How did the USA, a state with otherwise high human rights standards and a competitive democratic political system, end up prodding the C.I.A. into torturing people at ‘black sites’? Dr. Danny Coopers, an expert on American politics argues that the answer lies in the combination of the leadership personalities and the unique political situation in the USA after 9/11.
After 9/11 the U.S. government captured terrorists, ‘enemy combatants’ in Afghanistan and, occasionally, some innocent bystanders during its retaliatory War on Terror. Those captives were taken to ‘black sites’, places free from those pesky legal protections and domestic civil rights legislation, and some were subjected to torture during ‘enhanced interrogations’. Now, after years of delays, a U.S. Senate report is out detailing what actually happened in those torture sessions and the recriminations have begun. Simon Letich writes;
Alochonaa (Dialogue) 