I got an interesting press release from the Chronicle about this, and thought some readers might be interested:
Please join The Chronicle of Higher Education for a live, online discussion about a new book, The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib (Cambridge University Press), on Thursday, January 20, at 3 p.m., U.S. Eastern time at http://chronicle.com/colloquy/2005/01/torture.
Bush-administration officials were laying the groundwork for the use of torture long before Abu Ghraib, according to a new book. The book, compiled by university researchers, asserts that a policy to extract information from suspected terrorists became a legal rationale for abuse. In a time of war against ruthless enemies, should the book not have been published? Or does it show the importance of the principles that we are defending?
Karen J. Greenberg, executive director of New York University’s Center on Law and Security, is a co-editor, with Joshua L. Dratel, a lawyer, of The Torture Papers. Ms. Greenberg, a former vice president of the Open Society Institute, teaches European studies at NYU and is the editor of the Archives of the Holocaust, a scholarly series. Her research focus is the United States and Europe during World War II. She will respond to questions and comments about these issues on Thursday, January 20, at 3 p.m., U.S. Eastern time. Readers are welcome to post questions and comments now, at http://chronicle.com/colloquy/2005/01/torture.
The options given in the second paragraph seem incomplete — they leave out the otpion that the book should have been published, but that it is permissible to use at least some forms of physical coercion, perhaps including outright torture, to defend ourselves and our principles. But I hope that the discussion will bring all the possible options out.
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