The United States has historically been regarded as a moral leader
opening the pathway for human rights. The country which for so long has
struggled for the establishment of the rule of law - as well as to be a
model for other nations in observing it - has, since September11, 2001,
committed abhorrent practices of torture, which the US has fought
against when committed by others. What seems astonishing is that such
practices took place within a climate of significant public
indifference, and even with some public support. Time and again,
observers of tragic historic events reveal that it is not so much the
evil doing of the few which allows the worst atrocities to occur, as it
is the indifference of the many. The Bush administration assumed neither
moral nor legal responsibility, and in the end, it is hard-put to show
what positive results may have been obtained for so many transgressions.
The history of law and legal institutions has long proven the error of
accepting the Machiavellian principle that the ends justify the means.
In addition, the proposition that torture prevents terrorism cannot be
proven true. Under torture, people tend to say whatever is expected of
them. However, this is not only about pragmatic pursuits. It is about
morality and ethics. The judgement has already been made that torture is
unlawful. In addition, the Guantanamo Bay practices and the unlawful
seizure of persons in different parts of the world by the CIA - after
which they are transferred to countries where they are tortured - have
proven that hard evidence is highly unlikely to be attained under
torture. Most of the detainees have been proven to have no connection to
terrorism and most of them have been released because they were wrongly
arrested. Guantanamo represents a failed policy that has done much
damage to the moral authority of the US. Aberrant views of torture as
necessary because the ends justify the means have not generated much
negative reaction from the legal profession - despite the fact that the
1984 Convention against Torture, the Geneva Conventions, the US
Constitution, and the laws of the US have clearly prohibited such
practices. This book examines such questions as: Are the events of
September 11, 2001 enough to have us reopen the question of whether the
medieval practice of torture should be allowed? Are they enough to have
its institutionalized practice undermine the integrity of the US legal
process and system of law, and to undermine the country's moral
leadership in the world? The answer to these questions has to be a
resounding and unqualified no. The US must, therefore, take quick and
confident action to make amends and to hold responsible those who
promoted a policy of torture. M. Cherif Bassiouni, in April 2012,
received the Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award which is given by the
Columbia Journal of Transnational Law to a distinguished scholar or
practitioner who has made outstanding contributions to the field of
international law. *** ...exquisitely detailed the way in which
American governmental institutions bypassed international law in order
to allow the creation of a policy that allowed torture. Bassiouni paints
a striking portrait of the abuses and violations of international law by
Bush's Administration, the way these actions strike at the heart of the
American tradition, and the actions that must be taken to save America's
collective conscience. - Prof. Karen Greenberg, Executive Director of
the Center on Law and Security, NYU School of Law
