Thanks, I suspect, to Glenn’s concern, Technorati shows 13 links to The Knowledge, Technology Review‘s article about the dangers of biological weapons — but only one to Assessing the Threat, the companion piece that casts doubts regarding the same subject. None of the links I found via Technorati lead to any lengthy commentary, and Glenn — whom I regard as a national treasure, so this is not meant to convey disrespect — doesn’t seem to get beyond saying “this is scary, and we ought to do something about it.” The blogosphere, it would seem, has its limitations, even in the face of mortal threats.
By way of starting somewhere, then, I have a framework to offer that might at least help us determine how much trouble we’re in …
Terrorism
Warraq Reminds Us of What We Forget
This week, Ibn Warraq, a Muslim dissident, argues in Spiegel: “The west is the source of the liberating ideas of individual liberty, political democracy, the rule of law, human rights and cultural freedom. It is the west that has raised the status of women, fought against slavery, defended freedom of enquiry, expression and conscience.” He contrasts the cultures – “the west needs no lectures on the superior virtue of societies who keep their women in subjection.”
Well, now the Norwegian Embassy as well as the Danish one has been torched in Damascus; in Beirut not only has the Danish embassy been attacked but the Maronite Catholic church has been stoned; in Gaza, the EU offices have been attacked. Americans are often seen as geographically & culturally challenged, but four-month-old graphics in a Danish newspaper seem only tangentially “punished” by stones to a church in Beirut or raids on EU offices in Gaza. So, we take stock of what we believe, we define our differences. For, surely they see us as “one” because we share the values of the open marketplace of ideas. We optimistically & confidently assume our beliefs can withstand satire & continue to sustain us. And they share, what, a profound sense that anything anywhere that is skeptical or critical of their faith wounds them at their core.
Revising History
I was alive during the 1972 Olympic Massacre, though I was rather young to have recognized the events as marking a fundamental shift in how the world functions.
Still, my own level of self-awareness notwithstanding, it was a turning point in that it made the nations of the world sit up and realize that Palestinian terrorist organizations had a very long reach, and that they weren’t going to go away on their own. One indirect result from this terrible act of mass murder was that the UN decided to grant legitimacy to the PLO a mere two years later, an attempt at appeasement that we’re still trying to deal with more than 3 decades later.
Steven Spielberg recently came out with a movie entitled Munich. In the film, a team of Israeli professionals are tasked to track down and assassinate the terrorists responsible for the Olympic murders. Although an undeniably well crafted film, Spielberg bends over backwards in an attempt to portray both sides of the conflict as being morally equal. This, in my opinion, is one flaw that simply cannot be overcome.
The McCain Amendment
With all the coverage about the McCain Amendment, has anyone bothered to read the text? The news media only describe it as outlawing torture. The actual bill outlaws “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment,” which is a good deal broader. In fact, here is how the bill defines it:
(d) CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT DEFINED.–In this section, the term ”cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment” means the cruel, unusual, and inhumane treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as defined in the United States Reservations, Declarations and Understandings to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment done at New York, December 10, 1984.
Leaving aside the UN convention for the moment, the Eighth Amendment is enough to seriously hamper the treatment of terrorist prisoners. Domestic interpretations of the Eighth Amendment have led to the release of convicted prisoners and those held for bail because of overcrowded conditions. For example, the old Charles Street Jail in Boston was condemned and converted to private housing because of successful legal action citing the Eighth Amendment. Inadequate toilet facilities, insufficient access to mental and physical health treatment, and solitary confinement have been found to be violations of Eighth Amendment rights. Boston Review has a very good overview of Eighth Amendment issues by Joan Dayan. The McCain Amendment bestows the same rights on terror suspects held anywhere by the US. Also, by granting these rights with reference to the US Constitution, it will be impossible to exclude lawsuits by detainees from the US court system. Brace yourselves for a Ramsey Clark extravaganza.
Quote of the Day
Preventing terrorists from gaining access to weapons of mass destruction must be elevated above all other problems of national security because it represents the greatest threat to the American people.
-Excerpt from one of the 9/11 Commission reports, as cited by Daniel Henninger (link requires WSJ subscription).