tortureArticle Free Pass Through these means, the legal
international prohibition of torture became absolute and
unambiguous, and it was bolstered by an array of machinery
designed to make it enforceable. The eradication of torture
nevertheless remains difficult, given that societies sometimes
prefer to see offenders (ordinary or political) punished
regardless of the means; further weakening occurs when the crime
of torture is investigated by the forces responsible for
committing it. The problem was exacerbated by the response to
the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001. Some
journalists and politicians sought to revisit (or reinterpret
the meaning of) the absolute prohibition of torture or inhuman
treatment as laid down in international law, especially after
the exposure of abusive practices by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib
prison in Iraq (which had been invaded by U.S.- and British-led
forces in 2003). No government, however, sought to question the
prohibition itself or to challenge the UN Conven