Synopses & Reviews
Twenty-one scholars, activists, military officers, and religious leaders have come together here to underscore that torture is a moral issue, beyond all partisan politics, but also to help religious communities mobilize against it, so that all loopholes permitting torture by any U.S. agencies, whether military or intelligence, might be eliminated.
Torture Is a Moral Issue begins with background material, including accounts from a torture survivor and a former U.S. interrogator in Iraq. Parts two, three, and four encompass the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim responses respectively. Part five offers solutions to this horrific problem and considers what would need to be achieved for specifically U.S. torture to be brought to an end.
Contributors: Taha Jabir Alalwani, William T. Cavanaugh, John Conroy, Edward Feld, David P. Gushee, Yahya Hendi, Scott Horton, George Hunsinger, Adm. John Hutson, Tony Lagouranis, Ellen Lippman, Ingrid Mattson, Ann Elizabeth Mayer, Marilyn McEntyre, Gen. Richard O'Meara, Dianna Ortiz, Louise Richardson, Kenneth Roth, Fleming Rutledge, Melissa Weintraub, Carol Wickersham.
Synopsis
In this hard-hitting volume two dozen scholars, activists, military officers, and religious leaders call for an immediate end to the practice of torture, paying particular attention to its use in the American war on terror. Torture Is a Moral Issue begins with background material, including vivid firsthand accounts from a torture survivor and a former U.S. interrogator in Iraq. The heart of the book contains respectively Christian, Jewish, and Muslim arguments against torture, and the final part charts a way forward toward a solution, offering much principled yet practical advice. Included as an afterword is a revealing interview with Darius Rejali, one of the world's foremost experts on torture and democracy. Book jacket.
Table of Contents
Getting away with torture / Kenneth Roth -- A survivor's view of torture / Dianna Ortiz -- Confessions of a torturer / Tony Lagouranis as told to John Conroy -- Military concerns about torture: honor, professionalism, morale / Adm. John Hutson, Gen. Richard O'Meara -- Beyond numbness: a personal meditation / Marilyn McEntyre -- Torture is the ticking time bomb: why the necessity defense fails / George Hunsinger -- Six reasons why torture is always wrong / David P. Gushee -- Torture and eucharist: a regretful update / William T. Cavanaugh -- My enemy, myself: a sermon / Fleming Rutledge -- Torture and Torah: defense of dignity and life in Jewish law / Melissa Weintraub -- Developing a Jewish theology regarding torture / Edward Feld -- These things I remember as I pour out my heart: a sermon for Kol Nidre 5766 Ellen Lippmann -- What we pray for: principles of faith / Rabbis for Human Rights -- Stopping oppression: an Islamic obligation / Ingrid Mattson -- Of torture and abuse / Taha Jabir Alalwani -- A call for dialogue: a sermon / Yahya Hendi -- Fatwa against religious extremism / Fiqh Council of North America -- Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights (1981) / Islamic Council of London -- Islam and human rights today / Ann Elizabeth Mayer -- William Wilberforce: progenitor of the global human rights movement / Scott Horton -- What terrorists want: an overview / Louise Richardson -- Speaking truth to the not so powerful / Carol Wickersham -- How to end torture / George Hunsinger -- Afterword: Torture always comes home: an interview with Darius Rejali / Scott Horton -- Appendix 1: Torture is a moral issue: a statement of conscience by the National Religious Campaign against Torture -- Appendix 2: Statement on interrogation practices.