It is my belief that violence is the last resort of the desperate. Torture is the use of violence usually for the purpose of obtaining information. The debate about American use of torture on detainees rages at the moment and I squarely place myself on the side of the argument against the use of torture. The latest Time magazine has an article in it titled “How to Make a Terrorist Talk” and it is certainly [...]

The issue of torture is extremely hot in the media at the moment with two very different ideals being presented. The Obama administration has made it very clear that it views torture as a breach of good values whereas the Bush administration viewed it as a necessary political tool. There are also arguments around what constitutes torture. The most high profile method is waterboarding – the simulation of drowning. Obama has defined this as torture, [...]

After campaigning for a number of years now, many activists will be taking delight in the first executive order signed by the newly inauguarated President Obama. His first executive order was no less than to set in place the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba within one year, a prison that has been known as the bastion and symbol of the Bush era’s war on terror. It embodied a poor outworking of [...]

Originally written for Filmguide. Taxi to the Dark Side chronicles the story of a young man from Afghanistan called Dilawar, a taxi driver who was taken into custody and detained in 2002. He died in the American prison in Bagram only months later. Dilawar was innocent and had no part in the incident that he was supposed to have been an accomplice in.