News
Historian connects modern-day torture to ancient times
By
Brook Jackling
| May 8, 2007
Danny Gobaud / The Dartmouth Staff Kenneth Pennington, a history professor at the Catholic University of America, drew connections between historical and modern-day incidences of torture in his Monday lecture "Torture Past and Present," sponsored by the Rockefeller Center. Using evidence from ancient Greece, ancient Rome and medieval and early modern Europe, Pennington argued that recent United States practices in Afghanistan and Iraq fall under the category of torture, despite the government's hedging the exact definition of the term. Pennington stated that the lack of clarity in the Geneva Convention can be partially blamed for the United States' current situation.
