American Torture and American Terrorism The Myth of American Decency

For most Americans the terms 'torture' and 'terrorism' evoke barbaric regimes and savage enemies, not liberal democracies dedicated to human rights and freedom, as the United States claims to be. American Torture and American Terrorism demonstrates the falsity of the claim that America is a nation fundamentally opposed to torture and terrorism. Drawing on and developing victim-centred definitions of torture and terrorism, Wolfendale reveals how these forms of violence have been embedded within American institutions since the country's founding. From the earliest days of colonization to today's prison conditions, high rates of police violence, and drone warfare, torture and terrorism have been used to dominate, attack, threaten, and control groups and individuals-primarily people of color-viewed as dangerous to white political and social domination. But this reality has been ignored and distorted, if not completely forgotten. By recognizing and naming the violence inflicted on victims of American torture and terrorism, Wolfendale provides a crucial corrective against this national amnesia.

Dr. Jessica Wolfendale is Professor of Philosophy at Case Western Reserve University with a secondary appointment in the Case Western Reserve School of Law. She is the author of Torture and the Military Profession (2007), co-author (with Matthew Talbert) of War Crimes: Causes, Excuses, and Blame (2018) and has published more than 40 articles and book chapters on topics including war crimes, military ethics, torture, terrorism, and security