Among the litany of abuse documented in the War on Terror, the revelations in the US Senate’s recent “torture report” on the treatment of detainees held in CIA “black sites” -secret overseas prisons where…
A report on CIA torture fails to tell it like it is.
Shutterstock cell
Of all the revelations made about the “enhanced interrogation methods” used by the CIA on detainees in the aftermath of 9/11, the use of waterboarding and rectal feeding have garnered the most attention…
Dilma Rousseff holds back tears as she releases details of torture under Brazil’s military regime.
EPA/Fernando Bizzera
As the world digests the findings of a report on the way the US has treated detainees suspected of terrorism, Brazil has owned up to similar abuses of its own citizens. The Brazilian Truth Commission has…
Torture victims will soon be lining up to sue the US. What are their chances?
EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga
The US Senate’s report on the torture carried out by the CIA makes shocking reading. Questions will be asked about whether individual victims can sue for compensation for losses suffered, and where they…
Protesting against messing with minds.
EPA/Michael Reynolds
During the War on Terror, the CIA’s operations subjected hundreds of suspected terrorists to harsh interrogation techniques, which were often criticised as constituting torture. Now, the Senate Intelligence…
Refugees from the Pakistan government’s assault on the Khyber region of Waziristan.
EPA
Shahzeb, a university student in Islamabad, who comes from the mountainous region of Waziristan in Pakistan, designated as a “tribal” area since colonial times, summed up the burden of harassment his fellow…
Religious leaders have come together to promote community harmony, but some political and media agendas have encouraged Islamophobia.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
Many incidents of violence and harassment directed at Australian Muslims have been reported recently. These are visible confirmation of fears expressed by their community, that support for the government’s…
A US Marine covers a statue of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with the US flag in Baghdad’s al-Fardous square in April 2003, before the statue was toppled.
EPA PHOTO AFPI/RAMZI HAIDAR
For at least a decade, attempts to understand why some young Muslims living in Western countries turn to violence in the name of religion have raised questions about Western foreign policy in the Middle…
‘The danger is clear’: Theresa May.
Joe Giddens/PA Wire
A few hours before the UK’s first air strikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq, the home secretary, Theresa May, warned the Tory party conference that IS could become the "world’s first truly terrorist…
Yes we can (I’ve checked this with my legal team).
EPA/Evelyn Chavez
With the world focused on ISIS and Iraq, last month US Special Forces carried out a capture operation in Libya against Ahmed Abu Khattala, the suspected ringleader of the 2012 attacks in Benghazi. The…
Protect and defend: President Obama takes the pledge at West Point’s graduation ceremony.
EPA/Peter Foley
As President Obama looks across the beaches of Normandy for the ceremony commemorating the D-Day landings, he could be forgiven for feeling ambivalent. Certainly, these are sites of great tragedy and a…
The passing of a decade has not dulled the sense of outrage at the UK involvement in the Iraq War, and the news that the Iraq Inquiry can only publish the “gist” of Tony Blair’s talks with George Bush…
Protest can become suspect under terrorism legislation.
Michael Stephens/PA Archive/Press Association Images
It is now accepted that the war on terror has generated an extensive repertoire of its very own terror. Drone strikes resulting in extrajudicial killings, rendition and torture – zones of exception like…
Tony Blair says Egypt was ‘rescued’ from extremism by military intervention.
EPA/Khaled Elfiqi
In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the strongest external support for a forceful response from the United States came from Tony Blair, the man who now again describes the struggle against…
The use of medicine as an “instrument of violence” in both the Iraq War and the Syrian conflict shows how blurred the lines between civilian and combatant spaces can become. According to the authors of…
A Guantanamo Bay detainee.
US Department of Defense
Nearly three and a half years ago, and to much fanfare, David Cameron launched a judge-led inquiry into British involvement in disappearance, rendition and torture. This week, he has finally published…
Yemen has two insurgencies, an AQAP threat and infighting among the armed forces.
Wikimedia
Yemen is once again at the centre of a major terrorist threat. The Yemeni government has announced the uncovering of a major Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) plot aimed at the country’s critical…
Al-Qaeda deputy Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed by a drone strike last week.
EPA/IntelCentre
With boots on the ground being costly politically, economically and diplomatically, it seems that week after week, drones are the most important front line weapon against Washington’s opponents in the…