The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse

The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse
by Marjorie Cohn
(4)
Release Date: April 1, 2012

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Review & Description

Torture has been a topic of national discussion ever since it was revealed that “enhanced interrogation techniques” had been authorized as part of the war on terror. The United States and Torture provides us with a larger lens through which to view America’s policy of torture, one that dissects America’s long relationship with interrogation and torture, which roots back to the 1950s and has been applied, mostly in secret, to “enemies,” ever since.

 

The United States and Torture opens with a compelling preface by Sister Dianna Ortiz, who describes the unimaginable treatment she endured in Guatemala in 1987 at the hands of the the Guatemalan government, which was supported by the United States. Following Ortiz’s preface, an interdisciplinary panel of experts offers one of the most comprehensive examinations of torture to date, beginning with the Cold War era and ending with today’s debate over accountability for torture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #131876 in Books
• Published on: 2012-04-01
• Released on: 2012-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 360 pages

A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law (University Center for Human Values)

A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law (University Center for Human Values)
by Antonin Scalia, Amy Gutmann
(37)

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We are all familiar with the image of the immensely clever judge who discerns the best rule of common law for the case at hand. According to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a judge like this can maneuver through earlier cases to achieve the desired aim--"distinguishing one prior case on his left, straight-arming another one on his right, high-stepping away from another precedent about to tackle him from the rear, until (bravo!) he reaches the goal--good law." But is this common-law mindset, which is appropriate in its place, suitable also in statutory and constitutional interpretation? In a witty and trenchant essay, Justice Scalia answers this question with a resounding negative.

In exploring the neglected art of statutory interpretation, Scalia urges that judges resist the temptation to use legislative intention and legislative history. In his view, it is incompatible with democratic government to allow the meaning of a statute to be determined by what the judges think the lawgivers meant rather than by what the legislature actually promulgated. Eschewing the judicial lawmaking that is the essence of common law, judges should interpret statutes and regulations by focusing on the text itself. Scalia then extends this principle to constitutional law. He proposes that we abandon the notion of an everchanging Constitution and pay attention to the Constitution's original meaning. Although not subscribing to the "strict constructionism" that would prevent applying the Constitution to modern circumstances, Scalia emphatically rejects the idea that judges can properly "smuggle" in new rights or deny old rights by using the Due Process Clause, for instance. In fact, such judicial discretion might lead to the destruction of the Bill of Rights if a majority of the judges ever wished to reach that most undesirable of goals.

This essay is followed by four commentaries by Professors Gordon Wood, Laurence Tribe, Mary Ann Glendon, and Ronald Dworkin, who engage Justice Scalia's ideas about judicial interpretation from varying standpoints.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78892 in Books
• Published on: 1998-07-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .1 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

The Tamil Genocide by Sri Lanka: The Global Failure to Protect Tamil Rights Under International Law

The Tamil Genocide by Sri Lanka: The Global Failure to Protect Tamil Rights Under International Law
by Francis A. Boyle
(1)

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Sri Lanka’s government declared victory in May, 2009, in one of the world’s most intractable wars after a series of battles in which it killed the leader of the Tamil Tigers, who had been fighting to create a separate homeland for the country’s ethnic Tamil minority. The United Nations said the conflict had killed between 80,000 and 100,000 people in Sri Lanka since full-scale civil war broke out in 1983. A US State Department report offered a grisly catalogue of alleged abuses, including the killing of captives or combatants seeking surrender, the abduction and in some cases murder of Tamil civilians, and dismal humanitarian conditions in camps for displaced persons. Human Rights Watch said the U.S. report should dispel any doubts that serious abuses were committed during the final months of the 26-year civil war. The report gains added significance since, during these five months, the Sri Lankan Government denied independent observers, including the media and human rights organizations, access to the war zone, and conducted a “war without witnesses.” This book traces the ongoing engagement of international lawyer Francis A. Boyle during the last years of the conflict. Boyle was among the very few addressing the international legal implications of the Sri Lankan Government’s grave and systematic violations of Tamil human rights while the conflict was taking place. This is the first book to develop an authoritative case for genocide against the Government of Sri Lanka under international law.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46657 in Books
• Published on: 2009-12-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 140 pages

Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Updated Edition (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)

Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Updated Edition (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)
by P.W. Singer
(29)

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Some have claimed that "War is too important to be left to the generals," but P. W. Singer asks "What about the business executives?" Breaking out of the guns-for-hire mold of traditional mercenaries, corporations now sell skills and services that until recently only state militaries possessed. Their products range from trained commando teams to strategic advice from generals. This new "Privatized Military Industry" encompasses hundreds of companies, thousands of employees, and billions of dollars in revenue. Whether as proxies or suppliers, such firms have participated in wars in Africa, Asia, the Balkans, and Latin America. More recently, they have become a key element in U.S. military operations. Private corporations working for profit now sway the course of national and international conflict, but the consequences have been little explored.

In Corporate Warriors, Singer provides the first account of the military services industry and its broader implications. Corporate Warriors includes a description of how the business works, as well as portraits of each of the basic types of companies: military providers that offer troops for tactical operations; military consultants that supply expert advice and training; and military support companies that sell logistics, intelligence, and engineering.

This updated edition of Singer's already classic account of the military services industry and its broader implications describes the continuing importance of that industry in the Iraq War. This conflict has amply borne out Singer's argument that the privatization of warfare allows startling new capabilities and efficiencies in the ways that war is carried out. At the same time, however, Singer finds that the introduction of the profit motive onto the battlefield raises troubling questions-for democracy, for ethics, for management, for human rights, and for national security.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #257884 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .80" h x 6.28" w x 9.20" l, 1.08 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 360 pages

Humanitarian Law in Action within Africa

Humanitarian Law in Action within Africa
by Jennifer Moore
Publication Date: March 6, 2012

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In Humanitarian Law in Action within Africa, Jennifer Moore studies the role and application of humanitarian law by focusing on African countries that are emerging from civil wars. Moore offers an overview of international law, including its essential vocabulary, and describes four particular subfields of international law: international humanitarian law, international human rights law, international criminal law, and international refugee law. After setting forth this overview, Moore considers practical mechanisms to implement international humanitarian law, focusing specifically on the experiences of Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Burundi. Through the case studies of these countries, Moore describes transitional justice's fundamental components: criminal, social, and historical. Although the African continent has gone through some of the world's greatest humanitarian emergencies, issues such as violence against women, child soldiers, and genocide are not unique to Africa, and as such, the study of humanitarian law by examining Africa's experience is important to conflict resolution and reconstruction throughout the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #278138 in Books
• Published on: 2012-03-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Between Peril and Promise: The Politics of International Law, 2nd Edition

Between Peril and Promise: The Politics of International Law, 2nd Edition
by Martin J Rochester

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In this concise introduction to international law, students gain a clear appreciation for how politics shapes the development of international law, and how international law shapes political relations between states. Throughout the book, Rochester takes this complex subject and makes it accessible with his vibrant, easy-to-read prose.

After exploring the parameters of international law its intrinsic challenges and the various approaches to it Rochester then examines its five major sectors the law of the sea, airspace, and outer space; human rights; war and peace; states and markets; and the environment all through the lens of international relations theory. Students will appreciate numerous pedagogical features, such as instructive case studies, photos and cartoons, discussion questions, and new to this edition an "International Law in Action" box, which uses real-world cases to flesh out the inner workings of international law.

Thoroughly revised and updated, this second edition includes coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the military intervention in Libya, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the global economic recession. Based on reviewer feedback, the author reorganized several chapters, bringing coverage of jurisdiction to the forefront in order to better set the stage for subsequent chapters. With updates to all of the book's data, factual information, and hundreds of endnotes, Rochester presents the latest IL scholarship in a clear and straightforward manner.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #124102 in Books
• Published on: 2011-11-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 328 pages

All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals (Human Rights and Crimes Against Humanity)

All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals (Human Rights and Crimes Against Humanity)
by David Scheffer

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Within days of Madeleine Albright's confirmation as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 1993, she instructed David Scheffer to spearhead the historic mission to create a war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. As senior adviser to Albright and then as President Clinton's ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, Scheffer was at the forefront of the efforts that led to criminal tribunals for the Balkans, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia, and that resulted in the creation of the permanent International Criminal Court. All the Missing Souls is Scheffer's gripping insider's account of the international gamble to prosecute those responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and to redress some of the bloodiest human rights atrocities in our time.

Scheffer reveals the truth behind Washington's failures during the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, the anemic hunt for notorious war criminals, how American exceptionalism undercut his diplomacy, and the perilous quests for accountability in Kosovo and Cambodia. He takes readers from the killing fields of Sierra Leone to the political back rooms of the U.N. Security Council, providing candid portraits of major figures such as Madeleine Albright, Anthony Lake, Richard Goldstone, Louise Arbour, Samuel "Sandy" Berger, Richard Holbrooke, and Wesley Clark, among others.

A stirring personal account of an important historical chapter, All the Missing Souls provides new insights into the continuing struggle for international justice.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30449 in Books
• Published on: 2011-12-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 570 pages