Torture in "Zero Dark Thirty": "It’s enough to make you wretch. It’s arguably the best and most important part of the movie."

Spencer Ackerman — whose wretched spelling may make you retch — struggles with the question that's plaguing movie fans today: Does the ...

"They detained me in a room... They kept beating me hard... After five days, they gave me an injection and I slept... When I woke up my hand was not there."

When Ansar al-Sharia ruled Yemen's Abyan province.

Eric Holder announces the end of "the Obama administration’s limited effort to scrutinize the counterterrorism programs carried out under President George W. Bush."

The NYT reports: The Justice Department did not say publicly which cases had been under investigation. But officials had previously confirme...

"Dad's accused of boiling people alive – but Googoosha... just wants to be a star."

"Amazingly rhythmic sounds of torture... I never knew the sounds of children labouring in the hot sun for 12 hours a day could be so re...

Rebranding the Guantanamo military tribunals.

The NYT reports: As the United States restarts its effort to prosecute — and ultimately execute — five detainees accused of conspiring in th...

A torture victim cannot sue the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Organization under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991.

Says a unanimous Supreme Court, in an opinion ( PDF ) written by Justice Sotomayor. Sotomayor — why, by the way was nominated by a President...

"Most vegetarians look so much like the food they eat that they can be classified as cannibals."

Finley Peter Dunne, quoted in "From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present." Meade just read th...

"Tripoli Files Show CIA Working With Libya."

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Central Intelligence Agency and Libyan intelligence services developed such a tight relationship during...

"A physician was to drop acid... into the eyes of Majid Movahed... to punish him for throwing acid in the face of Ameneh Bahrami seven years ago."

Bahrami, who was blinded, had insisted on the eye-for-an-eye punishment, under Islamic law: "However in the last minute, Ameneh changed...

The Effigies of Madison, Wisconsin — 1906 version.

An emailer writes: I just finished John J. Miller’s “The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football” which describes how intercollegiate...

"Is Harold Koh the Left’s John Yoo?"

One might well ask.

"I simply do not know how the brutal torture of children can be surpassed as an example of pure evil."

"What is happening in Syria has become morally intolerable even under the standards of the Middle East."

"Consider how the intelligence that led to bin Laden came to hand."

"It began with a disclosure from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), who broke like a dam under the pressure of harsh interrogation technique...

Eric Holder is asked but won't answer whether he'd have opposed a military trial for bin Laden if bin Laden had been taken alive.

Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee: “That’s a hypothetical. I’m not sure it’s particularly relevant,” Holder said in response t...

Bush says "damn right" he approved of the waterboarding of 3 detainees and he'd do it again — and the American people approve.

Overwhelmingly. Mostly silently. To the distress of the small sliver of the population that includes Dahlia Lithwick.

According to Bush, Abu Zabeta wanted all "the brothers" to be waterboarded until they broke so they, like him, would get "the chance to be able to fulfill their duty."

I think this is the most interesting thing George Bush said in the interview with Matt Lauer that aired on NBC last night. The topic was wa...

When do we want to see actors pretend to go through what actually was a horrible experience that happened to real people, when we also know exactly what happened?

ALOTT5MA says: Suggest a form of physical suffering you'd rather endure this weeken than spending $10+ to watch James Franco reenact wha...

Things are going badly for Obama's prosecutors in their first effort at trying a Guantanamo detainee in federal court.

The NYT reports: The defendant, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, was scheduled to begin trial on Wednesday in Federal District Court on charges he co...

"I blame not Heaven, but rather a society..."

"We must pray..." for the brilliant comic actor Glenn Shadix, who gave the hilarious funeral sermon in "Heathers" (and p...

"The Waterboard Thrill Ride" art installation.

Artforum reports: Inside the room, decorated with small placards of female Disney characters, a sad-looking plant, Coke machines, and a juke...