The Torture Never Stops

While recent revelations about the treatment of Jose Padilla have brought the subject of torture back to the surface (for however briefly), it's worth noting that the kind of sensory deprivation visited on the as-yet-unconvicted Padilla are not new, even to the United States. In this column, University of Wisconsin professor Alfred McCoy briefly lays out the development of US psychological interrogation techniques from the 1950s up to their continued use today. The column is a condensation of McCoy's book, A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror. Sadly, there's nothing new under the sun.