Confronting the CIA's Mind Maze

A brief history of contemporary American torture

Alfred W. McCoy, J.R.W. Smail Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Over a 40-year period, Americans have found themselves mired in this same moral quagmire on six separate occasions: following exposés of CIA-sponsored torture in South Vietnam (1970), Brazil (1974), Iran (1978), Honduras (1988), and then throughout Latin America (1997). After each exposé, the public's shock soon faded, allowing the Agency to resume its dirty work in the shadows.

Confronting the CIA's Mind Maze