Headline writers and those who coin catchy phrases have dubbed the
post-September 11 era the Age of Terror. Yet terrorism has been
around for most of the last century, albeit in a more contained
form that did not put Americans and Australians, for example, at
risk from indiscriminate attack. In this thought-provoking,
controversial and sometimes polemical volume, Alan M Dershowitz,
professor of law at Harvard Law School, seeks to link the situation
we are now in directly to the world's response to (especially
Palestinian) terrorism through the last 30 or so years. The fact
that the introduction is prefaced by quotes from former two Israeli
prime ministers, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, may give a clue
to the casual reader that Dershowitz is no sympathiser with the
actions of Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian Authority, yet his
views make interesting reading for readers from all shades of the
political spectrum, not least because he is unafraid to tackle
contentious issues head-on, not least in the chapter 'Should the
Ticking Bomb Terrorist Be Tortured, in which he restates a
compelling argument that won the author a great deal of media
coverage, much of it critical, when he suggested it in his law
classes and at public speaking engagements. Stated in its most
straightforward form: 'The simple cost-benefit analysis for
employing non-lethal torture seems overwhelming: it is surely
better to inflict nonlethal pain on one guilty terrorist who is
illegally withholding information needed to prevent an act of
terrorism than to permit a large number of innocent victims to
die.' This is surely controversial, yet it is testament to
Dershowitz's intellectual rigour that he can make a convincing case
for the argument. The rest of the book, setting out possible
strategies for global responses to terror, is a similarly
uncompromising read. (Kirkus UK)
One of America's most distinguished defenders of civil liberties
presents measures that will prevent terrorism and still uphold our
democratic values The greatest danger facing the world today, says
Alan M. Dershowitz, comes from religiously inspired, state
sponsored terrorist groups that seek to develop weapons of mass
destruction for use against civilian targets. In his newest book,
Dershowitz argues passionately and persuasively that global
terrorism is a phenomenon largely of our own making and that we
must and can take steps to reduce the frequency and severity of
terrorist acts. Analyzing recent acts of terrorism and our reaction
to them, Dershowitz explains that terrorism is successful when the
international community gives in to the demands of terrorists-or
even tries to understand and eliminate the "root causes" of
terrorism. He discusses extreme approaches to wiping out
international terrorism that would work if we were not constrained
by legal, moral, and humanitarian considerations. And then, given
that we do operate under such constraints, he offers a series of
proposals that would effectively reduce the frequency and severity
of international terrorism by striking a balance between security
and liberty.
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