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"Can Law Guide the War on Terror, or Can’t It? A Sad Question, a False Dilemma, and a New Way Around It"
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Vigilance: They’re human beings, innocent until proven guilty and deserving of all rights guaranteed to them – haven’t you read the Geneva Conventions?
Flexibility: This is al-Qaeda, for crying out loud!! Polite questioning won’t do, soft voices won’t do, cozy barrack arrangements won’t do, and athletic uniforms?? I mean, how quaint can you get?
Vigilance: You are subverting the law and promoting inhuman treatment! And torture doesn’t even work – I’d talk, too, if I felt like I was about to be drowned or eaten by a dog!!
Flexibility: Look, let’s get this straight. The President does not believe in torture; it disgusts him. We are interested in what we can do short of that to get the information we need.
Vigilance: But even the Red Cross has said that the psychological health of these prisoners has deteriorated. What is the Muslim world going to think? You’re even using religion as an interrogation weapon. You won’t even stop during Ramadan!
Flexibility: We’re concerned about dehydration. If he prays, he has to drink
Vigilance: Haven’t you read the Taguba Report – this is a situation where the fox is watching the henhouse! And you’ve tried everything to block any kind of independent judicial review.
Flexibility: Whoa, hang on there. The Combatant Status Review Tribunals follow the letter of the Supreme Court’s Hamdi ruling. What more do you want?
Vigilance: But who is naĂŻve enough to believe that, so long after the fact and in a atmosphere of impunity, these tribunals can possibly give a fair judicial review? No wonder these people are on a hunger strike!
Flexibility: Not if we can help it!!!
Etcetera.
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2
This is a compilation of reports and statements from a number of different sources, including
Guantánamo: What the World Should Know by Michael Ratner and Ellen Ray (2004), Truth, Torture, and the American Way: The History and Consequences of US Involvement in Torture by Jenifer K. Harbury (2005), a 25 January 2005 Fresh Air program with John Yoo, former Justice Department official, Ken Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch [
http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13&prgDate=25-Jan-05
], and pertinent
documents from the American Civil Liberties Union [www.aclu.org], the Center for Constitutional Rights [www.ccr-ny.org], and especially the newly declassified documents courtesy of the National Security Archive [
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB127/index.htm
]. Reference to findings by the
International Committee of the Red Cross are based on accounts leaked to, The Wall Street Journal, "Red Cross Found Widespread Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners," 7 May 2004. The so-called Taguba Report is posted to many internet sites, including
http://www.military.com/ContentFiles/Taguba.pdf
. The Hamdi ruling, issued
by the US Supreme Count on 28 June 2004, can be found at
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/
.
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| | Authors: Abbassi, Jennifer. |
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Vigilance: They’re human beings, innocent until proven guilty and deserving of all rights
guaranteed to them – haven’t you read the Geneva Conventions?
Flexibility: This is al-Qaeda, for crying out loud!! Polite questioning won’t do, soft
voices won’t do, cozy barrack arrangements won’t do, and athletic uniforms?? I mean,
how quaint can you get?
Vigilance: You are subverting the law and promoting inhuman treatment! And torture
doesn’t even work – I’d talk, too, if I felt like I was about to be drowned or eaten by a
dog!!
Flexibility: Look, let’s get this straight. The President does not believe in torture; it
disgusts him. We are interested in what we can do short of that to get the information we
need.
Vigilance: But even the Red Cross has said that the psychological health of these
prisoners has deteriorated. What is the Muslim world going to think? You’re even using
religion as an interrogation weapon. You won’t even stop during Ramadan!
Flexibility: We’re concerned about dehydration. If he prays, he has to drink
Vigilance: Haven’t you read the Taguba Report – this is a situation where the fox is
watching the henhouse! And you’ve tried everything to block any kind of independent
judicial review.
Flexibility: Whoa, hang on there. The Combatant Status Review Tribunals follow the
letter of the Supreme Court’s Hamdi ruling. What more do you want?
Vigilance: But who is naĂŻve enough to believe that, so long after the fact and in a
atmosphere of impunity, these tribunals can possibly give a fair judicial review? No
wonder these people are on a hunger strike!
Flexibility: Not if we can help it!!!
2
This is a compilation of reports and statements from a number of different sources, including
Guantánamo: What the World Should Know by Michael Ratner and Ellen Ray (2004), Truth, Torture, and
the American Way: The History and Consequences of US Involvement in Torture by Jenifer K. Harbury
(2005), a 25 January 2005 Fresh Air program with John Yoo, former Justice Department official, Ken
Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch
[
], and pertinent
documents from the American Civil Liberties Union [www.aclu.org], the Center for Constitutional Rights
[www.ccr-ny.org], and especially the newly declassified documents courtesy of the National Security
Archive [
]. Reference to findings by the
International Committee of the Red Cross are based on accounts leaked to, The Wall Street Journal, "Red
Cross Found Widespread Abuse of Iraqi Prisoners," 7 May 2004. The so-called Taguba Report is posted to
many internet sites, including
. The Hamdi ruling, issued
by the US Supreme Count on 28 June 2004, can be found at
3
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