Inside a CIA Black Site

Staff / Truthdig Mar 14, 2008 A Yemeni man has told Amnesty International that he was abducted and tortured and spent nearly three years in secret prisons at the hands of the CIA. Khaled al-Maqtari says that without charge, legal representation or even a word to his family he was shuttled from one prison to another and ultimately dumped into Yemeni custody, once the U.S. had finished with him. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Tortured Semantics

Eugene Robinson / Truthdig Feb 9, 2008 The campaign for the White House is great fun, but it can also be a distraction. While the leading contenders to replace Bush continue to duke it out, the president and his lieutenants are still trying to justify torture in the name of protecting this once great democracy. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Immigration Dept. Deports Americans

Staff / Truthdig Jan 25, 2008 Despite his Southern accent and the conclusions of a court to the contrary, officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement managed to convince themselves that Thomas Warziniack was born in Russia. So they detained and planned to deport him. He is just one of hundreds of victims caught up in an unforgiving bureaucracy who beg, often without recourse, to be taken seriously. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

International Protest Targets Guantanamo

Staff / Truthdig Jan 12, 2008 Activists around the world took to the streets Friday wearing orange jumpsuits in protest of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which Amnesty International calls an "unlawful black hole." Eighty demonstrators were arrested in or near the Supreme Court building, where justices are reviewing the legality of the government's detention program. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Have They No Shame?

Amy Goodman / Truthdig Nov 28, 2007 The Democrats have gotten in bed with torturers, those who support cruel treatment of military prisoners and some who may have authorized such abuse. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

AP Backs Photographer Held in Insurgency Case

Staff / Truthdig Nov 22, 2007 Bilal Hussein, an AP photographer whom the U.S. military has accused of collaborating with insurgents, has been detained in Iraq for 19 months and may soon be tried by an Iraqi court. The Associated Press, apparently fed up with trying to reason with the military, has released the results of its own exhaustive investigation, which found the charges against Hussein to be "false" and "meaningless." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Bush Plays Hide and Seek with Torture

Mike Luckovich / Truthdig Oct 6, 2007 Dig deeper

Secret Torture Memos Shame Justice Dept.

Staff / Truthdig Oct 4, 2007 In 2005, the Justice Department issued two secret opinions on torture that endorsed and protected the administration's desire to use physically and psychologically traumatizing interrogation techniques. Then-Deputy Attorney General James Comey reportedly warned his colleagues that they would be "ashamed" when their work became public. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Global War on Toddlerism

Andy Borowitz / Truthdig Oct 1, 2007 Fresh on the heels of its reality show "Kid Nation," in which children are sent to perform hard labor on a ranch with no adult supervision, CBS announced today that it is readying a reality show in which children will be sent to the federal detention camp at Guantanamo. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Bush Clarifies Official Position on Torture (Kind of)

Staff / Truthdig Jul 21, 2007 Were the CIA to potentially, maybe, have a detention and interrogation program it would now have to adhere to President Bush's new executive order prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment of detainees. It's still unclear whether water-boarding remains on the menu. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Young Scholars Tell the President ‘No’ on Torture

Amy Goodman / Truthdig Jul 11, 2007 Sometimes it takes a brave, idealistic young person (or nearly 50 of them) to break all the rules of pomp and circumstance, pass the president a note, and school him about human rights. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Defense Secretary Asks Congress to Close Gitmo

Staff / Truthdig Mar 30, 2007 Robert Gates urged Congress on Thursday to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, acknowledging that the international community was likely to doubt the credibility of tribunals held there: "My own view is that because of things that happened earlier at Guantanamo there is a taint about it." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )