Administration Is Rebuffed in a Ruling on Deportation (Or: A Small Win For Due Process)

It’s about time that a U.S. court insisted on transparency when it came to matters of the Bush administration.  Earlier this week, Thomas Vanaskie, a federal judge for Pennsylvania, prevented the government from deporting Sameh Khouzam to Egypt until the government was willing to subject itself to an “independent review” of Egypt’s torture practices.
The case, which will surely be appealed by the Bush [...]

America: What’s Next? (Or: The Same Old Song And Dance)

It seems like every presidential election in recent history, America is faced with a stark choice of either voting for change or voting for the end of the world.  In my time following politics, I often felt that these types of stark choices were often overblown.  America, despite its bruises, was doing fine.  The world [...]

9/11 Panel Study Finds That C.I.A. Withheld Tapes (Or: No, Really?)

The New York Times reported in an article published today that the 9/11 Panel study found that the CIA withheld tapes of its interrogation program. Although the report did not opine that withholding the tapes was illegal, it certainly underscores a disturbing pattern of conduct by an organization intent on preventing any transparency whatsoever into [...]

Waterboarding (Or: What the hell are we doing?)

Waterboarding is a technique used to simulate drowning. A prisoner is put on a board, with his/her head sloping down. The interrogator pours water over the prisoner’s face, which causes water to be inhaled into the lungs. Since humans, as far as I know, can’t breath water or liquid (except maybe in the movie The [...]

Extraordinary Rendition (Or How The U.S. Government Is Doing Some Really Scary Stuff)

I figure it’s about time that I start commenting on the CIA’s speciality:  extraordinary rendition.  Basically, extraordinary rendition is when the CIA snatches a terrorism suspect and sends them to another country for interrogation.  By doing so — the CIA reasons unofficially – the suspects do not have the same rights of due process that a suspect has [...]