ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the contemporary case of state-sanctioned torture and abuse by the United States in Iraq and elsewhere. While it is clear that the torture and abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib and other facilities as bad as it was pales in comparison to the Holocaust and genocides, the question we raise here is the degree to which they constitute a case of moral inversion and administrative evil. However, subsequent documents and events suggest that considerable ambiguity about the treatment and interrogation of detainees remained in the system, and had the effect of giving permission for the torture and abuse of detainees. It is interesting that most of the public debate has focused on torture, and discussed the convention against torture as if it were not also about other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as well. The Interrogation policy seems to have been based on combination of political preferences and intuitive belief about human nature.
