The Torture Debate in AmericaKaren J. Greenberg Cambridge University Press, 2005 M11 21 - 414 pages As a result of the work assembling the documents, memoranda, and reports that constitute the material in The Torture Papers the question of the rationale behind the Bush administration's decision to condone the use of coercive interrogation techniques in the interrogation of detainees suspected of terrorist connections was raised. The condoned use of torture in any society is questionable but its use by the United States, a liberal democracy that champions human rights and is a party to international conventions forbidding torture, has sparked an intense debate within America. The Torture Debate in America captures these arguments with essays from individuals in different discipines. This volume is divided into two sections with essays covering all sides of the argument from those who embrace absolute prohibition of torture to those who see it as a viable option in the war on terror and with documents complementing the essays. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 75
Page xiv
... moral , political , and legal philosophy , as well as criminal law , and is the author of Complicity : Ethics and Law for a Collective Age . His recent work includes articles on democratic theory , reparations , and non - uniformed ...
... moral , political , and legal philosophy , as well as criminal law , and is the author of Complicity : Ethics and Law for a Collective Age . His recent work includes articles on democratic theory , reparations , and non - uniformed ...
Page 2
... moral , political , and strategic considerations , the authors included here have all asked themselves the question , what does the introduction of the fact of torture mean to the United States ? Does it make us safer ? Was the policy ...
... moral , political , and strategic considerations , the authors included here have all asked themselves the question , what does the introduction of the fact of torture mean to the United States ? Does it make us safer ? Was the policy ...
Page 6
... morally abhorrent nature of torture . But this is far from the case . If the history of the eradication of torture offers any example , it is that the abolition of torture is not just about moral outrage or concerns about the ...
... morally abhorrent nature of torture . But this is far from the case . If the history of the eradication of torture offers any example , it is that the abolition of torture is not just about moral outrage or concerns about the ...
Page 8
... moral arguments or to philosophical theorizing or to references to the Constitution . Rather , legal minds can move us forward to rediscovering a comfort with nuance , with uncertainty , and with the abilities of men to determine ...
... moral arguments or to philosophical theorizing or to references to the Constitution . Rather , legal minds can move us forward to rediscovering a comfort with nuance , with uncertainty , and with the abilities of men to determine ...
Page 23
... moral choices as you wish , but you have to understand that you are making moral choices . If you ignore them , you walk down this road . You walk down the road of Nazi lawyers and Nazi judges following orders . Look at the Hamdi case ...
... moral choices as you wish , but you have to understand that you are making moral choices . If you ignore them , you walk down this road . You walk down the road of Nazi lawyers and Nazi judges following orders . Look at the Hamdi case ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
2002 Memorandum Abu Ghraib abuse advice Afghanistan al Qaeda Alberto Gonzales American apply argument armed conflict attack authority bomb Bybee Memo civilians client concluded conduct Congress constitute torture court crimes criminal cruel customary international law death definition of torture degrading treatment Department of Justice detainees detention enemy combatants ethics Executive federal Geneva Conventions Gonzales Guantánamo Bay Human Rights infliction inhuman interrogation techniques Iraq John Yoo laws of war memoranda military moral necessity defense Office of Legal OLC's pain or suffering party person POW status practice President President's prisoners prisoners of war prohibition prolonged mental harm prosecution protections Protocol Qaeda question Report requires rules Section self-defense severe mental pain severe pain severe physical pain specific intent statute supra note Taliban terrorism terrorist threat tion Torture Convention Torture Papers treatment or punishment treaty U.S. Department United unlawful combatants violate war on terror WH Counsel
Popular passages
Page 104 - torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent...
Page 155 - Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law ; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.
Page 178 - While the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind, it is the duty of States, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Page 329 - Declaration, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted...
Page 156 - Protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honour, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs. They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against insults and public curiosity.
Page 342 - Although the five techniques, as applied in combination, undoubtedly amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment, although their object was the extraction of confessions, the naming of others and/or information and although they were used systematically, they did not occasion suffering of the particular intensity and cruelty implied by the word torture as so understood.
Page 303 - ... the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.