This episode investigates how torture and extensive demonstrative violence have been used as tools throughout clandestine operations, intelligence gathering and also outright war.
Recent examples covered are the abuses by the United States military in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay, as well as the workings of covert operations involving torture and organized violence.
Also discussed are attitudes towards civilian casualties in modern war, as well as recent framing conditions of propaganda such as Islamophobia—the driving force behind warmongering and mainstream media manipulation.