Guantanamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power
by Joseph Margulies
from Simon & Schuster
The detention system established by the Bush Administration at Guantánamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba is like no other in our nation's history. Joseph Margulies traces the development of this detention policy from its ill-conceived creation in 2002 as "the ideal interrogation chamber" to its present form, where most prisoners are held without charges in a super-maximum security prison, even though the U.S. government has acknowledged that many have been cleared for release and most of the others are not even alleged to have committed a hostile act against the United States or its allies.
Margulies, who was the lead attorney in the Supreme Court case Rasul v. Bush, writes that Guantánamo and other secret CIA and Defense Department detention centers around the world have become "prisons beyond the law," where the Administration claims the right to hold people indefinitely, incommunicado, and in solitary confinement without charges, access to counsel, and without benefit of the Geneva Conventions. Weaving together firsthand accounts of military personnel who witnessed the interrogations at Guantánamo along with the words of the prisoners themselves, Margulies exposes the chilling reality of a "war on terror" that masks an assault on basic human rights -- rights to which the United States has always subscribed.
Women in the Line of Fire: What You Should Know About Women in the Military
by Erin Solaro
from Seal Press
Women in the Line of Fire details why this will not be an easy task. Although 15 percent of the military is female, the Army and Marines still resist acknowledging what is, in fact, already happening — women are fighting, and fighting well. For the Religious Right and the cultural conservatives, women in combat is a hot-button issue in their campaign to “take back the culture.” But for the young men and women on the lines, brought up in an America where equality between the sexes was never second guessed and where making up the rules as you go along comes with the territory, it's the new reality.
2003 International Fuel & Gascode (Softbound) (International Fuel Gas Code)
by International Code Council
from Delmar Cengage Learning
The 2003 International Fuel Gas Code® (IFGC®) addresses the design and installation of fuel gas systems and gas-fired appliances through requirements that emphasize performance. This is a comprehensive, excellent reference for code officials, engineers, architects, inspectors, plans examiners, contractors and anyone who needs a better understanding of these regulations. Prescriptive- and performance-based approaches to design are emphasized. The 2003 edition is fully compatible with all the International Codes published by the International Code Council (ICC).
Manual for Courts-Martial United States(2008 Edition)
by Joint Service Committee on Miliatary Jus
from Claitor's Law Books and Publishing Division
Court-Martial at Parris Island: The Ribbon Creek Incident
by John C. Stevens
from University of South Carolina Press
On the night of April 8, 1956, marine drill instructor Matthew McKeon led Platoon 71 on a forced march through the backwaters of Parris Island in an effort to restore flagging discipline. Unexpectedly strong currents in Ribbon Creek and an ensuing panic led to the drowning of six recruits. The tragedy of Ribbon Creek and the court-martial of Staff Sergeant McKeon became the subject of sensational national media coverage and put the future of the U.S. Marine Corps in jeopardy.
In this definitive account of the Ribbon Creek incident former marine and experienced trial lawyer and judge John C. Stevens III examines the events of that night, the men of Platoon 71, and the fate of Sergeant McKeon. Drawing on personal interviews with key participants and his own extensive courtroom experience, Stevens balances the human side of this story with insights into the court proceedings and the tactics of the prosecution and defense attorney Emile Zola Berman. The resulting narrative is a richly developed account of a horrific episode in American military history and of the complex characters at the heart of this cautionary tale.
International Trade Law: Interdisciplinary Theory and Practice
International Trade Law: Interdisciplinary Theory and Practice has been completely revised in its Third Edition, building upon the global successes of its two predecessor editions. Truly a "world law" Textbook applicable in any of the approximately 152 WTO countries, the Third Edition places much emphasis on coverage of developing and least developed countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, highlighting the significance of their demographics, politics, culture, and economic dynamism. Europe and the high-profile trade disputes between the United States and the European Union is another chief focal point of this distinctively comprehensive book. Notably, the Textbook avoids two pitfalls: an American-centric approach, and the suggestion that international trade law is only about the WTO. The Textbook contains 50 Chapters dedicated to all aspects of the field, from ancient and medieval views about the morality of trade to the mysteries of adjustments to Constructed Export Price in a dumping margin calculation. The Textbook covers fully the Doha Round and the new, post-9/11 trade security rules. It includes 6 Chapters on free trade agreements (FTAs), 2 Chapters each on agriculture, services, and intellectual property (IP), and plenty of excerpts from key WTO and U.S. court cases. Overall, the Textbook is both a tour de force and user friendly. Not surprisingly, the Textbook has been used at roughly 100 law schools around the world, and translated into Vietnamese. Each chapter is manageably-sized and offers a user-friendly structure, allowing the flexibility of choosing the chapters that best serve the needs of a professor's individual course. The topics in each chapter help students establish a fundamental foundation upon which to build their knowledge of international trade law....
Administration of Torture: A Documentary Record from Washington to Abu Ghraib and Beyond
by Jameel Jaffer
from Columbia University Press
When the American media published photographs of U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the Bush administration assured the world that the abuse was isolated and that the perpetrators would be held accountable. Over the next three years, it refined its narrative at the margins, but by and large its public position remained the same. Yes, the administration acknowledged, some soldiers abused prisoners, but these soldiers were anomalous sadists who ignored clear orders. Abuse, the administration said, was aberrational-not systemic, not widespread, and certainly not a matter of policy.
The government's own documents, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, tell a starkly different story. They show that the abuse of prisoners was not limited to Abu Ghraib but was pervasive in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan and at Guantánamo Bay. Even more disturbing, the documents reveal that senior officials endorsed the abuse of prisoners as a matter of policy-sometimes by tolerating it, sometimes by encouraging it, and sometimes by expressly authorizing it. Records from Guantánamo describe prisoners shackled in excruciating "stress positions," held in freezing-cold cells, forcibly stripped, hooded, terrorized with military dogs, and deprived of human contact for months. Files from Afghanistan and Iraq describe prisoners who had been beaten, kicked, and burned. Autopsy reports attribute the deaths of those in U.S. custody to strangulation, suffocation, and blunt-force injuries.
Administration of Torture is the most detailed account thus far of what took place in America's overseas detention centers, including a narrative essay in which Jameel Jaffer and Amrit Singh draw the connection between the policies adopted by senior civilian and military officials and the torture and abuse that took place on the ground. The book also reproduces hundreds of government documents& mdash;including interrogation directives, FBI e-mails, autopsy reports, and investigative files& mdash;that constitute both an important historical record and a profound indictment of the Bush administration's policies with respect to the detention and treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody abroad.
Claim Denied!: How to Appeal a VA Denial of Benefits
by John D. Roche
from Potomac Books Inc.
âThe VA is not your loving Uncle Sam who opens his wallet and says, âHere you are, nephewâa $1,000 check per month for the rest of your life. That should take the pain out of your service injuries,â â writes John D. Roche. Far from it, he reveals. Though the Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000 requires Veterans Affairs to assist veterans in developing the foundation to support their claims, in reality if you rely on the VA to find and develop the evidence necessary to grant benefits then your claim is likely to be denied. Claim Denied! will help those veterans whose benefits have been denied correct the mistakes they made when they submitted their original claims. Appealing a VA decision is not an impossible feat, Roche says, but a veteranâs story must be presented in a well-organized and logical format, so any reviewing authority is able to understand the issues as they relate to the laws. This book explains in detail how to develop and present a successful appeal.
War Law: Understanding International Law and Armed Conflict
by Michael Byers
from Grove Press
Byers examines the history of armed conflict and international law through a series of case studies of past conflicts, ranging from the 1837 Caroline Incident to the abuse of detainees by U.S. forces at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Byers explores the legal controversies that surrounded the 1999 and 2001 interventions in Kosovo and Afghanistan and the 2003 war in Iraq; the development of international humanitarian law from the 1859 Battle of Solferino to the present; and the role of war crimes tribunals and the International Criminal Court. He also considers the unique influence of the United States in the evolution of this extremely controversial area of international law.
War Law is neither a textbook nor a treatise, but a fascinating account of a highly controversial topic that is necessary reading for fans of military history and general readers alike.
Crimes of War 2.0: What the Public Should Know, Revised and Expanded Edition
from W. W. Norton
"A reference that has no counterpart…. Civilization is in debt to all [the contributors]."—International Herald Tribune
Originally published in 1999, this A-to-Z guidebook of wartime atrocities has received worldwide acclaim and has been translated into eleven languages. Now substantially updated, with sixteen new entries, this concise guide to the broken rules of war remains unique and essential. More than 140 distinguished experts from the media, military, law, and human rights groups examine recent conflicts in light of international humanitarian law, including: Afghanistan (Patricia Gossman), the Congo (Gerard Prunier), terrorism (Anthony Dworkin), Guantánamo (Mark Huband), Darfur (John Prendergast and Colin Thomas-Jensen), occupation (George Packer), independent contractors (Peter Singer), war and insurgency (John Burns), and detention and interrogation (Dana Priest). Christiane Amanpour writes on Bosnian paramilitaries, Jeremy Bowen on Chechnya, and Gwynne Roberts on Saddam Hussein. Through case studies, definitions of key terms, and explanations of what is legal and what is not—illuminated by 150 stunning duotone photographs—Crimes of War reveals what every citizen should know about war and the law.
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