It is beyond my understanding how we know these things and do so little about them. From an article by Glenn Greenwald that Barack Obama should read:
Mohamed is an Ethiopian citizen and British resident who was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and then “rendered” by the U.S. to multiple countries (such as Morocco); held incommunicado (no access to lawyers, the International Red Cross or anyone else) and interrogated by U.S. agents until 2004; and then shipped off to Guantanamo, where he has remained ever since. Mohamed alleges — and (as British courts have ruled) there is substantial evidence to confirm — that he was brutally tortured during this time period, including having his genitals sliced, being severely beaten, and having guns aimed at his head and threatened with death if he did not confess. [more]
Surely Obama does not want these horrors to be his. But if not, and I simply must assume not, he must do everything in his power to allow these stories to be told and justice to be done, in America, in Britain, in Canada [Omar Khadr] and wherever it is necessary to do so. Nothing less than full disclosure is required.
UPDATE: From Scott Horton at The Nation –
Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention Against Torture require the United States to prohibit torture under domestic criminal law and to investigate and prosecute incidents in which it is practiced. The failure even to begin criminal investigations has placed the United States in breach of its obligations under the treaty, a point that even torture apologists like University of Chicago Law School professor Eric Posner freely concede. [more]
mirabile dictu 