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Who Should Have to Answer for Torture?

Money quote: But, if full justice remains impossible, surely some injustices can be corrected. Whenever crimes of state are adjudicated—at Nuremberg or The Hague, Phnom Penh or Kigali—the principle of command responsibility, whereby the leaders who give the orders are held to a higher standard of accountability than the foot soldiers who follow, pertains. There can be no restoration of the national honor if we continue to scapegoat those who took the fall for an Administration—and for us all. h/t TPM.

Arab Reform Issues

On March 12-14, a conference entitled “Arab Reform Issues: Vision and Implementation” was held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt. This was a semi-secret conference in which participants were invited only three days before the start. It was closed to the public and the press. The outcome and final declaration were not widely distributed. Here is what the delagation had to say in its final statement. If this was implemented and had some weight behind it, there may be hope for the Middle East.

Yet more reasons not to like Bernard Lewis

Read from my referrer here. This man is an Ottomanist who has become the most vocal interpreter of modern, Arab Islam in the US right now. It boggles the mind that he is considered an expert on the topics for which he is consulted – topics that affect whether or not we go to war. Even his medieval Arab history has been attacked as being slip shod and polemical.