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.
Letters from Nuremberg: My Father's Narrative of a Quest for Justice
by Christopher Dodd
from Crown
For some sixty years, the Nuremberg trials have demonstrated the resolve of the United States and its fellow Allied victors of the Second World War to uphold the principles of dispassionate justice and the rule of law even when cries of vengeance threatened to carry the day. In the summer of 1945, soon after the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, Thomas J. Dodd, the father of U.S. Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, traveled to the devastated city of Nuremberg to serve as a staff lawyer in this unprecedented trial for crimes against humanity. Thanks to his agile legal mind and especially to his skills at interrogating the defendants—including such notorious figures as Hermann Göring, Alfred Rosenberg, Albert Speer, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Rudolf Hess—he quickly rose to become the number two prosecutor in the U.S. contingent.
Over the course of fifteen months, Dodd described his efforts and his impressions of the proceedings in nightly letters to his wife, Grace. The letters remained in the Dodd family archives, unexamined, for decades. When Christopher Dodd, who followed his father’s path to the Senate, sat down to read the letters, he was overwhelmed by their intimacy, by the love story they unveil, by their power to paint vivid portraits of the accused war criminals, and by their insights into the historical importance of the trials.
Along with Christopher Dodd’s reflections on his father’s life and career, and on the inspiration that good people across the world have long taken from the event that unfolded in the courtroom at Nuremberg, where justice proved to be stronger than the most unspeakable evil, these letters give us a fresh, personal, and often unique perspective on a true turning point in the history of our time. In today’s world, with new global threats once again put-ting our ideals to the test, Letters from Nuremberg reminds us that fear and retribution are not the only bases for confrontation. As Christopher Dodd says here, “Now, as in the era of Nuremberg, this nation should never tailor its eternal principles to the conflict of the moment, for if we do so, we will be shadowing those we seek to overcome.”
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.
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.
They Would Never Hurt a Fly: War Criminals on Trial in The Hague
by Slavenka Drakulic
from Penguin (Non-Classics)
Who were they? Ordinary people like you or meor monsters? asks internationally acclaimed author Slavenka Drakulic´ as she sets out to understand the people behind the horrific crimes committed during the war that tore apart Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Drawing on firsthand observations of the trials, as well as on other sources, Drakulic´ portrays some of the individuals accused of murder, rape, torture, ordering executions, and more during one of the most brutal conflicts in Europe in the twentieth century, including former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic´; Radislav Krstic´, the first to be sentenced for genocide; Biljana Plavsic´, the only woman accused of war crimes; and Ratko Mladic´, now in hiding. With clarity and emotion, Drakulic´ paints a wrenching portrait of a country needlessly torn apart.
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).
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.
Black Glasses Like Clark Kent: A GI's Secret from Postwar Japan
by Terese Svoboda
from Graywolf Press
As a child Terese Svoboda thought of her uncle as Superman, with “Black Clark Kent glasses, grapefruit-sized biceps.” At eighty, he could still boast a washboard stomach, but in March 2004, he became seriously depressed. Svoboda investigates his terrifying story of what happened during his time as an MP, interviewing dozens of elderly ex-GIs and visiting Japan to try to discover the truth.
In Black Glasses Like Clark Kent, winner of the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize, Svoboda offers a striking and carefully wrought personal account of an often painful search for information. She intersperses excerpts of her uncle’s recordings and letters to his wife with her own research, and shows how the vagaries of military justice can allow the worst to happen and then be buried by time and protocol
Manual for Courts-Martial United States(2008 Edition)
by Joint Service Committee on Miliatary Jus
from Claitor's Law Books and Publishing Division
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