Related Posts

Sadness

We are truly sad at the death of Nick Berg. He was a non-combatant, a secured prisoner, and was killed in the most horrendous way. Our sympathies to his family. Unfortuantely, I believe he would have been killed regardless of whether the details of Abu Ghuraib had come out or not; whether Abu Ghuraib happened or not. The viciousness evident in the video was looking for an excuse to be let loose. Once more, I have to say, these people are animals. The ideology of Islam as hatred has become so embedded in their psyche that they murmur platitudes to…

More on our #torture policies

If you haven’t already seen it, read this article in Harper’s entitled “We Still Torture.” Then go listen to “Blackout Beach” by the Kominas. Now we have entered what we may wish to call the post-torture era, except that it is not. Indeed, we cannot even revert to the easy hypocrisy of the Cold War. We have returned to our traditional practice of torturing and pretending not to, but the old routine is no longer convincing. We know too much. We know that we are still imprisoning men who very likely are completely innocent. We know that we still beat…

Arab and American revolutions in history « The Immanent Frame

Arab and American revolutions in history « The Immanent Frame. Let me try to explain further, in the hope of minimizing the risk of miscommunication, which is particularly serious when we deal with profound transformations that challenge our deeply held assumptions and prejudices. I personally am opposed to the Muslim Brothers and have struggled to challenge their views of Islam and politics since the 1960s. Their ideological confusion and devious politics have caused horrendous loss and pain in my home country, Sudan. I therefore have no illusions about the serious costs of their coming to power anywhere, especially in a…