The Phenomenon of Torture: Readings and Commentary

408 Pages·2007·17.644 MB·English

by  William F. Schulz (ed.)

The Phenomenon of Torture
PENNSYLVANIA STUDIES IN HUMAN RIGHTS
Bert B. Lockwood, Jr., Series Editor
A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.
The Phenomenon
of Torture
Readings and Commentary
EDITED AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY WILLIAM F. SCHULZ
Foreword by Juan E. Mendez,
President, International Center for Transitional Justice,
Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General
on the Prevention of Genocide
PENN
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia
Copyright © 2007 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarely
citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written
permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The phenomenon of torture : readings and commentary I edited and with an
introduction by William F. Schulz ; foreword by Juan E. Mendez.
p. em.-(Pennsylvania studies in human rights.)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8122-1982-1 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8122-1982-1 (alk. paper)
1. Torture. 2. Human rights I. Schulz, William F.
HV8593.P52 2007
323.4'9--dc22
2006053093
To all those who have experienced torture
And to all those-especially
my revered colleagues at Amnesty International
who have tried to stop it
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Contents
Foreword by Juan E. Mendez xiii
Introduction 1
CHAPTER I. TORTURE IN WESTERN HISTORY
Reading 1. Page DuBois, Torture and Truth 13
Reading 2. The Torture ofJ esus 16
Reading 3. John H. Langbein, Torture and the Law ofP roof 19
Reading 4. Edward Peters, Torture 27
Reading 5. Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish 30
Reading 6. Cesare Beccaria, "An Essay on Crimes and
Punishments" 34
Reading 7. Voltaire, "On Torture and Capital Punishment" 36
Reading 8. Malcolm D. Evans and Rod Morgan,
Preventing Torture 38
CHAPTER II. BEING TORTURED
Reading 1. Eric Lomax, The Railway Man 49
Reading 2. Molefe Pheto, And Night Fell 53
viii Contents
Reading 3. Statement by Abu Ghraib detainee 60
Reading 4. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 63
Reading 5. Lawrence Weschler, A Miracle, a Universe 66
Reading 6. Pericles Korovessis, The Method 71
Reading 7.Jean Amery, 'Torture" 80
Reading 8. Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will 88
Reading 9. Amnesty International, Report Uzbekistan 95
Reading 10. Antonia Garcia, in Tomasa Cuevas,
Prison ofWomen 97
CHAPTER III. WHO ARE THE TORTURERS?
Reading 1. Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost 101
Reading 2. Keith Atkinson, 'The Torturer's Tale" 104
Reading 3. Stanley Milgram, "The Perils of Obedience" 110
Reading 4. Mika Haritos-Fatouros, 'The Official Torturer" 120
Reading 5. Joan C. Golston, "Ritual Abuse" 124
Reading 6. A.J. Langguth, Hidden Terrors 127
Reading 7. Jon Drolshagen, The Winter Soldier Investigation 132
Reading 8. Jean Amery, 'Torture" 134
Reading 9. Adam Hochschild, "The Torturers' Notebooks" 136
Reading 10. Paul Aussaresses, The Battle of the Casbah 137
Reading 11. Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth 139
Reading 12. Ronald Crelinsten, "In Their Own Words" 141
Contents ix
CHAPTER IV. THE DYNAMICS OF TORTURE
Reading 1. CIA, Human &source Exploitation Training Manual 155
Reading 2. Kate Millett, The Politics of Cruelty 163
Reading 3. Jacobo Timerman, Prisoner Without a Name,
Cell Without a Number 167
Reading 4. Elaine Scarry, The Body in Pain 172
Reading 5. David Sussman, "What's Wrong with Torture" 178
Reading 6. Rhonda Copelon, "Intimate Terror" 180
CHAPTER V. THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF TORTURE
Reading 1. Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Torture 195
Reading 2. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism 196
Reading 3. Kanan Makiya, Republic ofF ear 201
Reading 4. Ervin Staub, ''The Psychology and Culture of Torture
and Torturers" 204
Reading 5. Ronald Crelinsten, "How to Make a Torturer" 210
Reading 6. John Conroy, Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People 215
CHAPTER VI. THE ETHICS OF TORTURE
Reading 1. Jeremy Bentham, "Of Torture" 221
Reading 2. Michael Levin, "The Case for Torture" 227
Reading 3. Richard Bernstein, "Kidnapping Has Germans Debating
Police Torture" 230
Reading 4. Alan Dershowitz, "Why Terrorism Works 233
Reading 5. Henry Shue, "Torture" 241