When it comes to torture: everything old is new again

Slippery slope arguments are usually not considered very strong criticisms, but when it comes to analyses of torture they are right on the mark. Dr. Darius Rejali's podcast on the ethics of torture has quickly become one of our most listened to interviews. In a recent Slate.com article,, he describes how just a little torture opens the floodgates for all sorts of injustice. What is most striking is that practices that were widely regarded as crimes just one hundred years ago, such as waterboarding, are today being resuscitated by our country's leaders as necessary for national security. Can it really be that the new world order means going back on at least a hundred years of moral progress?

For the legally minded: a short guide as to why one might consider the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to be bad law and possibly unconsitutional.