Washington's "War Against Terrorism" and Human Rights: The View from Abroad

Authors

Douglass Cassel, Notre Dame Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2006

Publication Information

33 Hum. Rts. 11 (2006)

Abstract

"When it comes to human rights, there is no greater leader than the United States of America," White House spokesman Scott McClellan has said.

The view from abroad is less kind. A recent resolution of the European Parliament, for example, "condemns" our government's treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo. It urges Washington to guarantee all prisoners "minimum human rights in accordance with international human rights law and fair trial procedures" and to "immediately clarify the situation of the prisoners." European objections run so deep that a New York Times account finds a "high level of anger in Europe at reports that American interrogators have tortured prisoners in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other places."

Throughout 2005, anger mounted among Europeans as they came to realize that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), clandestinely cooperating with their own intelligence services, may have made them complicit in torture. Reports revealed secret CIA prisons in Europe, CIA flights spiriting prisoners through Europe, and CIA kidnappings of terrorist suspects in Europe for delivery to other countries known to engage in torture.

Recommended Citation

Douglass Cassel, Washington's "War Against Terrorism" and Human Rights: The View from Abroad, 33 Hum. Rts. 11 (2006).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/967