President Barack Obama is making a last-minute plea to undecided voters, warning that a Republican president could misuse the extraordinary powers contained in his recently publicized “Disposition Matrix”.

The warning came in an exclusive sit-down with an anonymous trusted journalist &nda… Read full post »

 YUKON TERRITORY, CANADA, 1990

Neither a high-stakes wager, nor a midnight ride to the Tombstones, were part of my plans that rainy Friday evening in Dawson City. When I knocked on the door of a cabin I had visited briefly a few weeks before, I sought only a warm/… Read full post »

A Federal Court of Appeal in Canada ruled today that the Canadian government must seek the return of a Canadian citizen held in Guantanamo, due to Canadian officials' complicity in interrogating the man under duress.

Omar Khadr has been a US captive for a third of his… Read full post »

July 1, 2008 – The sound of soft rain on our tent woke us on the morning of July 1st, and the showers continued long enough to make us consider staying in our comfortable campsite beside the Yukon River. But by mid-afternoon the rain slowed to a drizzle,… Read full post »

‘War on terror’ hypocrisies cross many borders

In October, 2003, Canadian citizen Maher Arar returned home to Ottawa and told his grim story of extraordinary rendition. Detained by the US at John F. Kennedy Airport as a suspected member of Al Qaeda, he was refused passage b… Read full post »

All right, I’m a slow learner. Until I saw the ad in the newspaper, I really didn’t get it. I didn’t really understand that if the Bush administration torture architects are brought to justice, it won’t be because of the Democratic Party, but in spite of the Democratic Party./… Read full post »

Last night I had the privilege of meeting an American hero.

His name is Chuck Wiley, and he spoke to a small group of Canadians who believe that George W. Bush should be arrested when he steps onto Canadian soil next Friday.

Bush, along with another well-connected American,/… Read full post »

Last week’s controversy was about President Obama saying Supreme Court nominees should possess empathy. This week’s controversy is about Obama’s decision to fight to keep additional photographs of torture secret. What’s the connection?

Over the last few months,/… Read full post »

Do you and I believe that the UN Convention Against Torture is part of our law, and therefore we must abide by its terms? Ah, we may say so, but David S. Broder knows better. Our "plausible-sounding rationale", he says, "cloaks an unworthy desire for vengeance."

So the Washington Post… Read full post »

Will Barack Obama decriminalize torture?

President Obama did renounce torture as an interrogation tactic at the beginning of his administration, with an Executive Order that appeared to reaffirm long-standing principles of international law. But since that opening move, the Obama administratio… Read full post »