Imagine a prisoner who might know something about a ticking time bomb, but refuses to talk. Is torture justified in such a case? And where does torture start? Whereas one prisoner may remain calm when looking a ferocious barking dog in the eye, another is terrified. So is there a difference between these situations if it's the same dog in both?

The events at Abu Ghraib -- and in other US-operated prisons -- have launched just such a debate across the globe. What is "torture" and what is "abuse?" And, in the case of Abu Ghraib, just what were the intentions of the American soldiers involved and what can be allowed? The Web magazine Slate has excellent and comprehensive answers to these questions. 

A Daily Dose of Dracula

Blogs seem to be multiplying faster that rabbits on Watership Down these days. And while a number of them are worthless meanderings of uninteresting (and occasionally sick) minds, some are actually lots of fun. Like a new literary project which turns Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" into daily tidbits of darkness for your enjoyment  -- or, as the Web site claims, "Dracula published according to its own calendar. It is partly in the form of diary and appears partly as letters.

And speaking of Dracula, the Prince of Darkness has equipped his remote castle in the mountains of Transylvania with Internet, keeps us up to date with his dark-side musings.  Lazy ladies of the night, annoying missionaries and unreliable food delivery are just a few of his miseries.

Iraqi Resistance Explained

What we know about Iraq: Bombs are going off daily and more than a thousand people have died since the beginning of May. At the same time, the newly elected government and the American military seem to be incapable of slowing down the violence. The chaos is getting so bad that some are even beginning to refer to the violence as a nascent civil war. But why, exactly, has the United States lost the battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqis? An exhaustive new report, published by the Project on Defense Alternatives,  puts the US occupation under a microscope and provides an in-depth analysis of public sentiment among Iraqis relative to the US.