Amendment VIII to the U.S. Constitution
"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
Articles
Happy Counterterrorism Day, by Scott Horton, Harper's Magazine, 5 Nov 2007
Related Topic: George Washington
Recounts the history of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot and proposes three lessons to be learned from it for the present age
"Torture was a weakness, not a strength, of the government. In twenty-three years, this would be the accepted wisdom of a society sickened and revolted by the official use of cruelty and of torture. In one hundred and seventy years, a nation would be born committed to suppressing it forever ... or, as it turns out, until the arrival of George W. Bush."
Related Topic: George Washington
Recounts the history of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot and proposes three lessons to be learned from it for the present age
"Torture was a weakness, not a strength, of the government. In twenty-three years, this would be the accepted wisdom of a society sickened and revolted by the official use of cruelty and of torture. In one hundred and seventy years, a nation would be born committed to suppressing it forever ... or, as it turns out, until the arrival of George W. Bush."
My Time in the Tower of London, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Dec 2006
"... in late September 2006, Congress voted to effectively legalize torture and to pardon all the torturers and torture policymakers. Has the U.S. Capitol building acquired at least an odor of the Tower of London? ... the law that Congress passed will be a cornucopia of barbarity that will be likely to afflict people around the world."
"... in late September 2006, Congress voted to effectively legalize torture and to pardon all the torturers and torture policymakers. Has the U.S. Capitol building acquired at least an odor of the Tower of London? ... the law that Congress passed will be a cornucopia of barbarity that will be likely to afflict people around the world."
Punishment and Proportionality, by Murray N. Rothbard, 1982
Chapter 13 of The Ethics of Liberty
"The proportionality rule tells us how much punishment a plaintiff may exact from a convicted wrongdoer, and no more; it imposes the maximum limit on punishment that may be inflicted before the punisher himself becomes a criminal aggressor. Thus, it should be quite clear that, under libertarian law, capital punishment would have to be confined strictly to the crime of murder."
Chapter 13 of The Ethics of Liberty
"The proportionality rule tells us how much punishment a plaintiff may exact from a convicted wrongdoer, and no more; it imposes the maximum limit on punishment that may be inflicted before the punisher himself becomes a criminal aggressor. Thus, it should be quite clear that, under libertarian law, capital punishment would have to be confined strictly to the crime of murder."
Shssh! Don't Tell Americans How We Treat "Enemy Combatants", by Jacob G. Hornberger, 21 Mar 2007
"Reality is the power to subject American and foreign 'enemy combatants' to extreme isolation and sensory deprivation over long periods of time. ... power to subject 'enemy combatants' to waterboarding and similar forms of 'alternative-interrogation techniques.' ... power to inject substances into 'enemy combatants.'"
"Reality is the power to subject American and foreign 'enemy combatants' to extreme isolation and sensory deprivation over long periods of time. ... power to subject 'enemy combatants' to waterboarding and similar forms of 'alternative-interrogation techniques.' ... power to inject substances into 'enemy combatants.'"
The Bush Torture Memos, by James Bovard, Freedom Daily, Nov 2006
"President Bush is proposing to medievalize the American legal code by permitting the use of coerced confessions in judicial proceedings. ... the Bybee memo ... began by largely redefining torture out of existence. It then explained why even if someone died during torture, the torturer might not be guilty if he felt the torture was necessary to prevent some worse evil."
"President Bush is proposing to medievalize the American legal code by permitting the use of coerced confessions in judicial proceedings. ... the Bybee memo ... began by largely redefining torture out of existence. It then explained why even if someone died during torture, the torturer might not be guilty if he felt the torture was necessary to prevent some worse evil."
The Confession Backfired, by Paul Craig Roberts, 17 Mar 2007
"I remember speaking years ago with Soviet dissident Valdimir Bukovsky about the behavior of Soviet dissidents under torture. He replied that people pressed for names under torture would try to remember the names of war dead and people who had passed away. Those who retained enough of their wits under torture would confess to an unbelievable array of crimes in an effort to alert the public to the falsity of the entire process."
"I remember speaking years ago with Soviet dissident Valdimir Bukovsky about the behavior of Soviet dissidents under torture. He replied that people pressed for names under torture would try to remember the names of war dead and people who had passed away. Those who retained enough of their wits under torture would confess to an unbelievable array of crimes in an effort to alert the public to the falsity of the entire process."
Why Did They Torture Jose Padilla?, by John Grant, The Philadelphia Enquirer, 12 Dec 2006
Examines the Jose Padilla case in view of Alfred McCoy's A Question of Torture
"Why did the administration decide to dishonor the Constitution and do this to a U.S. citizen arrested on American soil? Clearly, it hoped to ferret out leads to more arrests. ... The Padilla case is about the psychological breakdown of a single man, but it should send a shudder down the spine of every freedom-loving American."
Examines the Jose Padilla case in view of Alfred McCoy's A Question of Torture
"Why did the administration decide to dishonor the Constitution and do this to a U.S. citizen arrested on American soil? Clearly, it hoped to ferret out leads to more arrests. ... The Padilla case is about the psychological breakdown of a single man, but it should send a shudder down the spine of every freedom-loving American."
The Pentagon's Power to Arrest, Torture, and Execute Americans, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 28 Feb 2007
Related Topics: Militarism, Writ of Habeas Corpus
"... U.S. officials would undoubtedly prefer to keep secret from the American people — a method of 'touchless' torture that the CIA and the Pentagon have long been employing involving isolation and sensory deprivation. As Alfred McCoy described in his book A Question of Torture, this particular type of torture technique is specifically intended to cause mental damage to its victims."
Related Topics: Militarism, Writ of Habeas Corpus
"... U.S. officials would undoubtedly prefer to keep secret from the American people — a method of 'touchless' torture that the CIA and the Pentagon have long been employing involving isolation and sensory deprivation. As Alfred McCoy described in his book A Question of Torture, this particular type of torture technique is specifically intended to cause mental damage to its victims."
Cartoons
It helps us pass a lie detector ..., by Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 26 Oct 2007
Videos
Mancow Waterboard, by Erich "Mancow" Muller, 22 May 2009
Mancow is waterboarded and says it is "absolutely torture", "horrific"
The CIA's Detention, Interrogation, and Rendition Program, by Joanne Mariner, 3 Jun 2007
Speech given at the Future of Freedom Foundation's 2007 conference "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties"
Jesse Ventura On Larry King Live Part 1 Of 2 May.11, 2009, 11 May 2009
Related Topics: Jesse Ventura
Among other things, Ventura discusses waterboarding and torture, including his own Navy Seal training experience with it