US Accepts Int'l Definition of Torture

Is it coincidental that a memo (.pdf), acknowledging the grievous error of so narrowly defining torture, was released on New Year's Eve? The Department of Justice has been working on it for six months. Well, lest it slip under the media radar, I post it here for all to read.

What does this memo really mean?

If for example, on December 29, a US agent pulled out fingernails of a detainee one by one, slowly, during interrogation, that was legal, essentially condoned by the US government. Why? Because it did not constitute "severe pain" meaning "equivalent to the intensity of pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or death."

But now, the US has decided to follow the international laws and treaties that have defined torture for decades. Torture, according to the new memo, includes actions which cause "mental anguish" and "physical suffering."

So, no fingernail yanking in 2005.