A Long, Hard Fall from the Pedestal
Abstract
After 37 years of practicing public international law in general, and dealing with the law of war in particular, I have had the opportunity to form close working relationships with numerous foreign colleagues. In meeting with these individuals in international forums post-9/11, the following scenario has become all too familiar. Spying me across the room, they rush forward -- spilling coffee and tea in the process -- and exclaim: "What are you people doing? What are you Americans thinking?" These are obviously more than rhetorical questions; they are posed in the form of accusations, laced with disappointment and, often, thinly veiled disdain. While these encounters have been numerous, one in particular has continued to resonate. It involved a discussion with both European and Asian attorneys: ....We don't understand your governments thinking, David. None of us would deny the horrific nature of the events of 9/11, but these were, after all, even given their scale and scope, acts of terrorism. Our countries have suffered from terrorist acts for decades. Yet it is only now that the U.S. contends that 9/11 has "changed the world" and, as a result, all of the rules applicable to that world. In truth, however, the only thing "new" about your world is that terrorism has finally reached your shores. Rather than ushering in a "new" world, 9/11 has simply served to introduce you Americans to the "real" world. This fact doesn't entitle your country to dismiss the "old" law, declare a global "war" on terrorism, and subsequently invent -- and attempt to impose on the rest of the world -- a self-serving set of rules. For example, suddenly, in your view, all terrorists are now "unlawful combatants," and, as such, subject to what you euphemistically refer to as "enhanced interrogation techniques." And your actions are all the more troubling in the sense that, in terms of the law of war, you were the gold standard. You were the ones we looked up to. We had placed you on a pedestal.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA515191
Entities
People
- David E. Graham
Organizations
- National Defense University