Review by Choice Review
The goal of this excellent book is to examine antiterrorism public policy from the perspective of the rule of law, beyond the pressures of a constant sense of emergency, since the war on terrorism is likely to be of indefinite duration and varying intensity. Blum and Heymann (both, Harvard Law School) analyze the policies of the Bush administration. Their tone is professional. They argue that US policies dealing with coercive measures such as targeted killings, the detention of suspects captured outside a combat zone, and interrogations can fit either of two traditional paradigms--law enforcement or the law of war--and still protect security. They concede there are occasions for "a middle ground between a more aggressive law enforcement paradigm and a tamer war paradigm" such as the Israeli Supreme Court sought, but there is no need for a "black hole" of no law. If a ticking bomb scenario arises, presidents should take personal responsibility for action beyond the law, as in the precedent set by Lincoln in the Civil War. The last third of the book is a nonlegal discussion about ways to reduce moral support of terrorism within Islam and when it is appropriate to negotiate with terrorists. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduate collections. T. M. Jackson Marywood University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
