CIA Jails Constituted 'Torture'

A secret report by the International Committee of the Red Cross has been released detailing the Bush administration’s treatment of Al Qaeda captives in CIA prisons as “[constituting] torture,” which likely violates international law. The report claims prisoners were taken "to the verge of death and back": beaten, slammed head-first into walls, exposed to cold temperatures, and deprived of sleep and solid food for days. Although the report is hardly a surprise, it is the most definitive explanation and the first to use the word “torture” in a legal context, reports The Washington Post.