoar was commander in chief of U.S. Central Command from 1991 to 1994.
Some of the most hard-hitting [...]

The just-released report by the CIA Inspector General (CIA IG) is one of a series of documents released yesterday about the US torture program. The report dates from 2004, but has lots of new detail.
What you need to know about yesterday’s revelations (via Time’s Michael Scherer):

1. The CIA IG concluded that the public had [...]

The Obama Administration just announced the creation of a new, multi-institution group that will take over the questioning of high-value suspects in the “war on terror.” According to the Los Angeles Times, interrogators will “stay within the parameters of the Army Field Manual when questioning suspects,” meaning no torture.
This comes on a day when we [...]

Just as the second invasion of Iraq was a (not so) carefully coordinated campaign of half truths and whole lies, the justfication for torture is beginning to fall completely apart.
Not that it wasn’t already an evident fabrication, but…
Today’s New York Times reports that in late 2007 ABC’s Brian Ross interviewed a former CIA operative who [...]

There is quite a kerfluffle going on now about Obama’s position on extraordinary rendition.
The Los Angeles Times recently reported that “under executive orders issued by Obama recently, the CIA still has authority to carry out what are known as renditions, secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to countries that cooperate with the United States. Current [...]

From today’s Washington Post:
…in a broad swipe at the Bush administration’s lawyers, Obama nullified every legal order and opinion on interrogations issued by any lawyer in the executive branch after Sept. 11, 2001.

I’m writing to stand up for all of the people in Washington on Inauguration Day who booed Bush when he appeared on the Jumbotrons and later appeared on the Capitol steps.
I’ve heard several journalists decry the boos as bad form and disrespectful. I understand, but reject that argument.
The boos were not bad form — they [...]

Mike Tigar resently joined Duke’s law faculty and is on the Duke Human Rights Center steering committee. This is his talk before the election:

One of the aspects of Bush’s “war on terror” that has not received enough attention is how appalling tactics — torture, warrantless arrests and wiretapping, detention without trial — have dug their way into the world in which we live. These abuses are not taking place entirely “over there” in places like Guantanamo. From the [...]

Another excellent Doonesbury…