Of the Senator's latest expert suggestions — that the Boston bombings and Benghazi showed a national security weakness — President Obama said, "No, Mr. Graham is not right on this issue, although I'm sure it generated some headlines." Wrong. What it generated was cable news hits for Graham. And the No. 1 thing Lindsey Graham is an expert on... is getting on TV.
As the world turned in the 24 hours since two explosions went off around 3 p.m. Monday, most of the world's attention turned to the aftermath in Boston. But other things were happening, believe it or not, so here's a quick primer on what you may have missed.
The CIA says it is "out of the detention business," as John Brennan, Obama's pick to head the agency, recently put it. But the CIA's prisons left some unfinished business.
Drones will no doubt be the central issue of contention at John Brennan's confirmation hearing on Thursday to become Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, but whatever happened to torture?
Yes, little old Iceland made the list. So did the Hague's neighbors in Belgium, and Sweden and Finland. Why?
On the same day that the September 11th high-jackers returned to court, word came that the office responsible for closing the prison has itself been closed, adding another entry to the long list of scuttled attempts to shut down the detention facility.
The Zero Dark Thirty director addresses her film's critics head-on in a new op-ed. But does her self-defense succeed?
Filmmakers Kathyrn Bigelow and Mark Boal have been more candid about defending Zero Dark Thirty. It's just not very clear what their defense is, exactly.
Kathryn Bigelow's movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden isn't even out yet, and already people are sparring over its depiction of torture. Here's how everyone got so angry so fast, and how to talk about what everyone's talking about.
The United Nations has drawn up a list of individuals and military units it believes are guilty of war crimes in Syria, though Human Rights Watch also says that opposition forces are guilty of torture and summary executions as well.
Human Rights Watch has released a new report claiming that CIA agents arrested and tortured opponents of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi before turning suspects over to his regime.
Nothing to see here: The Justice Department closed its investigation into the deaths of CIA detainees overseas and will not bring any charges, Attorney General Eric Holder announced today.
Remember torture? It used to be quite the scandal here in the United States, when officials at places like Guantanamo Bay would waterboard prisoners, but you don't hear about it as much anymore. Don't you know? Waterboarding is so suburban these days.
A investigation by Human Rights Watch has identified the locations of 27 different "torture centers" across Syria where thousands of citizens have been interrogated and abused since the nation's uprising began in March of 2011.
As The New York Times Andrew Jacobs reports, there's one gigantic drawback to being one of China's lucky, power-wielding officials: Any misstep could land you in the shuanggui, a system of secret torture complexes complete with simulated drowning, cigarette burns, and sleep-deprivation.
On Tuesday the commission set up to investigate a Chicago police torture scandal dating to the 1970s finally made its first recommendations on what cases to bring to court, but yesterday, the Chicago Tribune reports, the Illinois legislature defunded the entire project.
Sometimes "enhanced interrogation" doesn't feel like torture until you see it happening to someone you can relate to.
A civil lawsuit filed against a former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo has been tossed out of court, granting Yoo immunity for memos he wrote that authorized the torture of some terrorism suspects.
The former head of the CIA's Clandestine Service Jose Rodriguez says President Obama is waging the nation's war against radical Islam in a far more brutal manner than his predecessor President George W. Bush.
Syrian state television announced Thursday that the government had released 500 prisoners as part of the Arab League's plan to end the crisis, but activists there say it's covering up ongoing human rights violations, including torture chambers.
A judge just sentenced Reynaldo Bignone, former leader of Argentina's military junta, to 15 years in prison for setting up a torture center in a hospital basement during the 1976 coup.
After watching a college-basketball game that took place aboard a 113,500-ton aircraft carrier, President Obama did something even more absurd by the end of the weekend: he reiterated, yet again, that yes, he believes waterboarding is torture, just like he did when he banend the practice in 2009.
Rep. Michele Bachmann doubled down on her claim that the ACLU dictates CIA policy on Sunday morning talk show appearances. Commentators would beg to differ.
New book reveals how Bush leaned on him for decision to bomb Saddam Hussein
The group calls on foreign governments to "reaffirm the primacy of the rule of law"
On the shrinking Nile, political sex scandals, and interrogation deniers
Even if they're not true, observes cartoonist Steve Benson.
On political wives, female genital mutilation, and the torture debate
On rejecting torture, giving into birthers, and preparing for crisis.
He says calling all Guantanamo interrogation "torture" would be "polemical"
Also, almost half of kids ages 12 to 17 haven't heard of the Geneva Conventions
Possibly because everyone there thinks he's a torturer
The aftermath of the Yoo-Bybee report
"Abu Ghraib and other situations like that are nonbiodegradables. They don't go away."
Matthew Yglesias and David Ignatious debate the CIA's role
Opinionmakers debate the precedents of investigating interrogators' infringements
Eric Holder's attention could affect the behavior of CIA interrogators in different ways
The Onion warns against tying the hands and hooves of our Minotaur interrogator
With the Post's report that waterboarding works, advocates say the only remaining argument against it is moral
The substantial arguments against the Washington Post's assessment that torture worked
Christopher Hayes rouses liberals with a call to bring back the Church Committee--the comprehensive 1970s investigation that uncovered CIA assassination plots and more.
Should we pity the CIA director for getting steamrolled by Eric Holder and the White House?
A step toward justice, or a dangerous blow to the CIA?
A former torture supporter explains why he was wrong and what he learned
Moral, ethical, cultural and national security considerations define debate
Scouring the CIA documents, pundits find little evidence to support the ex-Vice President's boasts at the Weekly Standard
Low-level CIA interrogators, DoJ lawyers, or administration officials? Who should they target?
A political ploy, or a step that should extend to the highest levels of the Bush administration?
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