Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror

by David Cole, Jules Lobel

A cogent critique of the new "preventive paradigm" in counterterrorism policy by two of the nation's leading legal scholars.

"If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long." —President George W. Bush, defending the National Security Strategy doctrine "preemptive war," Commencement Speech at West Point, June 1, 2002

In Steven Spielberg's science fiction thriller Minority Report , the Justice Department uses psychic visionaries to predict and prevent future crimes. President Bush has no psychic visionaries, but in fighting the war on terrorism his administration has nonetheless adopted a sweeping new "preemptive" strategy, which turns on the ability to predict the future.

At home and abroad, the administration has cut corners on fundamental commitments of the rule of law in the name of preventing future attacks—from "waterboarding" detainees, to disappearing suspects into secret CIA prisons, to attacking Iraq against the wishes of the UN Security Council and most of the world when it posed no imminent threat of attacking us.

In this brilliantly conceived critique, two of the country's preeminent constitutional scholars argue that the great irony is that these sacrifices in the rule of law, adopted in the name of prevention, have in fact made us more susceptible to future terrorist attacks. They conclusively debunk the administration's claim that it is winning the war on terror and offer an alternative strategy in which the rule of law is an asset, not an obstacle, in the struggle to keep us both safe and free.

326 pages, Hardcover

First published August 13, 2007

Reviews

[Lil Mike]

Just saw Lobel give a talk on the failures of the "war on terror", and other implications of the Bush admin's use of fear as tool for rampant attack on the constituition. The authors, like so many others, indeed find apalling our nation's patent disregard for human rights, and the gov't's idiotic abuse of emergency powers & excuses for torture that only weaken America's image and credibility. Ironically by ignoring the rule of law, we create an even more lawless state, in which we find less allies, and only build more enemies. I imagine enemies are probably just what a military industrial / oil oligarchy fronted by guys like G.W ( stands for Gee Willikers) Bush need to sustain a moronic yet all powerful political grip in this country and globally.

[Jason]

You can tell this book was written by law professors - they prevent solid, reasonable arguments, backed up with lots of facts, that show that the "preemptive paradigm" of the current administration has failed, and indeed any such strategy is doomed to fail. But SO DRY. The book often reads more like a court case than a novel.

Still I can't deny how important this topic is, and how well the argument is presented.

[Elizabeth]

As heard in the World Beyond the Headlines, the University of Chicago's international studies lecture series.

[Craig Bolton]

"Less safe, less free : why America is losing the War on Terror by David Cole (2007)"

[Jono]

Nothing mind blowing, but a very fair treatment that is careful and well-cited, which is important.

[Samuel]

insanity