Cockburn
/ St. Clair's Scorching New History of a Decade of War
Now Available!
Today's
Stories
June
8, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
The March on Rumsfeld's House: Is
the US Anti-War Movement Running Out of Steam?
Phillip
Cryan
Torture, Bombings & the Press in
Colombia
Mark
Zepezauer
Getting Reagan Wrong
Mickey
Z.
Reagan, Radicals and Repetitive Reactions
John
L. Hess
Reagan and Bush in Normandy
Alex
Dawoody
Reagan and Saddam: the Unholy Alliance
Christopher
Fons
Reagan in a Word: Mean
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Some Tenets are More Important Than Others
Ahmed
Bouzid
Nothing New Under the Israeli Sun
Michael
Leon
Bush the Narcissist
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Nature of Ronald Reagan: Will
the Earth Accept His Corpse?
June
7, 2004
Jason
Leopold
New Enron Docs Show Lay and Skilling
Knew of California Trading Schemes
Patrick
Cockburn
The Baghdad Bombings: the Pattern
of Attacks is Changing
Dennis
Hans
From Afghanistan to El Salvador: Reagan's
Dark Global Legacy
Tracy
McLellan
Nader at the National Press Club:
a Glimpse at a Different Kind of Politics
Bill
Blum
The Myth of the Gipper: Reagan Didn't
End the Cold War
Ben
Tripp
What I Owe Reagan: the Brylcreemed
Bullshitter
Susan
Davis
Reagan, In a Nutshell
Phil
Gasper
Reagan: Goodbye and Good Riddance
Website
of the Day
A Child's ABCs of Terrorism
June
5 / 6, 2004
C.
Douglas Lummis
Toward a Universal Declaration of
Human Wrongs
Saul
Landau
Five Cubans in Prison, Victims of Bush's Obsession
Dave
Lindorff
John Walker Lindh, Revisited
Brian
Cloughley
Apologies, Please, From Those Who Got It Wrong
Rich
Gibson
The Grenada 17: the Last Prisoners of the Cold War are Black
Elaine
Cassel
A Sorry FBI
Cathrin
Schütz
On the Ruins of Yugoslavia
Ben
Tripp
Call Me, Mr. Cassandra
Kurt
Nimmo
The Madness of King George
Ron
Jacobs
They Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Unless We Make It So)
Laura
Flanders
The Lynne Cheney Show?
Lenni
Brenner
Renaissance Noir: Caravaggio at the Met
Abigail
Jones
Whatever Happened to Lori Berenson, President Toledo's Trophy
Prisoner?
Mark
Latham
Nothing Bush Said Has Changed Our Hopes
Gerry
Adams
I Was Photographed While Tortured, Too
Toni
Solo
Venezuela 2004, Nicaragua's Contra War Reprised
Derek
Seidman
Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old
M.
Junaid Alam
Torture is Just the Symptom
Matt
Siegfried
An American Way of War
Dave
Zirin
The Politics of Charles Barkley
Poets'
Basement
Albert, Krieger, St. Clair
Website
of the Weekend
Overnight Sensations
June
4, 2004
Chris
Floyd
Masked and Anonymous: Inside America's
Animal House
Cornwell
/ Penketh
Exit Tenet: the Fall of a Fall Guy
Wayne
Madsen
Apprehension & Frustation: Neo-Cons on the Brink
Greg
Moses
Agitating for Workers' Rights in Iraq
Yitzak
Laor
Before Rafah
Ghali
Hassan
Ambassador to Death Squads: Who is Negroponte?
Jane
Stillwater
God, the Rapture and Vera Casey
CounterPunch
Wire
D-Day Reconsidered: Was It Really Worth the Carnage?
John
Borowski
Woo-Wooism v. Meteorites: Why the Dems Are No Match for Bush
Mike
Griffin
Caterpillar's Assault on the UAW
Alexander Cockburn
Has Bush Gone Over the Edge?
Website
of the Day
Aquae Urbis Romae:
Water and Empire
June
3, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
Iran's Nuclear Dilemma
Dr.
Susan Block
America in tha Hood
Michael
Donnelly
The Bully and the Brahmin
John
Chuckman
Insanity in America: US Ranks Number
One in the Deranged
Christopher
Brauchli
The Return of Cardinal Law: Rome
on $12,000 a Month
Samia
Nassar Melki
Caravaggio in Iraq
Mike
Whitney
Subverting Justice: Pre-Trial Ruminations in the Padilla Case
Diane
Rejman
Memorial Day Isn't Just About the Dead
Scott
Morris
"WMDs" in Cuba
Paul
de Rooij
Palestinian Misery in Perspective
June
2, 2004
Brian
Cloughley
The Liars are Winning
Ray
McGovern
How Far Would They Go? Beware "Credible
Intelligence"
Josh
Frank
The Anybody But Bush Offensive
Mike
Whitney
The Afghanistan Failure: Bush's Warlord Patriots
Jackie
Corr
Iraq and Ireland: Three Tales from Butte, Montana
Robert
Jensen
The US Lost the Iraq War...and It's a Good Thing, Too
Alexander
Cockburn
"Bye, Bye Boonville!"
June
1, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Instant Karma: Bush's Sins Catch Up
with Him
William
A. Cook
Manufacturers of Fear and Loathing in
Rafah
Dave
Lindorff
Will the Times Clean House?
Kevin
Zeese
Inside the Kerry / Nader Meeting: Did
the Kerry Campaign Lie About What Was Discussed?
Jacob
Levich
Coming Soon: Return of the Draft,
a Bipartisan Production
Kathy
Kelly
Voices in the Wilderness v. the US
Government
Website
of the Day
Remind Us
May
29 / 31, 2004
Lee
Ballinger / Dave Marsh
The Origins of Memorial Day
Janine
Pommy Vega
Memo for Memorial Day
Mike
Ferner
On Their Way to Abu Ghraib
Alfred
W. McCoy
The Cruel Shadow: the Long History of CIA Torture Research
Douglas
Valentine
An Open Letter to the NYT: Questions, Questions, Questions
Chris
White
First to Fight Culture: a Former Marine on the Marine Motto
Bruce
Anderson
The Awful Injustice to Tai Abreu
David
Vest
Get Ready for Kerry's War: the 100 Year Quagmire
Saul
Landau
Torture: the Logical Outcome of Bush's War for Democracy?
Kurt
Nimmo
Abu Hamza al-Mazri, Made in the USA
Elaine
Cassel
The Secrets of Surveillance: Ashcroft, Snoops, and Gag Orders
Will
Potter
The New War on "Terror": Protest the Torture of Chimps;
Get Arrested as a "Terrorist"
Ben
Tripp
They Fiddled While Nero Got the Matches
Dr.
Susan Block
Save Abu Ghraib!
Kia
Kojouri
Nukes, the US, Israel and Iran: an
Interview with Sasan Fayazmanesh
Mickey
Z
D-Day: 60 Years is Enough!
Jon
Brown
Correcting the Correction at the Times
Patrick
B. Barr
Pre-emptive War Insurance
Stephen
Gowans
Bad Apples in a Bad Barrel
Tom
Gorman
Gore on Bush in Iraq: the Approach May be Exotic, But It's Hardly
New
Dave
Zirin
Fighting for Boxers' Rights: an Interview with Eddie Mustafa
Muhammad
Gregory
Weiher
Bush to Arabs: "Go Get Yourself Some Democracy"
Erik
Cummings
Jung Meets Bush
Poets'
Basement
Davies, Ford, Kearney, McLellan and Albert
May
28, 2004
Rafael
Rodriguez Cruz
Curtain of Silence on the Cuban 5
Greg
Moses
Bush's Misleading Speech on Abu Ghraib
Dave
Lindorff
Dissing Independent Contractors:
Those Who Do the Dirty Work
Norman
Solomon
Leaping for Lies at the Times
Rep.
Bill Delahunt
Bush's Cruel New Rules on Cuba
Paul
McGeough
Chalabi Baba and the 40 Thieves
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
India and Nehru: 40 Years After
Alexander
Cockburn
NYTs: "Maybe We Did Screw Up...a
Little"
May
27, 2004
Amy
Goodman / David Goodman
Fatal Errors: the Lies of Our Times
Douglas
Valentine
Ragging the Dogs of War at the
NYTs
John
L. Hess
The Times Confesses...Kind Of
Stew
Albert
Dellinger, the Wrestling Pacifist
Dave
Dellinger
a 1993 Interview
Christopher
Brauchli
Tax Breaks for Scions...to Hell with Poor Kids
Rampton
/ Stauber
Banana Republicans: Pumping Irony
May
26, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
Goodbye, David Dellinger: He Was a
Friend of Ours
Robert
Fisk
The Things Bush Didn't Say in His Speech
Zeynep
Toufe
New Draft UN Resolution Permits Perpetual Occupation
Conn
Hallinan
Bush and Sharon: the Oil Connection
Tom
Stephens
2 + 2 is On My Mind: More Morons
and War Crimes
Derek
Medley
Protesting Gov. Bigot
CounterPunch
Wire
FBI Abducts Artist; Seizes Art
Andrew
Cockburn
The Trail to Tehran
May
25, 2004
Joe
Bageant
The Covert Kingdom: On Earth as It
is in Texas
Col.
Dan Smith
A Question of Human Dignity
Gary
Handschumacher
Visiting Lori Berenson: Time to Bring Her Home
Toni
Solo
A Developing War in the Andes
Marc
Estrin
September Song: Disturbing Questions
About 9/11
Stephen
Banko, III
A Vietnam Vet on "Supporting the
Troops"
Website
of the Day
The Wizard of Whimsy
May
24, 2004
Ron
Jacobs
Dan Senor is Safe!
Kurt
Nimmo
Dirty Tricks & TortureGate: the
Missing Taguba Pages
Sam
Hamod
Gen. Zinni: "Wrong War, Wrong
Place, Wrong Time"
Mike
Whitney
The Wedding was a Bomb
Stan
Goff
Open Season on MAMs
Image
of the Day
A Photo from Abu Ghraib We Didn't See on the Front Page of the
NYTs
May
22 / 23, 2004
Paul
de Rooij
Colin Powell, a Political Obituary
Jeffrey
St. Clair
When War is Swell: Bush and the Carlyle Group
Elizabeth
Weill-Greenberg
Her Son Was Told He Wouldn't See Combat; Now He's Dead: an Interview
with Sue Niederer
Brian
Cloughley
America is Committing War Crimes in Iraq
Saul
Landau
Democracy in Latin America: Great for Investors; Not So Good
for People
Brandy
Baker
Feminists Stand By Their Man: Abortion, Judges and Kerry
Randall
Robinson
Bushwhacked in the Caribbean
Uri
Avnery
The Rape of Rafah
Ben
Tripp
Assume the Worst
Bruce
Anderson
News from Ecotopia: the Truth About the Wine Business
Josh
Ruebner
Why I Burned My Israeli Military Papers
Peter
Wolson, Ph. D.
Exhibitionistic Revenge at Abu Ghraib
Chloe
Cockburn
In Defense of "Troy": What Hector Could Teach Rummy
Linda
Burnham
Sexual Domination in Uniform: an American Value
Adrien
Rain Burke
War of the Necrophiliacs: Spc. Sabrina Harman and Her Corpse
David
Krieger
Charting a New Course for US Nuclear Policy
Ron
Jacobs
Turnaround
Poets'
Basement
Ford, Albert & LaMorticella
May 21, 2004
Ray
Close
The Canards of the Apologists
Christopher
Brauchli
"The Object of Torture is Torture"
Amira
Hass
Darkness at Noon
Jack
McCarthy
Camilo Mejia: Can the Son of a Sandinista Get a Fair Trial from
the US Army?
Bill
Kauffman
Nader v. Bush
Omar
Barghouti
No More Tears for America
Ghali
Hassan
Moral Failure of the "Free World" in Gaza
Christopher
Reed
How the CIA Taught the Portuguese to
Torture
Website
of the Day
Eric Idle on the Bush Administration: Fuck You, So Very Much
May
20, 2004
Andrew
Cockburn
The Truth About Chalabi
Kathy
Kelly
A Visit from the FBI
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Brown and Bored of Education in India
Tom
Stephens & John Philo
The War Crimes of Bush, Cheney & Co.
Sam
Bahour / Michael Dahan
Genocide by Public Policy
Robert
Ovetz
Ending the Race for the Last Turtle
Billy
Wilson
The Most Important Thing I Learned at School This Year
Website
of the Day
Rafah Today
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
June
9, 2004
Defender
of the Lash & the Cattle Prod
Alan
Dershowitz, Professor of Torture
By
MIKE WHITNEY
"THE GENEVA Conventions
are so outdated and are written so broadly that they have become
a sword used by terrorists to kill civilians, rather than a shield
to protect civilians from terrorists. These international laws
have become part of the problem, rather than part of the solution."
This is the opening passage of Alan
Dershowitz's attack on the Geneva Conventions. It sets the tone
for a polemic that savages our continued commitment to the humane
treatment of prisoners and endorses "varying forms of rough
interrogation".
The essay, "The Rules
of War Enable Terror", employs the Harvard professor's rhetorical
skills to undermine the legal barriers that restrict the use
of torture. It is a assault on the fundamental principles of
human decency.
This is no exaggeration; Dershowitz
is quite forceful in articulating his belief that treating people
with dignity and humanity is anathema to the goals of the war
on terror.
"The time has come to
revisit the laws of war and to make them relevant to new realities,"
Dershowitz insists.
But what changes in the law
does Dershowitz have in mind?
"The treaties against
all forms of torture must begin to recognize differences in degree
among varying forms of rough interrogation, ranging from trickery
and humiliation, on the one hand, to lethal torture on the other.
They must also recognize that any country faced with a ticking-time-bomb
terrorist would resort to some forms of interrogation that are
today prohibited by the treaty."
Ah, yes, the "ticking-time-bomb"
theory once again; that "all purpose" pretext for excusing
any imaginable form of cruelty. Dershowitz invokes the most extreme
scenario and uses it as the rationale for overturning the laws
that protect the individual.
The "ticking-time-bomb"
theory has always served as a blanket justification for torture.
It is the one example that convinces ordinary people that security
should take precedence over human rights. When it is pointed
out, however, that the victims of torture are no more than "suspects",
(without positive proof of their culpability) attitudes quickly
change.
Dershowitz also fails to mention
that in countries where torture is permitted, its use quickly
spreads to minor criminals who pose no real threat to society
at large.
He knows as well as anyone,
that once society entrusts the state with the power to use "physically
coercive" measures, those measures are likely to be implemented
well beyond their original mandate. It is a surefire prescription
for widespread physical abuse against people who have no legal
recourse.
We should consider the deleterious
affects of abandoning our core principles for short term gain.
Torture has an inherently corrupting influence on society. It
deprives man of his humanity and elevates the state over the
individual. The victims are stripped of their rights and left
at the mercy of the state.
In Dershowitz's world, these
constitutional protections are not only provisional, but subordinate
to national security; the loftiest goal of all. It is a breathtaking
departure from our professed commitment to human rights, and
particularly surprising coming from an "officer of the court."
But, it is not merely torture
that Dershowitz advocates, but murder; "premeditated",
state sponsored murder.
"Democracies must be
legally empowered to attack terrorists who hide among civilians,
so long as proportional force is employed. Civilians who are
killed while being used as human shields by terrorists must be
deemed the victims of the terrorists who have chosen to hide
among them, rather than those of the democracies who may have
fired the fatal shot."
There are enormous gaps in
Dershowitz's reasoning, the most prominent of which is his careless
manner of excusing the killing of innocent civilians to achieve
the objectives of the state. What Dershowitz blithely refers
to as "proportional force" is in reality the "scattershot"
justice practiced by Israel in their targeted assassination campaign.
This is a policy that is so detestable, so utterly racist (it
is impossible to imagine that Israel would ever fire missals
into populated areas in Tel Aviv to dispatch an "alleged"
terrorist; only in the enclaves of the "untermenschen")
that it eschews any conceivable moral justification.
It is murder, plain and simple.
It's absurd for Dershowitz
to suggest that "democracies must be legally empowered"
to carry out these crimes. Assassination is NEVER the instrument
of democracy, but tyranny. There is no consensus on assassination;
no public mandate; it is the usurping of unauthorized power and
a violation of the government's "sworn" commitment
to operate within the law.
Again, Dershowitz demonstrates
his frail grasp of the primary purpose of government. Governments
are established as the guarantors of life and liberty; it is
not within their authority to perpetrate illegal attacks on civilians,
let alone to kill them.
The "extra judicial"
killing of civilians is the highest crime government can commit.
It is the complete breakdown of the legal firewall that protects
the individual from the vagaries of state power.
It represents a total disregard
for mans most fundamental right; the right to life. When the
state claims the power to kill its own citizens or foreign nationals,
the rule of law ceases to be.
In this respect, Dershowitz's
defense of "targeted assassination" can be taken as
an attack on the law itself. It implies that senior members of
government can ignore "whatever" legal restraints they
choose as long as their activities can be construed as fighting
terrorism. The law can be conveniently dismissed when it does
not coincide with the objectives of the people in charge.
Ironically, Dershowitz's belief,
that it is acceptable to kill civilians in the pursuit of terrorists,
is a validation of terrorism.
What difference does the motive
make?
It is the willingness to sacrifice
innocent people for one's own objectives that is, by definition,
terrorism
Dershowitz essay ominously
takes aim at those, "In the middle, who applaud the terrorism,
encourage it, but do not actively facilitate it. At the guilty
end are those who help finance it, who make martyrs of the suicide
bombers, who help the terrorists hide among them, and who fail
to report imminent attacks of which they are aware. The law should
recognize this continuum in dealing with those who are complicit,
to some degree, in terrorism."
Those who "applaud terrorism,
but do not actively facilitate it"?
Those who are "complicit
to some degree"? Does Dershowitz mean those who understand
the roots of terror?
Does he mean those who speak
of the "legitimate grievances" of oppressed people,
some of whom fill the ranks of terrorist groups?
Does he mean those who oppose
the Bush war on terror or who write for leftist web sites?
Dershowitz's world view appears
to merge quite nicely with that of John Ashcroft; America's menace
to civil liberties. Both of them seem to prefer flexible definitions
of "terrorism" so that they can include anyone who
might be "perceived" as a security risk. They favor
a net that is large enough to entrap any possible threat, real
or imagined.
Isn't this the precedent that
led to the illegal detention of 1,100 Muslims following 9-11?
(None of whom were ever connected to any terrorist group?)
Wasn't this the same logic
that put thousands of innocent Iraqis behind bars in Abu Ghraib
even though (according to the Red Cross) 70% to 90% of them were
simply rounded up in random sweeps?
Dershowitz comments are vague
but troubling. They suggest that our due process rights are too
generous and should be reworked to accommodate security concerns.
In his mind, the standard has shifted from "innocent until
proven guilty" to "complicit to some degree".
(a disturbing trend that we see reflected in the behavior of
the Justice Dept)
Dershowitz's closing thoughts
are revealing;
"The old black-and-white
distinctions must be replaced by new categories, rules and approaches
that strike the proper balance between preserving human rights
and preventing human wrongs. For the law to work, it must be
realistic and it must adapt to changing needs."
What Dershowitz is suggesting
is that we toss out the cumbersome "constitutional"
system ("adapt to changing needs") and morph into Fortress
America, the United States of Paranoia; a country that is no
longer guided by institutions and principles, but by fear and
repression.
Maybe there was a time when
the issues of torture and assassination could be lightheartedly
debated in the insulated confines of a college classroom, but
that time has passed. We are reminded almost daily, with photos
and stories from Abu Ghraib, of the horrors that originate from
the flawed reasoning of men like Dershowitz.
When we pick up the newspaper
and see that another missal attack ("targeted assassination")
has taken place in Gaza or Jenin, we are seeing the application
of Dershowitz's fetid logic.
How many innocent bystanders
were killed this time in the name of fighting terrorism?
Similarly, when we read of
the many abuses and humiliations at Abu Ghraib, we are observing
the outcome of this flawed rationale.
In Dershowitz perspective,
violations of human dignity are acceptable as long as the ultimate
purpose is worthwhile. "The end justifies the means."
But this reasoning does not
account for our long held belief that man is an end in himself,
and that his intrinsic value provides him with certain "inalienable"
rights.
Dershowitz's views are a dramatic
departure from these basic convictions.
Dershowitz's apology for torture
is not a superficial disagreement on the fine points of the US
judicial system; it is a full blown assault on the foundational
principles of American society.
Democracy and torture are entirely
incompatible; we only need a glimpse of the photos from Abu Ghraib
to fully grasp that.
There is a yawning chasm between
"free societies" and the "national security state".
It is the latter that emerges according to Dershowitz's recommendations.
Torture is a dramatic expansion
of state power and sets us firmly on the path of unchecked government
authority. It abandons much of what is admirable about American
justice and our commitment to the rights of man.
It is a detour we don't need
to take.
Mike Whitney can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com
Weekend Edition
Features for June 5 / 6, 2004
C.
Douglas Lummis
Toward a Universal Declaration of
Human Wrongs
Saul
Landau
Five Cubans in Prison, Victims of Bush's Obsession
Dave
Lindorff
John Walker Lindh, Revisited
Brian
Cloughley
Apologies, Please, From Those Who Got It Wrong
Rich
Gibson
The Grenada 17: the Last Prisoners of the Cold War are Black
Elaine
Cassel
A Sorry FBI
Cathrin
Schütz
On the Ruins of Yugoslavia
Ben
Tripp
Call Me, Mr. Cassandra
Kurt
Nimmo
The Madness of King George
Ron
Jacobs
They Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Unless We Make It So)
Laura
Flanders
The Lynne Cheney Show?
Lenni
Brenner
Renaissance Noir: Caravaggio at the Met
Abigail
Jones
Whatever Happened to Lori Berenson, President Toledo's Trophy
Prisoner?
Mark
Latham
Nothing Bush Said Has Changed Our Hopes
Gerry
Adams
I Was Photographed While Tortured, Too
Toni
Solo
Venezuela 2004, Nicaragua's Contra War Reprised
Derek
Seidman
Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old
M.
Junaid Alam
Torture is Just the Symptom
Matt
Siegfried
An American Way of War
Dave
Zirin
The Politics of Charles Barkley
Poets'
Basement
Albert, Krieger, St. Clair
Website
of the Weekend
Overnight Sensations
Keep
CounterPunch Alive:
Make
a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online!
home
/ subscribe
/ about us / books
/ archives / search
/ links /
|