For the week of November 25-27 2008.

The reading by Tom Barry, "Rise and Demise of the 'New American Century'" is avaible as

a pdf here.

For discussion groups on Thursday November 27, we will try to review themes that have been

raised in both our discussion on the global war on terror and on the intervention in Iraq.  Feel

free to bring any questions and issues relating to either of these themes.  The basis of our

discussion, however, will deal with themes relating to extraordinary rendition, torture and

indefinite detention.  To begin preparing for this topic listen to this interview with author and

journalist Philip Gourevitch on the question of Torture.  Do you agree with Gourevitch?  Is

torture ever justified?  How far can democratic socieites go in the global  war on terror on in

other military interventions?  What are the political and practice consequences of the use of

torture or the use of other restrictions on civil liberties in the war on terror?