Liberalism, Torture, and the Ticking Bomb

Abstract

am grateful to the many students and colleagues participating in these presentations for their many valuable comments and probing questions. I would also like to thank the members of the Law of Torture Listserv, whose comments, encouragement, and knowledge have made the Essay far better. Finally, I wish to thank Paul Kahn and Mike Seidman, who have argued with me every step of the way. 'See, e.g., Filartiga v.

Constructing Enemies: ‘Islamic Terrorism’ in Political and Academic Discourse

“…Related to this, it is possible to detect an erosion of public morality in polling data that shows that significant proportions of the public in many Western countries, but most notably in the United States, now agree that torturing terrorist suspects is justified in some circumstances. 109 It can also be seen in the absence of public concern or outrage at the public evidence of torture and abuse, the muted response to human rights abuses committed by the security forces during counter-terrorism operations and the ongoing and very serious public debate by academics, officials and journalists about the necessity and ethics of torture and other human rights abuses against terrorist suspects. This erosion of public morality is, I would suggest, directly linked to the social and political construction of a pervasive discourse of threatening, murderous, fanatical 'Islamic terrorists' who must be eradicated in the name of national security.…”

Human Rights in the EU and the US: Social Worker v. Good Cop?

“…A very narrow interpretation of the definition of torture in US law during this period allowed the use of torture, such as waterboarding (Luban, 2005(Luban, : pp. 1452(Luban, -1460.…”

Constitutive Visions: Sovereignty, Necessity, and Saramago's Blindness

“…Using the outworn ticking bomb hypothetical, to choose to torture a person to save Manhattan is still to choose evil, even if it is a lesser evil. 89 This latter fact often remains invisible because the prior consequentialist justification seems to end the matter. The torture was justified by necessity -end of story.…”