This half-hour panel discussion addresses the film Torturing Democracy (watch online here), and is moderated by Wide Angle anchor Aaron Brown. It updates and expands the documentary with an in-depth conversation on recent Congressional hearings and legal decisions, as well as what the methods used to combat terrorism may mean for America’s standing in the world and how U.S. military personnel may be affected.
The participants are:
Alan Dershowitz, Harvard law professor, constitutional scholar and author of ‘Is There a Right To Remain Silent? Coercive Interrogation and the Fifth Amendment After 9/11′.
Carol Rosenberg, staff reporter for the Miami Herald covering the hearings at the Guatanamo Bay detention camp.
Philippe Sands, professor of law and Director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals at University College London and author of ‘Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values’.
see more on torturingdemocracy.org:
Torturing Democracy is a look at how the U.S. came to legalize what almost anyone would define as torture: Who did what to whom, under what authority, in what we call the war on terror. See how the post 9-11 battlefield collided head-on with the American sense of the rule of law.
One of the many points that occur to me following the viewing of Torturing Democracy regards the power of a legal opinion, issued by appointed attorneys, to be acted upon as if this were some form of the law. The safety net these singular judgments provided members of the executive branch in these cases allowed extraordinary license to perform frightening acts in the name of democracy without any form of reasoned review.
Thank you WNET for airing this program despite PBS cowardice.
It is high time that the people who authorized torture and those who justified it legally, are brought to justice before an international war crime tribunal! Maybe the changing of the guard in the White House will make this possible. The retroactive legal immunization of the culprits has to be rolled back and crimes against humanity charges have to be leveled against the offenders.
After watching this presentation, I judge that it is a complete failure. On a matter of national interest, no opposing spokesperson was allowed to rebutt the allegations, or consider the related issues such as the habeas corpus ruling. To air this one sided presentation, days before our election, after omitting years of contrary information, places this work in the category of political propaganda.
It is a prime example why public funds should not support this type of activity.
PBS and the CPB as far as I’m concerned are enemies of the state in a time of war.
I’m going to contact my state representative tomorrow to make sure not a penny of my tax money goes into your Leftist terrorist appeasing anti-American channel.
It is anti-American to torture. Exposing that torture and prosecuting those responsible is necessary in a functioning and open democracy.
This was a brilliant documentary, not a show providing access to pundits or spokespersons as someone suggested. Those in the know and on the other side of the issue likely refused to be interviewed for the show in part from fear of future prosecution. It would have been wonderful to hear Cheney and Rumsfeld defend themselves. But their absence speaks louder than words.
I think that torture should only be approved if used on Alan Dershowitz.
My opinion is, the top officials of the Bush Cheney administration should be arrested and tried for the war crimes at Gitmo. They illegally obtained the office of the presidency through Voter fraud and were not even elected. They must stand trail for these atrocious acts against other human beings.
For Alan Dershowitz we produce accountability by just being openly illegal. This is twisted beyond belief. People who torture should be tried for war crimes. Period.
Readers with some curiosity and time to kill might research Alan “Meaty Hands” Dershowitz’s own cloudy past. A while back, a wife (first wife) of Alan’s appears to have, er, injured herself in a manner consistent with a person colliding with flying fists, wingtip shoes, and belt buckles. Try finding the slightest mention of that first wife’s existence, on the WWW. The unfortunate woman committed suicide by jumping or falling from the Brooklyn Bridge. Another paskudny fact down the memory hole. How lucky for Alan. But how is it, if he keeps his demons securely locked in the Dershowitz cellars, they’re all plainly visible on the Dershowitz face? Talk about a man carrying his sin on the skin of his chin……
Is this a malicious comment? I wonder if Alan’s virtuallly erased first wife felt maliciously treated as she plunged from the Brooklyn Bridge? And how very very quickly Alan remarried, after #1’s demise….
I think the documentary was as good as some of the PBS Frontline stories on the Bush Government failures from 2000-through-2008. Every global citizen should feel disgusted after watching this film and use every channel available to “SHUT DOWN” the Guantanamo prison along with all the other “secret” prisons operated by the most democratic country in the world. All the Bush government officials including Cheney, Rumsfield, all the five lawyers should face a “War crime” tribunal and should be given stiff penalities including solitary confinement as necessary.
Last comment, I thought after watching such a serious documentary it was a joke to watch the Panel discussing the “Acceptable Torture Situations” as if it was still a question. I turned off the TV set after listening to the Panel for a minute and I request PBS as well as this organization to strip out the Panel discussion from the film.
Thanks,
Desi
I saw Torturing Democracy last night and was appalled by what seemed to confirm my questions about our moral authority to dictate how the world should behave, or in fact, our qualifications to act as world leader. Unfortunately, I just finished watching the Panel Discussion. The failure to include the opposing viewpoint or a defender of the administration undermines the credibility of your program. That is most unfortunate. Given the apparent unwillingness to allow both sides to present their perspectives brings into question the objectivity of Torturing Democracy itself. While the show raises many troubling and difficult issues, until we are able to present and discuss these issues in a balanced forum that includes opposing viewpoints (sometimes there are more than two sides to a story) we will only learn how to respond to those that are able to stir up our emotions. This has not contributed to an effective learning process or the development of the critical thinking skills required to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of any given position. If we don’t develop those skills, these costly mistakes will continue.