The Central Intelligence Agency is in the news. It is under attack in the States for torture used against purported terrorists. The only thing that attracts my attention at present is the assortment of their torture methods. It appears that the most popular form of torture used was so-called waterboarding. This stands for a series of near-drownings. Also, prisoners were soaked in cold water and given ice baths. Sleep deprivation was another popular method. Prisoners were forced to go without sleep for up to a week, but on occasion sleep deprivation stretched to an entire month. While deprived from sleep, prisoners would have to stand upright with their hands shackled above their heads. Next came death threats, as well as threats that prisoners’ family members would be killed or sexually abused. An innovative torture method was so-called rectal feeding. Ground-up food was inserted through the anus. Prisoners were also confined to small spaces or forced to sleep while chained to concrete floors. In addition, there were regular beatings and slamming of prisoners against walls, as well as dragging of prisoners up and down corridors. While treated this way, prisoners would often be kept naked with their heads hooded. Combined, these torture methods led to a wide variety of psychological problems for prisoners, such as hallucinations, paranoia, insomnia, and attempts at self-harm and self-mutilation. It is not hard to imagine that many CIA operatives who have applied these torture methods are now suffering from a wide variety of psychological problems, as well. In their case, it would be called post-traumatic stress disorder. Anyhow, the above list is good to remember. It comes straight from the country that presents itself as the example for the rest of the world. Only imagine the assortment of torture methods regularly applied by intelligence agencies in countries that are close to the bottom of political, social, and economic development around the globe. When it comes to such methods, human imagination is nigh inexhaustible.