American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes Hardcover – April 5, 2016
by <http://www.amazon.com/Rebecca-Gordon/e/B001KCIFYU/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1>Rebecca Gordon (Author)
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No subject is more hotly debated than the extreme measures that our government has taken after 9/11 in the name of national security. Torture, extraordinary rendition, drone assassinations, secret detention centers (or “black sites”), massive surveillance of citizens. But while the press occasionally exposes the dark side of the war on terror and congressional investigators sometimes raise alarms about the abuses committed by U.S. intelligence agencies and armed forces, no high U.S. official has been prosecuted for these violations – which many legal observers around the world consider war crimes.
The United States helped establish the international principles guiding the prosecution of war crimes – starting with the Nuremberg tribunal following World War II, when Nazi officials were held accountable for their crimes against humanity. But the American government and legal system have consistently refused to apply these same principles to our own officials. Now Rebecca Gordon takes on the explosive task of “indicting” the officials who – in a just society – should be put on trial for war crimes. Some might dismiss this as a symbolic exercise. But what is at stake here is the very soul of the nation.
***************************************** CUSTOMER REVIEWS
By <http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A28SBHH5217HU/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp>Max S. Elbaum on April 1, 2016
Rebecca Gordon’s American Nuremberg is more than a timely, well-researched and accessible recounting of the horrors perpetrated by U.S. government and military officials since the beginning of George Bush’s “global war on terror.” And it is more than a thorough analytic and historical review of U.S. and international law concerning war crimes, torture and crimes against humanity. Beyond those attributes – which already are more than enough to make the book of great value – it is a “tough love” gift to the American people in its presentation of a path toward moral rejuvenation and a measure of justice.
This is not a “kick back, relax, and enjoy a good read” volume. How could it be? Fact-upon-fact specifics about people tortured and maimed; thousands killed in illegal wars, and lying-as- standard-procedure at all levels of the national security state are uncomfortable to confront. The reader is inspired to continue only by the author’s ethical framing of all this painful information. Avoidance and denial will only insure more evils and greater moral degeneration down the road. The path toward ending government criminal abuse lies in bringing everything to light, holding those responsible for illegal actions accountable, and repairing the moral damage that has been done to the whole society by years of fear-mongering - what Gordon terms “terror manipulation.”
Toward that end, the pages of American Nuremberg are rich with information and tools for analysis. The story of the “First Nuremberg” – the precedent-setting trial of top-level Nazi’s right after World War II – is well-told providing crucial background. Easily readable charts are present throughout to help the reader sort through the extensive information presented. Distinctions between different components of international law – for instance, between International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law – are clearly laid out and their importance clarified. Such features mean Gordon’s book stimulates the mind as well as the conscience.
The volume ends with an explanation of what an actual Tribunal – an “American Nuremberg” - could accomplish. Given continuing U.S. government stonewalling, Gordon concedes that an official Tribunal is unlikely to be convened, but she offers a compelling argument for filling the political and moral gap with one convened from the grassroots. That’s the final punchline of this excellent work, whose concluding sentence sums up the stakes: “The world is waiting.”
*************************** By <http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/ATZ94BVCKW6Y9/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp>Melanie Weiss on April 3, 2016
No matter how closely you have followed the political, military, and attitudinal fallout after September 11, 2001, you have never read such a concise, analytical, closely-sourced, and cogent overview as this. In clean, spare, unemotional prose, Rebecca Gordon examines how the stage for the Iraq war was set long before that catastrophe, as right-wing strategists plotted the demise of Saddam Hussein, admittedly a tyrant and a bully, in order to realign the Middle East in our favor - and Israel's. She traces how 9/11 changed how the United States justified and waged war, captured and tortured prisoners, lied and obfuscated in international forums, and misjudged how the war would change the dynamics of the Middle East, leaving no doubt about the way the war paved the way for the ongoing brutality of ISIS and the continued suffering of the civilians in its path.
Before examining 9/11, however, Gordon examines the history, philosophies, and history of war crimes, including details about the Nuremberg Trials that may be new to the reader, and may have foreshadowed how the United States would proceed. Early on, for example, both Churchill and FDR wanted to execute the accused without trials; Stalin insisted on trials to establish the legitimacy of the executions. Questions were raised about whether Allied countries that had used fire bombs and atomic bombs on civilians had the moral standing to judge Germany. And the United States fretted about alienating Germany, which was seen as an ally against communism and the USSR. The trials were held, but with unusual rules of evidence and procedure that may have been foreshadowing of how the United States would capture, judge, and indefinitely imprison "enemy combatants."
Gordon argues that rules of evidence, reasons for just war, treatment of prisoners, and the definition of torture slid neatly under George Bush's "new paradigm" after the horrors of 9/11. Our own laws (such as the War Crimes Act of 1996) were ignored, as was our signature on many of the Geneva Conventions (which are defined and explored thoroughly). How else could 180 prisoners suffocate in a shipping container on their way to a camp headed by United States Special Forces? Why would the head of the CIA be upset to hear that a White House spokesman had said that detainees were being treated humanely? How could we justify having prisoners sent to countries where they were raped, or using white phosphorus on civilians and combatants alike? Why has the United States refused to sign the portion of the Conventions that protects civilian medical personnel in armed conflicts?
Some of the details of how the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been waged (closely sourced, with authoritative, comprehensive footnotes and bibliographical references) that Gordon relates go beyond venal and sordid, beyond the horrors that any war creates. The actions and speeches reflect a widespread and disproportionate catastrophe, one that continues with every fleeing refugee and barbaric ISIS attack.
So what can we do, Gordon asks? Clearly, the officials and strategists, named and charted with great specificity, will never be tried as war criminals. The government of the United States does not even recognize the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Even more damning is her well-documented conclusion: "In the name of security, we have been terrorized by our own government... into giving up not only our own freedoms but our fundamental sense of human empathy."
That lack of empathy is the key to what we can do, says Gordon. We might take our cue from the government of South Africa, which created the Truth and Reconciliation process to acknowledge, with openness and truth, what had been done during the dreadful years of apartheid. Perhaps such an assembly could be convened here. Truth is what the United States owes to all of the victims of the wars in Iraq and its sequelae. In an ideal world, she says, we would end our use of torture, implement United Nations and Geneva Conventions, hold accountable the architects, and join the other 124 countries who are parties to the ICC. Working towards these goals would constitute the beginning of a true American Nuremberg.
This is a powerful book.
****************************** By <http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A3D4C7MJSDFQWW/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp>Calvin M. on April 3, 2016
Rebecca Gordon has written a bracing book that demonstrates how the United States' war on terror has been deeply, disgustingly criminal. Gordon describes three types of crimes committed as part of the war on terror - crimes against peace, war crimes, and human rights crimes - and argues that culpability for these crimes involve the highest levels of government policy-makers. The book is simultaneously a plea for action, and concludes by calling for a grassroots-initiated tribunal that would hold a public trial of those who built and operated the demonic machinery that generated these crimes. It will be useful for activists as well as those interested in human rights, international law, and government accountability.
Each of the three types of crime receives its own chapter. "Crimes Against Peace" documents the illegality of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. "War Crimes" looks primarily at the treatment of detainees in the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq. "Crimes Against Human Rights" scrutinizes the practices of extraordinary rendition, kidnapping, torture, drone attacks, and extrajudicial assassination. Each of the chapters is damning. Indeed, it is difficult to read these chapters without boiling over into outrage. How else could one respond to the actions of a government that explicitly told the CIA that it was not bound to treat prisoners humanely, that turned individuals over to governments almost certain to deploy torture including physical mutilation, that devised a policy of drone "signature strikes" that kills groups of people halfway across the world without even bothering to know their identities? How to come to grips with a government for which the following does not constitute torture: "1) demands for information interspersed with the application of water just short of blocking his airway 2) escalation of the amount of water applied until it blocked his airway and he started to have involuntary spasms 3) raising the water-board to clear subject's airway 4) lowering of the water-board and return to demands for information" (154).
Gordon has done two important things in American Nuremberg. First, she has reviewed the available documentation of U.S. involvement in torture, extraordinary rendition (kidnapping and transfer of detainees to locations where they would be tortured), extrajudicial assassination, use of prohibited weaponry, and CIA black sites. Second, she has combined this with a succinct explanation of relevant international and U.S. federal law in order to explain exactly which actions violate what laws. The early chapter on the different international conventions, human rights laws, and statutes is somewhat tough going. But once you make it through the thicket of legal codes the remaining chapters are well worth it, and each chapter is accompanied with a chart that summarizes that section's findings.
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