Tom Hayden: The Secret State of Torture

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from The Nation:



article | posted October 5, 2007 (web only)
The Secret State of Torture
Tom Hayden



Like a sharp razor cutting through the fog of war, the New York Times headline reads, "Justice Dept. Said to Back Harshest Tactics After Declaring Torture Abhorrent."

The report could not be clearer. The Bush Justice Department has secretly authorized "the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency."

Simulated drowning. Fear of suffocation. Blows to the head. Naked men held in freezing cells. Sleep deprivation. Noise assaults.

All secretly legalized, from Guantánamo to Abu Ghraib. Anything is permissible up to organ failure or death, or unless it "shocks the conscience."

In defense of silence, one might claim it is impossible to be shocked at horrors that are not known.

But if we know, and still are not shocked, there are lessons. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071022/hayden

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1. : )

Bump.