Contract Performance Essay

The allegation that the bidder cannot perform contract involves bidder responsibility, affirmative determination of which is not reviewed by GAO except in cases of fraud of misapplication of definitive responsibility criteria set forth in solicitation. Since neither exception is applicable, protest is dismissed (1981. pp 1-2). Explicate the regulatory provision (FAR) pertaining to contract performance in general. Contract performance first lies the early stages of interpreting the contract. Marshall Engelbeck states â€Å"The cardinal rule of contract interpretation is to â€Å"carry out the original intent of the parties. This rule is founded in common law. † (Engelbeck, 2002, p. 339) The first step in understanding a contract is interpreting the contract by finding the â€Å"plain meaning of the words, if the words are clear and unambiguous. † (O’Connor, 2007, p. 119) to help with this Marshal Engelbeck lays out six presumptions upon which a contract is founded. These are used to help interpret the contract to ensure the objective intent is understood and that no ambiguity exists between the contracting parties. They are: (1) Performance feasibility: there is a presumption that it is possible to perform the work. 2) Competency: The seller has an obligation to perform the work satisfactorily. (3) Document soundness: The contract is the plain meaning between the buyer and the seller, and should be a complete and accurate expression of the original intent of both parties. (4) Cooperation: This presumption enforces the duty on both parties to cooperate. (5) Absence of mistake: In a contract, mistakes can occur that are classified as mutual or unilateral. The burden of resulting from a mistake can be substantial, and the parties must resolve the situation quickly. 6) Conscionability: misunderstandings, and optimistic analysis can create contract requirements that impose an obligation on the performing party to operate contract to its best interest, the cost of performance is not proportional to the benefits. (2002, pp. 328-329) Also both parties are subject to the â€Å"duty to inquire rule, this applies only to obvious errors, gross discrepancies, or inadvertent and glaring gaps. This is not to focus on intent but whether either party, failing to divulge mistakes, stands to profit from the failure. † (Engelbeck, 2002, p. 339) The question stated in plain words: What does the contract say? To understand this possible additional layer in the contract, we need to use the secondary rules of contract interpretation. They are as follows: â€Å"Requirement 1: For words to be ambiguous, there must be two reasonable interpretations of the words† O’Connor (2007, p. 123), which means â€Å"the party must read the contract as a whole, words and meanings should remain consistent. † Engelbeck (2002, p. 340) â€Å"Requirement 2: The ambiguity must be hidden (patent)† (O’Connor, 2007, p. 123) which Engelbeck states as where â€Å"express language rule prevails; this rule assumes that the professionals understand the language of their own specialties. (Engelbeck, 2002, p. 340) â€Å"Requirement 3: The contractor did not know that the government had different interpretation. If a bidder knows its interpretation is in conflict with government’s at the solicitation stage, the bidder is must resolve it. † (O’Connor, 2007, p. 125) this is reinforced by Engelbeck (2002, p. 341) â€Å"knowledge of the other party’s interpretation: Entering into a contract knowing the other party’s interpretation was objectionable means that other party’s interpretation is the one that is binding. If the parties still have not resolved the inconsistencies of the contract the FAR has established and Order of Precedence to help mitigate any ambiguity that may arise from the objective intent of a contract: FAR 52. 215-8, Order of Precedence – Uniform Contract Format (October 1997), â€Å"Any inconsistency in the solicitation of contract shall be resolved by giving precedence in the following order: (a) The schedule (excluding the specifications). b) Representations and other instructions. (c) Contract clauses. (d) Other documents, exhibits, and attachments. (e) The specifications. † (O’Connor, 2007, p. 127) The Post-Award Conference is should be established by the Contracting Officer or to help â€Å"establish the communication protocol, and define the focal points for specific tasks and to ensure the contractor has a complete understanding of the scope, technical requirements, and obligations under the contract. The orientation should be held as soon after the award of the contract. † Engelbeck (2002, pp. 336-337) Engelbeck further states this is not the time to rewrite the requirements or the contract. Based off my experience as a procurement manger this is the time where possible concerns are raised by the contractor, and the task orders are issued by the contracting officer to clarify the contract, and at times modifications are issued to the contract to reflect the elucidation of the objective of the client. Explicate the regulatory provisions (FAR) that apply to the particular contract performance issue of the report chosen. The regulatory provisions that apply to this contract based off Lancer Clothing Corporation’s protest would be the following presumptions as identified by Engelbeck (1) performance feasibility, would go the argument that Lancer Clothing Corporation protests on the this issue as â€Å"the procurement objective would not be fulfilled and the significant financial lost on the part of the client could occur. (Engelbeck, 2002, p. 329) (2) competency, this would apply as the company pointed out that â€Å"bidder does not have a commitment for the lining material, from a reputable suppler and thus lacks sufficient production capacity† Van Cleve (1981, p. 1) to deliver the full product line. Explicate whether the report gives adequate information to form an opinion about the recommendations.

Explore how love and lovers is presented in Romeo and Juliet and The Labrotory Essay

Explore how love and lovers is presented in Romeo and Juliet and The Labrotory. Love. Love is a feeling of a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone, An intense feeling of deep affection. Love in Romeo and Juliet is a brutal, powerful emotion that captures individuals and catapults them against their world, and at times, against themselves. In The Laboratory love is presented as a unpleasant feeling, filled with jealousy, obsession and overall revenge, which is also a dramatic monologue which evokes the audiences emotions. Love is another important thematic ingredient in Romeo and Juliet, which presents various types of love: the sensual, physical love embraced by the Nurse; the Traditional or contractual love represented by Paris; and the passionate, romantic love of Romeo and Juliet. †love is Too rude, Too boist’rous, and it pricks like a thorn†. In The laboratory Browning explores the jealousy and vengeful of someone disappointed in love, and how far they would travel to be happy themselves and see their lover suffer who has previously made her suffer. In the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet we are introduced to Romeo and Benvolio. Romeo reminisces about Rosaline which evokes the lover’s experience of daydreaming about his beloved, but in such a jumbled way, that it’s more frustrating than enjoyable.†Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms† However this scene presents that Romeo is in love with Rosalines beauty. Romeo receives unrequited love which makes him feel melancholy and depressed. This can also be described as fickle love as he falls in and out love quickly. Romeo is in love with Rosaline at the start of the play, which is presented as an immature infatuation. Today, we might use the term â€Å"puppy love† to describe this. Romeo’s love for Rosaline is shallow and nobody really believes that it will last, including Friar Laurence. †Thou chid’st me oft for loving Rosaline† Romeo is speaking in rhyme throughout this scene. He says, â€Å"Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs, Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes†. From this the reader may assume that Romeo takes love very seriously, it is also represents a stereotypical form of love poetry. This may indicate that there is nothing special about his love with Rosaline. In this scene Romeo also uses oxymoron’s to describe his love for Rosaline. He describes love as â€Å"sick health†. This illustrates the idea that he is confused and not making any sense because he is talking in an irrational way. Benvolio tells Romeo to â€Å"Examine other beauties†. This quotationportrays the idea that maybe Benvolio has seen this before from Romeo and he knows the time will come when Romeo will fall in love with another lady. The audience will feel that Romeo is acting like a lovesick teenager. Likewise in The Laboratory the women is suffering from unrequited love and is consumed with evil and twisted thoughts. She’s feeling betrayed and paranoid – she refers back to them as laughing at her, imagining her at church praying for her lover to return back to her. †While they laugh, laugh at me, at me fled to the dearer† William Shakespeare and Robert Browning both portray unrequited love and the different paths it leads to, as in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is melancholy and sulking, however he is not doing anything to make the situation better. †Out of her favor where I am in love† In The Laboratory the women is creating a deadly poison due to her partner cheating on her and her receiving unrequited love. The women deals with the situation in a very pitiless, demanding way. †Grind away, moisten and mash up thy paste† Love between Romeo and Juliet is the main love portrayed in the play. Our classic idea of romantic love is embodied in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare presents this as a force of nature, so strong that it transcends societal conventions. This idea is established in the play’s prologue with the line â€Å"a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.† Romeo and Juliet still love each other and don’t let their hatred of each other’s family get in the way of their love. â€Å"Love give me strength, and strength shall help afford†. Romeo being hurt and melancholy at the beginning of the place make the audience question does he truly feel love or not. Romeo falls for Juliet as soon as he sees her, Which Shakespeare describes as love at first sight. â€Å"Did my heart love till now?† Shake spare also portrays that Romeo falls in love with Rosalines and Juliets appearances, due to it being love at first sight. He describes Rosaline as the moon which is beautiful but the moon always goes down when the sun rises who is Juliet. †As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear-Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear† The same as in The Laboratory the women believes her ex partner has feel in love with not the women’s personality but her looks. †Shes not little, no minion like me!, That why she ensnared him: this will never free† Both play and poem portray that the men have fell in love with the women’s looks. Romeo falls for Juliet as soon as he sees her which obviously tells the readers that he fell in love at first sight with her beautiful face, likewise the man has cheated on left his partner to be with a more curvy women, again falling for her looks. A love we are introduced to in Romeo and Juliet is the love between Juliet and the Nurse which is such of a mother and daughter, It portrays warmth, trust and laughter. Juliet loves her mother in a dutiful daughter way, but they do not have a warm, close relationship. All the nurse wants is for Juliet to be happy and this is why she helps in forgetting the family feud and helping Juliet marry Romeo. This effect Shakespeare portrays adds great effect and makes the relationship between Juliet and the Nurse similar to if the Nurse was the actual mother of Juliet. â€Å"I nursed her daughter that you talked withal†. In the Laboratory no such love is presented. Its as if the women is alone in the world which is causing her to go insane. However it could also be said that the women is confiding in the old man, as he is the only one who knows about her plan as did the nurse with Juliet’s plan. She is so thrilled with her plan, she celebrates with the apothecary. †You may kiss me, old man, on my mouth if you will!† Both Shake spare and Browning portray love in similar but different ways. Juliets affection with the nurse is positive and merry, with girlish talks, However The women in The Laboratory is showing love to the old man just for full filling her evil command. In The Laboratory and Romeo and Juliet tradition plays a very large role. Paris’ love for Juliet in Romeo and Juliet is born out of tradition, not passion. He has identified her as a good candidate for a wife and approaches her father to arrange the marriage. Although this was the tradition at the time, it also says something about Paris’ staid attitude towards love. †Younger than she are happy mothers made.† Also in The Laboratory Browning does not make any direct or uniform attacks on organized religion. He does not use any references to religion or tradition as it would of made the poem calm, and without them it gives the poem a more horrific, evil tone. Many of the friendships in the play are as sincere as Romeo and Juliet’s love for one another. The close relationships between Juliet and her Nurse, and between Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio are meaningful and heartfelt. They care deeply for another and protect each others honor – this ultimately costs Mercutio his life. This platonic love is offset by the sexual innuendos made by some characters – particularly Juliet’s Nurse and Mercutio. Their view of love is earthy and purely sexual, creating an effective contrast with Romeo and Juliet’s romanticism. At the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is very upset which gives Mercutio and opportunity to involve humor and sex. â€Å"O’er ladies lips, who’s straight on kisses dream†. He uses more sexual innuendo throughout the play when the subject of love is mentioned. The Nurse also links love and sex throughout the play. This is more marked when she finds out Juliet is to marry Romeo. We can see how excited she is about the physical opportunity for Juliet because she comments immediately on Romeo’s physical traits. â€Å"†¦His face be better than any man’s†. Although both Mercutio and the Nurse refer to the sexual act, the Nurse’s language is crude and lacks the refinement of Mercutio’s wit. Here Shakespeare presents to us a member of the lower classes, deprived from a formal education. Also Juliet awaits Romeo to consummate their marriage, she refers wholeheartedly to her sexual desires – having ‘bought the mansion of a love, but not yet possessed it’ suggesting that she recognizes the contractual element of marriage and desires to experience the physical side. Juliet also refers to ‘white as snow on a raven’s back’ which implies that her virginal purity is set against the darkness of the blood that she will lose as her hymen is split. Love is portrayed, therefore, as being courtly and flirtatious in the early scenes but sexual and foreshadowing death in the later scenes. In The Laboratory there is no use of sexual language however the women believes that her partner and the women Elise commit sexual acts. †Where they are, what they do: they believe my tears flow† The word flow could also be described as the women crying a river. Her tears as soon dried up and is happy by the end at the death of her rival and suffering of her lover. The language used in the Laboratory has various features such as; alliteration, personification, metaphor etc. Alliteration is used to add affect and give the reader a repetitive sound. â€Å"brand, burn up, bite†, â€Å"moisten and mash†, â€Å"poison to poison thee, prithee† Also the use of exclamation marks shows excitement, and reinforces the delight. In the same way Shake pare has also used various literary devices. such as oxymoron’s †Poor living corpse, closed in a dead man’s tomb!† Dramatic irony, †indeed, I never shall be satisfied / With Romeo, till I behold him-dead- † etc. Poison is often the weapon of choice for female killers. It requires little or no physical strength to administer, and can be done secretly. It also leaves little evidence thus making it difficult to detect the culprit. In both Romeo and Juliet and The laboratory the females use poison, which leads to death. However Juliet also dies by suicide. and the women in The laboratory dies from the poison. Browning writes ‘The delicate droplet, my whole fortunes fee’ showing that she’s incredibly dedicated in getting this guy and she’s spent her whole fortune on the poison and she’s not going to give up until the deed is complete. Romeo and Juliet has become forever associated with love. The play has become an iconic story of love and passion, and the name â€Å"Romeo† is still used to describe young lovers. Shakespeare’s treatment of love in the play is complex and multifaceted. He uses love in its many guises to thread together the key relationships in the play. In the Laboratory the women’s anger and revenge seems controlled as looking at the structure, all stanzas are end-stopped, indicating some clear structure and thought behind the lady. Hence, any sympathy we had for her almost disappears as she must know she is doing bad being that her state of mind is quite clear.

The propensity of people to steal items from hotel rooms linked to Dissertation

The propensity of people to steal items from hotel rooms linked to cost of room, education level or age of guests Why do people - Dissertation Example The objectives have been achieved based on qualitative primary data gathered through survey of consumers from two different cultures – The Turkish and the British. While studies have been conducted on consumer stealing habits in the western countries, no study has been found that compares the consumer behaviour of the Turks with the consumer behaviour in the West. Literature review (McGregor, 2000) suggests that culture has very little impact on consumer behaviour primarily because social and consumption values are different. The only noticeable difference that culture has an impact on is on the items that are stolen from hotel rooms. Economic background of the residents and the category of hotels in which the guests stay, make a difference in consumer theft. However, this too cannot be generalized because the emotional state of consumers also influences behaviour. Consumers may not even be aware that removing some items are considered theft or consumers who steal consciously may not be conscious of the implications of their action. The study highlights the limitations of the study and makes recommendations for further study based on the subject. Table of Contents Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Rationale for the Study 2 1.3 Research Aims & Objectives 2 1.4 Structure of the Study 3 Chapter II Literature Review 2.1 Consumer Behaviour 4 2.2 Personality of Guests 5 2.3 Types of Consumer Misbehaviour 6 2.4 Consumer Behaviour and Emotional State 7 2.5 Consumer Behaviour and Morality 7 2.6 Consumer Behaviour and Technology 9 Chapter III Methodology 3.1 Research Philosophy 11 3.2 Research Design 11 3.3 Choice of Method 11 3.4 Research Approach 12 3.5 Data Collection 12 3.6 Sampling 13 3.7 Data Analysis 14 3.8 Ethical concerns 14 Chapter IV Findings & Discussions 4.1 Findings Overview 15 4.2 Findings from Primary Data 16 4.3 Discussion 19 Chapter V Conclusion & Recommendations 5.1 Conclusion 23 5.2 Recommendations for Hotels to reduce theft 24 5.3 Li mitations of the Study 24 5.4 Recommendation for further research on the subject 25 References 26 Appendix 29 Charts Chart 4.1 Demographics of the Respondents 16 Chart 4.2 Hotel rates in ? 16 Chart 4.3 Most Stolen Items 17 Chart 4.4 Items taken away but not considered stolen 18 Chart 4.5 Motive for theft from hotel rooms 19 Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Background Consumer behaviour has been of immense interest to marketers because it has been associated with how consumers make decision to spend their valuable resources such as time, money and effort on consumption related items (Schiffman and Kanuk, 1997 cited in Abdallat & El-Emam, 2005). However, the field of consumer behaviour stretches beyond purchase decisions. For instance, it is also the study of processes involved when individuals or groups have to select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy needs and desires. As Abdallat and El-Emam, citing Belch (1998), explained it also involves disposing of products and services and is not limited to purchase of goods and services. While the hospitality industry places consumers at a pedestal and all services geared towards his satisfaction (Harris & Reynolds, 2004; Aslan & Kozak, 2012), not all customers are functional and some behave in a dysfunctional manner to customer-oriented initiatives (Harris & Reynold

Journey of Slavery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Journey of Slavery - Essay Example America was discovered by Spanish explorer, Columbus in the 16th century, who had developed good relations with the native Indian population. But the early 17th century saw the process of colonization by the British settlers who had brought shipload of African slaves as bonded labors to work on plantation and elsewhere. They also tried to exploit the native Americans with respect to labor and sea faring activities The indentured labor consisting of European workers, worked as bonded laborers who were freed after several years so as to payoff their passage to a new country. The slaves worked in labor intensive tobacco plantations along with Native Americans who later refused to work because they were afflicted with diseased like tuberculosis etc. which were brought by the settlers. The slave trading was started by the Portuguese in 1572 when they had gone to west Coast of Africa where the tribal wars resulted in captives Africans who were traded as slaves in the European market (Liu). The African tribes were skilled farmers who were also known for their intricate art work on metal and wood. Thus the Europeans were able to exploit their skill by buying them and using their skilled labor for free. The slaves were denied basic human dignity of good living condition and food. When new world was discovered, the slaves were transported to the new world by the whites. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century in America, the color of the skin played a major role in the social status. The whites maintained a racial divide within the society through deliberate use of powerful lobby of the whites and financial advantages that they enjoyed over their less privileged counterparts, the Native Americans. The blacks were not allowed to participate in social activities and even education was denied to them so that they would remain unequal socially and economically. Turn of the century saw the raced based

Physical education lesson plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Physical education lesson plan - Essay Example Teaching and Learning Materials: Ropes, Flexaform (a very wide mattress for landing where there is no sand or snow pit); Two standing posts (poles) for rope height adjustment; Tape measure; Charts showing the fields. (a) perform the warm up exercises with 100% accuracy; (b) increase their level of fitness by running while carrying their friends or something on their backs; (c) participate in lead-up games and activities to prepare them to dance Ballet; (d) master the rules of playing ballet; (e) dance ballet in response to music; (f) demonstrate cooperation by dancing uniformly with others. in preparation for a Mini Ballet dance competition. The students get into groups and positions and play the game while the teacher observes, records performance and helps those who are still having difficulties. (a) perform the warm up exercises with 100% accuracy; (b) increase their level of fitness by sprinting one lap around the field track without stopping; (c) participate in lead-up activities to prepare them for playing football; (d) dodge opponents actively; (e) pass the basket ball to others; (f) shoot the basket ball correctly; (g) and run actively all through the game. (a) perform the warm up and cool down exercises with 100% accura... Teaching and Learning Materials: Ropes, Flexaform (a very wide mattress for landing where there is no sand or snow pit); Two standing posts (poles) for rope height adjustment; Tape measure; Charts showing the fields. Presentation (Lesson Procedure) (a) Introduction (Warm up Activities) (5 minutes) > Jogging at the spot; Press ups (Push ups); Ascending and Descending Stairs orhighland whilst running; (b) Development (Main Activity) (40 minutes) Step 1: The teacher explains rules of performing long and high jumps, with simple demonstrations. Students listen, take down the points. Step 2: The teachers demonstrates how to perform long jump. Students listen, watch and later line up to practice. Step 3: The teacher demonstrates how to perform high jump. Students listen, watch and line up to practice. Step 4: The teacher sets a Long Jump mini competition in which every student participates. As they jump, he observes and takes down the lengths of the jumps for each student. He also pays close attention to the performance of those with health problems. (c) Conclusion (Cool down) (5 minutes) > Foot rotating; Waist bending and rotating; Chin ups and downs Lesson #3: Physical Education: Gymnastics: Ballet Dance. Number of Students: 20 Specific Objectives (Short Term): By the end of this lesson, students will (a) perform the warm up exercises with 100% accuracy; (b) increase their level of fitness by running while carrying their friends or something on their backs; (c) participate in lead-up games and activities to prepare them to dance Ballet; (d) master the rules of playing ballet; (e) dance

Medical Apartheid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Medical Apartheid - Essay Example Admittedly, remedial steps are being taken on the government level to counter barriers mentioned above.A study was carried out by the National Institute of Health to recheck why disparity occurred in this drug’s efficacy for blacks and Asians but not whites. This research concluded that this was most likely a result chance. Even if there was a small possibility that this drug actually did hold some hope for HIV patients, especially blacks, it definitely called for further research and testing. The reason mostly given for not carrying out further research is that blacks are resistant to being subjects for testing, especially for HIV. However, many researchers have been successful in recruiting a large number of blacks for their work. This clearly implies that there is need for more trust and empathy for blacks to cooperate. It is the right of the African Americans to have more research conducted into AIDSVAX as they do represent the majority of sufferers of this disease. Furthermore, if this drug does indeed prove to be primarily applicable to blacks, these differences will most likely be environmental; even if the differences are determined to be somewhat racial, one successful drug could be made adaptive to whites with further work. The world indeed sits in wait of a miracle drug that could cure the ‘incurable’ AIDS. So far, AIDSVAX is the only drug that has come closest to being it. Our country has a battle with itself right now of overcoming this discrimination against race and color for common good.

Literature review Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Literature review - Assignment Example Based on the above facts, Social media can be described as a communication tool that allows you to create, generate and share content with other users. Examples of social media tools are social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Wikis, blogs, tagging, live feeds among many others (Anderson, 2012). The field of social media has time and again been attacked; it is blamed for having swallowed the traditional media. However, the field of social media has relatively eased the work of the traditional media sources. In fact, I tend to think that the field of social media has opened up new avenues for the traditional media to broaden their scope and offering (Anderson, 2012). The internet has made the world a global village where one could get easy access to information, learn and conduct financial services by a click of the mouse. For the traditional media, this shouldn’t be seen as a competition but rather a new frontier to expand their horizons. Traditionally, users would receive information in a one way format. For example, a newscaster at CNN would read the news and all the rest would listen and watch; it is a one way communication. A customer of a bank, for instance, has to visit his/her local branch in case he/she has problems accessing money on the bank account. A foreign student who wished to have more information on a course offered at a local university would have to browse through pages of the university website and find no one to answer the questions that he/she may have concerning the degrees. Flash forward to nowadays, and you’ll see a newscaster through the official Facebook page, Twitter, email, even text messages mode of the station is able to receive thousands of reviews from the viewers concerning news stories that they aired. A company that places an advertisement can be able to device if its marketing strategy was successful enough. A student wishing to learn more information can use social media tools

The Hypertension as High Blood Problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Hypertension as High Blood Problem - Essay Example According to the paper as it is widely accepted that smoking may cause High Blood Pressure and heart disease, giving up smoking should be her first priority. There are a variety of methods to achieve this and she should be made aware of them. She will have to take measures in respect of her diet to reduce the amount of salt that she consumes and should be aware of the salt content of the packaged food she uses. The same care should be undertaken with her intake of fat. She should also be advised to reduce her alcohol consumption to an acceptable level. She should make get regular exercise to assist in the loss of weight which will also assist in the reduction of cholesterol and high blood pressure. Stress is a major factor in high blood pressure and she will have to make an undertaking to control her stress levels. Her physician will give her medications help in reducing her cholesterol and also Diuretics to reduce salt and fluid from her kidneys. She will need to have regular blood tests and have her blood pressure measured on a regular basis to ensure that all aspects of her disease are kept at acceptable levels.

WK 3 DB1 AND 2 SIDS, Morbidity, Mortality, and Associated Costs Coursework

WK 3 DB1 AND 2 SIDS, Morbidity, Mortality, and Associated Costs - Coursework Example SIDS has been identified as the third world chief cause of infant death in the United States. There has been a significant drop in the number of children who die from SIDS because as of 2004 there was a decrease of 0.51% compared to the 1980s where the deaths were at 1.53% per 1000 live births. There has been a continuous drop in the number of infant deaths in Georgia where in 2001 there were 112 deaths from SIDS, which was a decline of 42%, compared to that of 162 deaths in 1990. In my opinion, mothers should be aware of their children sleeping environment and positions to reduce the rate of deaths caused by SIDS. Women’s health is a significant issue in any state because when the state prioritizes on the women’s health they are improving the economy, empowering the women and eradicating poverty and hunger as the women are able to fend for their families. Finances are required to cater for the women’s health there are various financial management techniques that are vital. First, there is the goal setting where the objectives of the department of health in addressing women’s health should be stated explicitly (Gapenski & Pink, 2011). This is because they give a basis as to how much is required to address the issue. Secondly, there should be budgeting skills to establish where the money is going after the goals have been set. Lastly, there is saving money that will be used in the future in case of a situation that is uncalled for and the money be of help. Although this is not an easy technique, it is important because the money comes in handy in the future. An example, the cost- effective plan that can be used to track women’s mortality and Morbidity trends in my state would be registering all women through the Department of Health. This can be done by giving the women of all ages a free clinic and ensuring that all attend (Fogel & Fugate, 2008). However, achieving this can be a challenge and the best way to do it is finding a service that is

Alcoholic abuse Essay Example for Free

Alcoholic abuse Essay The cause of alcohol abuse occurs when one becomes stressed, depressed, or peer pressured. Alcohol abuse is very common in today’s society. Most abusers are blinded to the fact that they are abusing. Abusers take a big risk with their lives when addicted to alcohol. Stress can lead to being an alcohol abuser; when people become stress, they tend to want an addiction to help them. Most people think alcohol is the key for relieving stress. One will want alcohol when being stress over work, family issues, and life. Work is a very stressful environment; one will feel overwhelmed, when dealing with co-workers. People need to settle their differences aside when working together. One will also become stress, when over worked to many hours. The economy today is very low; people now work more than one job, which can be very stressful. Family issues in today’s society have become a struggle in life. Everyone has family issues some have it worse, which can lead to drinking. One will become stress when arguing with a family member. One may also have a genetic gene in alcoholism. One may have grown up with an alcohol abuser. Life in general is stressful, which can lead to alcohol addiction. Most alcohol abusers start drinking little amount each day, which will lead to becoming an alcoholic. One will be stress with school, while holding a job. That will make some people very stress, and vulnerable in drinking alcohol. Depression is a very strong cause of becoming an alcoholic. People become depressed when dealing with relationships, bullying, and financial problems. Relationships will make one very depress. When one cheats on their spouse will lead people to alcohol. When one gets a divorce or splits up that will cause alcohol abusers. Bullying in today’s society has become very brutal. Most teens are being bullied, which will cause depression. Most teens being depress will cause drugs, and alcohol abuse. Being bullied can also lead to death. Financial problems are another common cause to become depress. People in today’s society have become broke, due to the economy. One may become depress by spending money on alcohol, and then one will have no money for other things. Alcohol abusers will become depress, when they have no money for more alcohol. One may become an alcohol abuser, by being peered pressured. In today’s society young teens will get addicted to alcohol. One will get peered pressure at school, parties, and wrong crowd. One may be peered pressure at school to drink alcohol. Teens today are bringing alcohol to school and skipping class and getting drunk. One may also skip school to go and drink alcohol. One may be peered pressure at parties. Most teens go to parties every weekend, and get drunk, which will make one become an alcohol abuser. Students in college in today’s society are looked as a party school. College students have phrat parties and one may become addicted to alcohol, or even worse dead. One may be hanging with the wrong crowds, which can make one have an addiction. People get influence by peers to make bad decisions. One will feel peered pressure by their friends thinking it is ok to drink. Most young teens don’t understand that drinking is dangerous. Alcohol abuse is really bad when a pregnant woman is addicted to alcohol. One may kill their unborn child, or the child can come out with medical problems. Studies have also showed that most people with ADHD will become alcohol abusers. Alcohol is a very serious addiction; one may feel like alcohol is helping them to recover. Alcohol abusers need help, before it gets too late. One needs to realize that there are better ways of coping stress, depression, peered pressure, etc. Alcohol abusers will need support with their family and friends, to overcome their addiction.

Modern Day Technology Overview

Modern Day Technology Overview Misty F. Brown  Ã‚   Consumerization of IT Progresses in cell phone technology, operating frameworks, security, and applications can to a great extent be credited with beginning the movement known as consumerization of IT, or (CoIT). Despite the fact that consumerization is regularly connected with the capacity to use ones by and by possessed cell phone for business utilize, it goes past that to incorporate the utilization of any customer innovation in a business setting. In this manner, the issues that CoIT can convey to the table are more intricate than may show up at first look, however the extent of the pattern empowers plenty of positive business results too (Crook, Hopkins, 2013). Mobile Application Explosion While a few organizations have just started to investigate the business advantages of portable arrangements and in this way may assess best of breed items that address their necessities, organizations advance along the way likely need a thorough versatile arrangement spreading over every one of these territories: versatile application stage, applications, portable undertaking administration, and versatile substance administration arrangements. Furthermore, an answer that is well coordinated and gave by a solitary seller can have the specialized and business benefits favored by these organizations. For instance, a MEAP stage firmly coordinated with existing portable applications permits less demanding and more complex customization of these applications. Additionally, portable applications nearly coordinated with portable venture administration programming frequently permit more hearty versatile security highlights and expository abilities that may not be attainable through point arra ngements from a variety of suppliers. Likewise, clients as often as possible lean toward a solitary merchant connection for more viable reasons like powerful client bolster and speedier resolutions to cross-arrangement specialized issues or required improvements (Crook, Hopkins, 2013). Cloud Computing Since organizations are packed with representatives with capable cell phones and a high level of solace with utilizing them, portable application enablement ventures have begun in sincere. Organizations are hoping to convey not just applications and substance that their claim representatives can use for portable working however remotely confronting applications to accomplices and shoppers too. Distributed computing is an imperative outlook change that helps organizations leave on these portability extends in an all the more auspicious and savvy way. While in the past numerous innovation ventures required costly framework, usage, and preparing costs, distributed computing evacuates these obstructions by advertising the capacity to get up and running quick, with little in advance venture. Despite the fact that there is a time when the expenses between an on-preface and a cloud organization may level out, regularly, cloud models take into consideration speedier time to organization and the capacity to scale over time two vital components for most portability ventures (Crook, Hopkins, 2013). European Airline The aircraft business is very aggressive and cost cognizant; organizations must continuously take a stab at the most noteworthy consumer loyalty or hazard beat to another supplier. Albeit a portion of the issues that cause client dissatisfaction cant generally be kept away from for example, delays because of climate conditions anything an aircraft can do to diminish avoidable issues and keep clients educated is vital. The carrier seen this portability organization as an aggressive differentiator that would permit carrier specialists to give clients more elevated amounts of administration as a key goal. While the aircraft was amped up for the likelihood of empowering its portable specialists with instruments to enhance both their occupations and the client encounter, there were likewise a few genuine concerns. The versatile applications that the specialists would utilize connection to a few of the aircrafts most imperative and touchy frameworks including takeoff control, flight dat a, and traveler data. Worries around unapproved data remained high priority for the organization. While a portion of the potential negative results could simply be minor irritations, the carrier business holds the potential for intense issues also (Crook, Hopkins, 2013). Before revealing the versatility methodology, it was basic that the aircraft found a way to oversee and control the hazard around the gadgets and applications containing this delicate data. The aircraft realized that having a robotized approach to do as such would be exceptionally essential, having taken in the wasteful aspects of manual ways to deal with cell phone whats more, application administration from a past organization. Since it was not yet prepared to make significant capital or staff interests in versatile administration foundation, the organization felt that a SaaS-based versatility arrangement supplier, for example, SAP accomplice VeliQ offered a convincing approach to plunge its toe in the water and after that scale up as required. Today, the carrier utilizes application administration to refresh and deal with the applications on the iPad and gadget administration for resource/arrangement administration, remote wipe/bolt, and approach administration. The sending of por table venture administration programming conveyed all the positive results accomplished by the portability extend, as it was basic to deal with the potential chance if the gadget was lost or stolen or arrived in the wrong hands. This association trusts that its portable application enablement extend controlled by versatile administration and security programming has given better client benefit and fulfillment, higher rates of client maintenance, and expanded income (Crook, Hopkins, 2013). PBS Coals The key test for PBS Coals focused on an underlying portability organization to give continuous access to business-basic investigation, assembling, and deals data from anyplace whenever. In an industry where unsteadiness is the standard, officials need to ensure they have the most up and coming data whenever to make the best choices for the business. This intrinsic instability of the mining business too powers the organization to search for approaches to guarantee costs remain under control (Crook, Hopkins, 2013). At the point when PBS Coals initially started considering its portability system, the choice to assess SAPs offerings in the space was driven by a need to use the same number of back-end frameworks as could be allowed. As the organization experienced the due persistence prepare, it discovered SAP as of now offered bundled iOS applications for a significant number of the business forms it needed to prepare, and different applications PBS Coals required were arranged. Likewise, the capacity to use the SAP Mobile Platform for other custom necessities was essential as was having the capacity to get a cell phone and application administration arrangement from one supplier (Crook, Hopkins, 2013). PBS Coals discovered joining forces with SAP spared time and cash in the following ways: Saved noteworthy improvement exertion by utilizing a few SAP portable bundled applications. Reduced mix time and many-sided quality by utilizing the prescribed procedures of a confided in supplier. Helped the administrators who utilize these applications in their everyday employments feel that they can settle on better choices quicker (Crook, Hopkins, 2013). Verizon Verizon began offering managed versatility game plans in 2008. Meanwhile, Verizon intentionally solidified SAPs item into its client game plan. Verizon first joined together with SAP to use the SAP Afaria course of action; starting now and into the foreseeable future, Verizons answer has stretched out to consolidate SAP Mobile Platform for application progression. Verizon at initially picked SAP therefore of its experience and adaptability. According to Verizon, SAP offers the item convenience and capacities that make up the fundamental bits of its transportability game plan and moreover the cloud-based establishment perspectives that give customers versatile course of action models. SAPs cloud-based techniques enable Verizon to pass on and administer answers for customers with viability especially related to course of action and game plan fortification. Verizon believes the experience and reach of SAP help fortify its managed movability course of action, not simply in light of its value, but furthermore by broadening their customer reach (Crook, Hopkins, 2013). Mobility Paradigm Transportability is a champion among the most troublesome enlisting designs that the endeavor has expected to oversee in a long time. From setting aside the opportunity to assemble a far reaching versatile profile to creating application and security necessities over the organization, making a convenient technique is not a fundamental undertaking. Notwithstanding the numerous choices organizations need to work through in building up a versatile endeavor procedure, the efficiency change alone will rapidly profit ventures. With the unlimited exhibit of specialist co-ops and items in the market, endeavors must set aside the opportunity to comprehend the full extent of their portability needs first or hazard making foolhardy specialty item choices. The items and arrangements an undertaking picks must develop with its needs and supplement inside skills. While each organization must survey how its own necessities adjust to any one merchants items and administrations, the capacity to work w ith one supplier crosswise over a large number of these requirements will be seen by numerous clients as a convincing approach for the long-haul (Crook, Hopkins, 2013). References Crook, S.K. Hopkins, S. (2013). Sap enterprise mobility: bringing a cohesive approach to a complex market [PDF file]. Retrieved from iui course library.

Separation of Powers Essays -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Successful governments in history gained their acclaim by trial and error. The government in the United States is no different. In fact, the structure of the government in the United States has been through many changes: the American government was once feeble and operated with weak alliances between states; however, the present government functions in perfect equilibrium with the separation of powers, the federal system, and regards to democratic ideals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After gaining independence from the British government, the United States wanted to refrain from the all-powerful central government and establish a weak central government where the powers to govern were given to the thirteen states. This form of government was formed with the Articles of Confederation. In this system, each state retained its sovereignty, freedom, and independence. The Articles of Confederation did, however, create a national government. It provided a national legislation, Congress. Congress consisted of delegates from the states, and each state had one vote in the legislation, with no regards to population. The central government had some powers to govern: it can conduct foreign relations, declare war or peace, maintain an army and navy, settle disputes among states, establish and maintain a postal service, and et cetera. These powers, however, were not given to Congress alone; Congress shared these powers with the states. So in many ways, Congr ...

Investigating The Affect of Concentration on The Rate of Reaction :: GCSE Chemistry Coursework Investigation

Investigating The Affect of Concentration on The Rate of Reaction Aim- To find out if changing the concentration of the hydrochloric acid affects the volume of gas released in 5 minutes. Background Information The rate of reaction depends on four things:- 1. Temperature 2. Concentration 3. Catalyst 4. Size of particles/surface area The Collision Theory The collision theory explains the rates of reaction, the rate of reaction depends on how often and how hard the reacting particles collide with each other. The basic theory is that particles have to collide with each other in order to react, but it is not that simple, as it also depends on how hard the particles collide. If the particles do not collide hard enough then they will not react, they will simply just hit each other and 'bounce' off. This means that even if I am not investigating the rate of reaction when the temperature is changed, it will still have a big part to play in my experiment. If the temperature is different in the classroom when I do each concentration of acid it may have a huge impact on my results. To help keep my results as accurate as possible I could take the temperature of the room before I do each experiment. If the temperature in the room is below 20 C the particles will still be moving, but very slowly. This would cause the react to be very slow. At temperatures above 20 C the particles will be moving at a regular speed. Low Concentration High Concentration Activation Energy Activation energy is the energy needed to start a reaction. Each molecule has a certain amount of energy, when molecules collide they have to collide with more energy than they already have in order to react this is called a successful collision. If the molecules collide but do not create enough energy this is an unsuccessful collision and the molecules do not react. I am going to focus on the concentration. If the concentration of the hydrochloric acid is increased, then so will the number of collisions. If the acid is more concentrated it means that there will be more particles in the same size space compared to a diluted acid, this means collisions will be more likely and more frequent as the particles are closed together. Apparatus I Will Need:-  · Conicle flask  · Glass syringe  · Bung  · Delivery tube  · Marble chips(5 grams)  · Hydrochloric acid(50 cm )  · Stop clock Other Apparatus that I May Need:-  · Stand (to hold up gas syringe)  · Thermometer (to take the temperature of the room before do each concentration.)  · Weighing scales (to weigh out marble chips). Method I am going to change the concentration of the hydrochloric acid to

The Devil And Daniel Webster Essay -- essays research papers

The play "The Devil and Daniel Webster" was written by Stephen Vincent Benà ©t in 1938. Stephen Vincent Benà ©t was born in 1898 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His education came from Yale University and the Sorbonne in Paris, France. "The Devil and Daniel Webster" has a wide array of characters, each with a distinguished personality, yet an overall temperment that would be fitting of a New England community. The main character is Jabez Stone, a wealthy New England statesman whose possition was the state senator of New Hampshire. He had started out as a farmer though, but moved up in life and, when he was about thirty years of age, married the fair woman, Mary Stone- who was in her early twenties. The fiddler, though not incredibly important, was a key character in that he provided foreshadowing.When he said, "But the very devil's got into that fiddle of mine.", he was forshadowing the coming of the devil to disturb the merriments. A very key character in this play is the devil himself, which took the name of Scratch (for that was what he was called in New England communities). He had come to steal the soul of Jabez Stone, claiming that he had a right to Jabez because of a legal contract. Last- but most certainly not least in this story- is the great Governor of New Hampshire, loved by all, Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster was not only the governor, but an excelent orator. He had a way of using words to pursued the opinion of others, sometimes by conve...

Analysis of “Eat at My Restaurant †Cash Flow” Essay

Understanding the flow of cash within an organization is critical to knowing the health of an organization. Without this understanding, a business may run into a situation where even though they are profitable, they may not have enough cash on hand to meet their obligations. This paper will look at the case study Eat at My Restaurant – Cash Flow (Gibson, 2013) and will analyze the difference between net cash provided by operating activities and net income and determine which a better indicator of long-term profitability is. It will then provide an analysis of the cash flow ratios for each of the firms contained in the case study. Finally, this paper will conclude with a determination of if one of the companies in the case study has a cash flow problem. Net Cash versus Net Income Net income is derived from the Income Statement, which is based on the accrual method of accounting. Under the accrual method, revenue is recognized when earned and expenses are recognized when incurred. Net cash provided by operating activities uses the cash method of accounting where cash and expenses are recognized when received and paid. For example, under the accrual method, which net income is based on, a company would recognize revenue for services delivered based on the delivery of services instead of when a customer actually pays the invoice for these services. This is an important distinction because from an income perspective, the company will eventually receive that money, the company will not actually have that cash in-hand to pay expenses or make investments until receipt of payment from their customer. This could create a situation where although the company looks profitable, in reality they cannot make their short-term commitments. When considering whether net cash provided by operating activities or net income is a better indicator of long-term profitability, the writer feels that the words â€Å"long-term† are critical to that decision. While net cash is  critical to determine the ability of the organization to meet its immediate requirements, the non-cash factors that are included in the net income calculation portray a more accurate view of the long-term profitability. Also because of the timing differences between when revenue and expenses are recognized, the accrual method behind the net income model will produce visibility that is more accurate. For example, a month that produces low volume of sales and a high volume of receivable could produce a positive cash flow when in reality that low sales volume will negatively affect the subsequent months. This variance wou ld be visible in the net income but would not be visible in net cash. Case Study Company Comparison Yum Brands, Inc. In the two years presented in the case study (2009-2010), Yum Brands, Inc. saw a significant decline in its operating cash flow/current maturities of long-term debt and current notes payable. This indicates that they are less able to meet their current debt obligation. However, when looking at operating cash flow/total debt, there is an increase of 7.3% showing that Yum Brands, Inc. is more able to cover its debt with operating cash. A review of the operating cash flow per share shows an increase of $1.14 showing an improvement in its ability to make capital expense decisions and pay dividends to its shareholders. Finally, Yum Brands, Inc. a .9 increase in operating cash flow/cash dividends. This shows that they are more able to pay dividends with its yearly operating cash. Panera Bread During the same two-year period (2009-2010), Panera Bread did not have any long-term debt mature or have any current notes payable. They did however have 17.27% decrease in their ability to meet their total debt burden with operating cash. Panera Bread did show an increase of $0.74 in operating cash flow per share indicating an improved ability to make capital purchase decisions and pay dividends to its shareholders. Panera Bread did not make any dividend payments in either year. Starbucks In 2009 and 2010, Starbuck also did not have any long-term debt mature or have any current notes payable. However, they did show a 7.94% increase in their operating cash flow/total debt ratio. This indicates an improved ability to cover their total debt with operating cash flow. During this same period, Starbucks had an increase of $0.37 in operating cash flow per share indicating an improved ability to make capital purchase decisions and pay dividends to its shareholders. Although they did not pay any dividends in 2009, they did show an increase of 9.97 in operating cash flow/cash dividends in 2010. This shows that they are more able to pay dividends with yearly operating cash. Cash Flow Woes While Panera Bread does show an increase of 28.5% in net income-including noncontrolling interest, they are only showing an increase of 10.6% in net cash provided by operating activities. This combined with a 17.27% decrease in their operating cash flow/total debt ratio could indicate potential challenges meeting debt. Furthermore, although Panera Bread does show an improvement of $0.74 in operating cash flow per share, they have not issued any dividends. This could indicate that Panera Bread is trying to invest in growth or potentially they are having difficulty meeting cash obligations. For these reasons, the writer believes Panera Bread may be experiencing a cash flow problem; however, a deeper look into their financial statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements over a broader timeframe would be required to assess their true position. Conclusion Net Cash and Net Income are both critical elements allowing a view to the health of an organization. While it is imperative that a business has visibility to the cash available to pay debt, make investments, make capital purchases and pay its shareholders, it is equally important to have visibility to all revenue and expenses. While each tells their own story, in the end it is when used together that they bring the most value. References Gibson, C. H. (2013). Financial Reporting & Analysis. Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Hire for Attitude Essay

Professionals mostly from the human resource department believe in â€Å"hire for attitude, train for skills† and this can be supported by the fact that it is comparatively easier to inculcate and to make them learn new skills than to change their attitude. I believe that this statement is very true as the type of attitude adopted by an individual formulates due to various reasons and the environment he lives in. Depending on these factors and some of the other major factors an individual has passed through in his life, he then develops a certain type of attitude. There are various types of attitudes that a person might possess, however specifically talking about the attitudes of employees at workplace, I would say that people might be enthusiastic or efficient. Besides this, they might show their excellence at work, they might be flexible or might make their work easy by adopting a good attitude. Many companies have failed to hire the right candidate for the right job and this is the most important task of the human resource department to consider when hiring a candidate. In order to bring an improvement in the hiring process, many companies have analyzed many reasons over the years to find out the reasons why their hiring processes fail and they have come up to a conclusion that it is always better to hire a person with a right mind set and a right attitude rather than hiring a person with the right experience. Therefore, now the companies prefer to hire individuals for attitude after which they train them according to the requirement of the company and the job. (Carbondara, 2007).

Fool Chapter 19

NINETEEN SHALL A MADMAN RISE Gloucester was wandering around outside the castle, just beyond the drawbridge, coming dangerously close to tumbling into the moat. The storm was still raging and bloody rain streamed down the earl's face from his empty eye sockets. Drool caught the old man by the back of his cloak and lifted him like he was a kitten. Gloucester struggled and waved about in horror, as if he'd been snatched up by some great bird of prey instead of an enormous nitwit. â€Å"There, there,† said Drool, trying to calm the old man the way one might try to settle a frightened horse. â€Å"I gots you.† â€Å"Bring him away from the edge and set him down, Drool,† said I. â€Å"Lord Gloucester, this is Pocket, Lear's fool. We're going to take you to shelter and bandage your wounds. King Lear will be there, too. Just take Drool's hand.† â€Å"Get away,† said the earl. â€Å"Your comforts are in vain. I am lost. My sons are scoundrels, my estate is forfeit. Let me fall in the moat and drown.† Drool set the old man down and pointed him toward the moat. â€Å"Go on, then, milord.† â€Å"Grab him, Drool, you wooden-headed ninny!† â€Å"But he told me to let him drown, and he's an earl with a castle and the lot, and you're only a fool, Pocket, so I got to do what he says.† I strode forth, grabbed Gloucester and led him away from the edge. â€Å"He's not an earl anymore, lad. He has nothing but his cloak to protect him from the rain, like us.† â€Å"He's got nothing?† said Drool. â€Å"Can I teach him to juggle so he can be a fool?† â€Å"Let's get him to shelter and see that he doesn't bleed to death first, then you can give him fool lessons.† â€Å"We're going to make a fool of ye,† said Drool, clapping the old man on the back. â€Å"That'll be the dog's bollocks, won't it, milord?† â€Å"Drown me,† said Gloucester. â€Å"Being a fool is ever so much better than being an earl,† said Drool, far too cheery for a cold-dismal day of post-maiming. â€Å"You don't get a castle but you make people laugh and they give you apples and sometimes one of the wenches or the sheeps will have a laugh with you. It's the mutt's nuts,[42] it is.† I stopped and looked at my apprentice. â€Å"You've been having a laugh with sheep?† Drool rolled his eyes toward the slate sky. â€Å"No, I – we have pie sometimes, too, when Bubble makes it. You'll like Bubble. She's smashing.† Gloucester seemed to lose all his will then, and let me lead him through the walled town, taking weak, halting steps. As we passed a long, half-timbered building I took to be barracks I heard someone call my name. I looked to see Curan, Lear's captain, standing under an awning. He waved us over and we stood with our backs hard to the wall to try to escape the rain. â€Å"Is that the Earl of Gloucester?† asked Curan. â€Å"Aye,† said I. I told Curan what had transpired inside the castle and out on the heath since I'd last seen him. â€Å"God's blood, two wars. Cornwall dead. Who is master of our force, now?† â€Å"Mistress,† said I. â€Å"Stay with Regan. The plan is as before.† â€Å"No, it's not. We don't even know who her enemy is, Albany or France.† â€Å"Aye, but your action should be the same.† â€Å"I'd give a month's wages to be behind the blade that slays that bastard Edmund.† At the mention of his son, Gloucester started wailing again. â€Å"Drown me! I will suffer no more! Give me your sword that I may run upon it and end my shame and misery!† â€Å"Sorry,† I said to Curan. â€Å"He's been a bit of a weepy little Nancy to be around since they ripped his eyes out.† â€Å"Well, you might bandage him up. Bring him in. Hunter's still with us. He's right handy with a cauterizing iron.† â€Å"Let me end this suffering,† wailed Gloucester. â€Å"I can no longer endure the slings and arrows – â€Å" â€Å"My lord Gloucester, would you please, by the fire-charred balls of St. George, shut the fuck up!† â€Å"Bit harsh, innit?† said Curan. â€Å"What, I said ‘please.'† â€Å"Still.† â€Å"Sorry, Gloucester, old chap. Most excellent hat.† â€Å"He's not wearing a hat,† said Curan. â€Å"Well, he's blind, isn't he? If you hadn't said anything he might have enjoyed his bloody hat, mightn't he?† The earl started wailing again. â€Å"My sons are villains and I have no hat.† He made to go on, but Drool clamped his great paw over the old man's mouth. â€Å"Thanks, lad. Curan, do you have any food?† â€Å"Aye, Pocket, we can spare as much bread and cheese as you can carry, and one of the men can scare up a flask of wine, too, I'll wager. His lordship has been most generous in providing us with fare,† Curan said for the benefit of Gloucester. The old man began struggling against Drool's grip. â€Å"Oh, Curan, you've set him off again. Hurry, if you please. We've got to find Lear and head to Dover.† â€Å"Dover it is, then? You'll join with France?† â€Å"Aye, bloody King Jeff, great froggy, monkey-named, woman-stealing ponce that he is.† â€Å"You're fond of him, then?† â€Å"Oh do piss off, captain. Just see to it that whatever force Regan might send after us doesn't catch us. Don't mutiny, just make your way to Dover east, then south. I'll take Lear south, then east.† â€Å"Let me come with you, Pocket. The king needs more protection than two fools and a blind man.† â€Å"The old knight Caius is with the king. You will serve the king best by serving his plan here.† Not strictly true, but would he have done his duty if he thought his commander a fool? I think not. â€Å"Aye, then, I'll get your food,† said Curan. When we arrived at the hovel, Tom O'Bedlam stood outside, naked in the rain, barking. â€Å"That barking bloke is naked,† said Drool, for once not singing praise to St. Obvious, as we were actually traveling with a blind fellow. â€Å"Aye, but the question is, is he naked because he's barking, or is he barking because he's naked?† I asked. â€Å"I'm hungry,† said Drool, his mind overchallenged. â€Å"Poor Tom is cold and cursed,† said Tom between barking fits, and for the first time seeing him in daylight and mostly clean, I was taken aback. Without the coat of mud, Tom looked familiar. Very familiar. Tom O'Bedlam was, in fact, Edgar of Gloucester, the earl's legitimate son. â€Å"Tom, why are you out here?† â€Å"Poor Tom, that old knight Caius said he had to stand in the rain until he was clean and didn't stink anymore.† â€Å"And did he tell you to bark and talk about yourself in the third person?† â€Å"No, I thought up that bit on my own.† â€Å"Come inside, Tom. Help Drool with this old fellow.† Tom looked at Gloucester for the first time and his eyes went wide and he sank to his knees. â€Å"By the cruelty of the gods,† said he. â€Å"He's blind.† I put my hand on his shoulder and whispered, â€Å"Be steadfast, Edgar, your father needs your help.† In that moment a light came into his eye like a spark of sanity returning and he nodded and stood up, taking the earl's arm. Shall a madman rise to lead the blind. â€Å"Come, good sir,† said Edgar. â€Å"Tom is mad, but he is not beyond aiding a stranger in distress.† â€Å"Just let me die!† said Gloucester, trying to push Edgar away. â€Å"Give me a rope so I may stretch my neck until my breath is gone.† â€Å"He does that a lot,† I said. I opened the door, expecting to see Lear and Kent inside, but the hovel was empty, and the fire had died down to embers. â€Å"Tom, where is the king?† â€Å"He and his knight set out for Dover.† â€Å"Without me?† â€Å"The king was mad to be back in the storm. ‘Twas the old knight said to tell you they were headed for Dover.† â€Å"Here, here, bring the earl inside.† I stood aside and let Edgar coax his father into the cabin. â€Å"Drool, throw some wood on the fire. We can stay only long enough to eat and dry out. We must be after the king.† Drool ducked through the door and spotted Jones sitting on a bench by the fire where I had left him. â€Å"Jones! My friend,† said the dolt. He picked up the puppet stick and hugged it. Drool is somewhat unclear on the art of ventriloquism, and although I have explained to him that Jones speaks only through me, he has developed an attachment to the puppet. â€Å"Hello, Drool, you great sawdust-brained buffoon. Put me down and stoke the fire,† said Jones. Drool tucked the puppet stick in his belt and began breaking up kindling with a hatchet by the hearth while I portioned out the bread and cheese that Curan had given us. Edgar did his best to bandage Gloucester's eyes and the old man settled down enough to eat some cheese and drink a little wine. Unfortunately, the wine and the blood loss, no doubt, took the earl from inconsolable wailing grief to a soul-smothering, sable-colored melancholy. â€Å"My wife died thinking me a whoremonger, my father thought me damned for not following his faith, and my sons are both villains. I thought for a turn that Edmund might have redeemed his bastardy by being good and true, by fighting infidels in the Crusade, but he is more of a traitor than his legitimate brother.† â€Å"Edgar is no traitor,† I said to the old man. Even as I said it Edgar held a finger to his lips and signaled for me to speak no further. I nodded to show I knew his will and would not give his identity away. He could be Tom as long as he wished, or for as long as he needed, for all I cared, as long as he put on some bloody trousers. â€Å"Edgar was always true to you, my lord. His treachery was all devised for your eyes by the bastard Edmund. It was two sons' worth of evil done by one. Edgar may not be the sharpest arrow in the quiver, but he is no traitor.† Edgar raised an eyebrow to me in question. â€Å"You'll make no case for your intelligence sitting there naked and shivering when there's a fire and blankets you can fashion into warm robes, good Tom,† said I. He rose from his father's side and went over to the fire. â€Å"Then it is I who have betrayed Edgar,† said Gloucester. â€Å"Oh, the gods have seen fit to rain misery down on me for my unsteady heart. I have sent a good son into exile with hounds at his heels and left only the worms as heirs to my only estate: this withered blind body. Oh, we are but soft and squishy bags of mortality rolling in a bin of sharp circumstance, leaking life until we collapse, flaccid, into our own despair.† The old man began to wave his arms and beat at his brow, whipping himself into a frenzy, causing his bandages to unravel. Drool came over to the old man and wrapped his arms around him to hold him steady. â€Å"It's all right, milord,† said Drool. â€Å"You ain't leakin' hardly at all.† â€Å"Let me send this broken house to ruin and rot in death's eternal cold. Let me shuffle off this mortal coil – my sons betrayed, my king usurped, my estates seized – let me end this torture!† He really was making a very good argument. Then the earl grabbed Jones and tore him out of Drool's belt. â€Å"Give me your sword, good knight!† Edgar made to stop his father and I threw out an arm to hold him back – a toss of my head stopped Drool from interceding. The old man stood, put the stick end of Jones under his rib cage, then fell forward onto the dirt floor. The breath shot from his body and he wheezed in pain. My cup of wine had been warming by the fire and I threw it on Gloucester's chest. â€Å"I am slain,† croaked the earl, fighting for breath. â€Å"The lifeblood runs from me even now. Bury my body on the hill looking down upon Castle Gloucester. And beg forgiveness of my son Edgar. I have wronged him.† Edgar again tried to go to his father and I held him back. Drool was covering his mouth, trying not to laugh. â€Å"I grow cold, cold, but at least I take my wrong-doings to my grave.† â€Å"You know, milord,† I said. â€Å"The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones, or so I've heard.† â€Å"Edgar, my boy, wherever you are, forgive me, forgive me!† The old man rolled on the floor, and seemed somewhat surprised when the sword on which he thought himself impaled fell away. â€Å"Lear, forgive me that I did not serve you better!† â€Å"Look at that,† said I. â€Å"You can see his black soul rising from his body.† â€Å"Where?† said Drool. A frantic finger to my lips silenced the Natural. â€Å"Oh, great carrion birds are rending poor Gloucester's soul to tatters! Oh, Fate's revenge is upon him, he suffers!† â€Å"I suffer!† said Gloucester. â€Å"He is bound to the darkest depths of Hades! Never to rise again.† â€Å"Down the abyss I go. Forever a stranger to light and warmth.† â€Å"Oh, cold and lonely death has taken him,† said I. â€Å"And a right shit he was in life, likely he'll be buggered by a billion barb-dicked devils now.† â€Å"Cold and lonely Death has me,† said the earl. â€Å"No, it hasn't,† said I. â€Å"What?† â€Å"You're not dead.† â€Å"Soon, then. I've fallen on this cruel blade and my life runs wet and sticky between my fingers.† â€Å"You've fallen on a puppet,† said I. â€Å"No, I haven't. It's a sword. I took it from that soldier.† â€Å"You took my puppet stick from my apprentice. You've thrown yourself on a puppet.† â€Å"You knave, Pocket, you're not trustworthy and would jest at a man even as his life drains. Where is that naked madman who was helping me?† â€Å"You threw yourself on a puppet,† said Edgar. â€Å"So I'm not dead?† â€Å"Correct,† said I. â€Å"I threw myself on a puppet?† â€Å"That is what I've been saying.† â€Å"You are a wicked little man, Pocket.† â€Å"So, milord, how do you feel, now that you've returned from the dead.† The old man stood up and tasted the wine on his fingers. â€Å"Better,† said he. â€Å"Good. Then let me present Edgar of Gloucester, the erstwhile naked nutter, who shall see you to Dover and your king.† â€Å"Hello, Father,† said Edgar. They embraced. There was crying and begging for forgiveness and filial snogging and overall the whole business was somewhat nauseating. A moment of quiet sobbing by the two men passed before the earl resumed his wailing. â€Å"Oh, Edgar, I have wronged thee and no forgiveness from you can undo my wretchedness.† â€Å"Oh for fuck's sake,† said I. â€Å"Come, Drool, let us go find Lear and on to Dover and the sanctuary of the bloody fucking French.† â€Å"But the storm still rages,† said Edgar. â€Å"I've been wandering in this storm for days. I'm as wet and cold as I know how to get, and no doubt a fever will descend any hour now and crush my delicate form with heavy heat, but by the rug-munching balls of Sappho, I'll not spend another hour listening to a blind old nutter wail on about his wrong-doings when there's a stack of wrongs yet to be done. Carpe diem, Edgar. Carpe diem.† â€Å"Fish of the day?† said the rightful heir to the earldom of Gloucester. â€Å"Yes, that's it. I'm invoking the fish of the bloody day, you git. I liked you better when you were eating frogs and seeing demons and the lot. Drool, leave them half the food and wrap yourself as warm as you can. We're off to find the king. We'll see you lot in Dover.†

Getting Away with Torture

Global Governance 11 (2005), 389–406 REVIEW ESSAY Getting Away with Torture Kenneth Roth The Bush administration’s use of torture and inhumane treatment has undermined one of the most basic global standards governing how governments can treat people under their control. Contrary to the efforts of the administration to pass this abuse off as the spontaneous misconduct of a few low-level soldiers, ample evidence demonstrates that it reflects policy decisions taken at the highest levels of the U. S. government.Repairing the damage done to global standards will require acknowledging this policy role and launching a genuinely independent investigation to identify those responsible and hold them accountable. The creation of regulated exceptions to the absolute prohibition of torture and mistreatment, as suggested by several academics, will not redeem the tarnished reputation of the United States or restore the global standards that the Bush administration has so severely dama ged. KEYWORDS: torture, Abu Ghraib, Guatanamo, interrogation, cruel treatment.B’Tselem, â€Å"Legislation Allowing the Use of Physical Force and Mental Coercion in Interrogations by the General Security Service,† B’Tselem Position Paper, January 2000, 80 pp. Mark Danner, Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror (New York: New York Review of Books, 2004), 592 pp. Alan M. Dershowitz, Why Terrorism Works: Understanding the Threat, Responding to the Challenge (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), 288 pp. Karen J. Greenberg and Joshua L. Dratel, eds. , The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 1,284 pp. Philip B. Heymann and Juliette N.Kayyem, Preserving Security and Democratic Freedoms in the War on Terrorism (Cambridge: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, 2004), 195 pp. Human Rights Watch, The Road to Abu Ghraib (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2004), 37 pp. Sanford Levinson, ed. , Torture: A Collection (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 328 pp. 389 390 Getting Away with Torture ho would have thought it still necessary to debate the merits of torture? Sure, there are always some governments that torture, but they do it clandestinely. Torture is inherently shameful—something that, if practiced, is done in the shadows.In the system of international human rights law and institutions that has been constructed since World War II, there is no more basic prohibition than the ban on torture. Even the right to life admits exceptions, such as the killing of combatants allowed in wartime. But torture is forbidden unconditionally, whether in time of peace or war, whether at the local police precinct or in the face of a major security threat. Yet, suddenly, following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, torture and related mistreatment have become serious policy options for the United States.Academics are proposing ways to regulate the pain that can be inflicted on suspects in detention. Overly clever U. S. government lawyers have tried to define away laws against torture. The Bush administration claims latitude to abuse detainees that its predecessors would never have dared to contemplate. Washington’s new willingness to contemplate torture is not just theoretical. The abuse of prisoners has flourished in the gulag of offshore detention centers that the Bush administration now maintains in Guantanamo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the secret dungeons where the U. S. government’s â€Å"disappeared† prisoners are held.Hidden from public scrutiny, shielded from legal accountability, the interrogators in these facilities have been allowed to flout the most basic rules for the decent and humane treatment of detainees. Yet torture remains the despicable practice it has always been. It dehumanizes people by treating them as pawns to be manipulated through their pain. It harnesses the awesome power of the state and appl ies it to human beings at their most vulnerable. Breaching any restraint of reciprocity, it subjects the victim to abuse that the perpetrator would never himself want to suffer.Before looking at why Americans are suddenly confronting the torture option, it is useful to clarify what, exactly, torture is. The word torture has entered the vernacular to describe a host of irritants, but its formal meaning in international law is quite specific: the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, for whatever reason. Torture as defined in international law is not done by private actors but by government officials or those operating with their consent or acquiescence. 1 Torture exists on a continuum of mistreatment.Abuse just short of torture is known in international law as cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The lines between these different degrees of mistreatment are W Kenneth Roth 391 not crystal clear—lesser forms are often gateways to tort ure—which is one reason why international law prohibits all such forms of coercion. 2 Torture as well as cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment is flatly prohibited by such treaties as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), and the Geneva Conventions.All of these treaties are widely ratified, including by the United States. None permits any exception to these prohibitions, even in time of war or a serious security threat. Indeed, these prohibitions are so fundamental that the Restatement of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States, the most authoritative U. S. treatise on the matter, lists them as peremptory jus cogens norms, meaning they bind governments as a matter of customary international law, even in the absence of a treaty.Breach of these prohibitions gives rise to a crime of universal jurisdiction, allowing the perpetrator to be prosecut ed in any competent tribunal anywhere. Yet it is precisely because of the fundamental character of the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment that the Bush administration’s deliberate disregard for it is so damaging. If this basic human rights protection can be cast aside, no right is secure. Moreover, the Bush administration is not just any government. When most governments breach international human rights law, they commit a violation—the breach is condemned or prosecuted, but the rule remains firm.Yet when a government as dominant and influential as the United States openly defies that law and seeks to justify its defiance, it also undermines the law itself, and invites others to do the same. That shakes the very foundations of the international system for the protection of human rights that has been carefully constructed over the past sixty years. This unlawful conduct has also damaged Washington’s credibility as a proponent of hum an rights and a leader of the campaign against terrorism. The U. S. government’s record of promoting human rights has always been mixed.For every offender it berated for human rights transgressions, there was another whose abuses it ignored, excused, or even supported. Yet despite this inconsistency, the United States historically has played a key role in defending human rights. Its embrace of coercive interrogation—part of a broader betrayal of human rights principles in the name of combating terrorism—has significantly impaired its ability to mount that defense. As a result, governments facing human rights pressure from the United States now find it increasingly easy to turn the tables, to challenge Washington’s standing to uphold principles that it violates itself. 92 Getting Away with Torture Whether it is Egypt justifying torture by reference to U. S. practice, Malaysia defending administrative detention by invoking Guantanamo, Russia citing Abu Ghra ib to blame abuses in Chechnya solely on lowlevel soldiers, Nepal explaining a coup by reference to America’s postSeptember 11 excesses, or Cuba claiming the Bush administration had â€Å"no moral authority to accuse† it of human rights violations, repressive governments find it easier to deflect U. S. pressure because of Washington’s own sorry counterterrorism record on human rights.Indeed, when Human Rights Watch asked State Department officials to protest administrative detention in Malaysia and prolonged incommunicado detention in Uganda, they demurred, explaining, in the words of one, â€Å"With what we are doing in Guantanamo, we’re on thin ice to push this. †3 Washington’s loss of credibility has not been for lack of rhetorical support for concepts that are closely related to human rights, but the embrace of explicit human rights language seems to have been calculatedly rare.In his January 2005 inauguration speech, President Bush spok e extensively of his devotion to â€Å"freedom† and â€Å"liberty,† his opposition to â€Å"tyranny† and â€Å"terrorism,† but hardly at all about his commitment to human rights. 4 The distinction has enormous significance. It is one thing to pronounce oneself on the side of the â€Å"free,† quite another to be bound by the full array of human rights standards that are the foundation of freedom. It is one thing to declare oneself opposed to terrorism, quite another to embrace the body of international human rights and humanitarian law that enshrines the values rejecting terrorism.This linguistic sleight of hand—this refusal to accept the legal obligations embraced by rights-respecting states—has both reduced Washington’s credibility and facilitated its use of coercive interrogation. Because of this hypocrisy, many human rights defenders, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, now cringe when the United States comes t o their defense. Reformers in the Middle East speak of â€Å"the hug of death†Ã¢â‚¬â€the ill effects of Washington’s hypocritical embrace.They may crave a powerful ally, but identifying too closely with a government that so brazenly ignores international law, whether in its own abuses or its alliance with other abusers, has become a sure route to disrepute. At a time when the Bush administration is extolling itself as a champion of reform in the Middle East, as the catalyst behind recent democratic developments, however modest, in Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinian territories, it is a sad irony that so few reformers welcome its support.That weakening of Washington’s moral authority in the Middle East is particularly tragic, because that region is where effective counterterrorism efforts are most needed. Open and responsive political systems Kenneth Roth 393 are the best way to encourage people to pursue their grievances peacefully. But whe n the most vocal governmental advocate of democracy deliberately violates human rights, it undermines democratically inclined reformers and strengthens the appeal of those who preach more radical visions. Instead, U. S. buses have provided a new rallying cry for terrorist recruiters, and the pictures from Abu Ghraib have become the recruiting posters for Terrorism, Inc. Many militants need no additional incentive to attack civilians, but if a weakened human rights culture eases even a few fence-sitters toward the path of violence, the consequences can be dire. Why is the United States taking this approach? To vent frustration, to exact revenge—possibly—but certainly not because torture and mistreatment are required for national security or protection.Respect for the Geneva Conventions does not preclude vigorously interrogating detainees about a limitless range of topics. The U. S. Army’s field manual on intelligence interrogation makes clear that coercion underm ines the quest for reliable information. 5 The U. S. military command in Iraq says that Iraqi detainees are providing more useful intelligence when they are not subjected to abuse. In the words of Craig Murray, the United Kingdom’s former ambassador to Uzbekistan, who was speaking of the UK’s reliance on torture-extracted testimony, â€Å"We are selling our souls for dross. 6 Moreover, coercive interrogation is making us less safe by effectively precluding criminal prosecution of its victims. Once a confession is coerced, it becomes extremely difficult to prove, as due process requires, that a subsequent prosecution of the suspect is free of the fruits of that coercion. As a result, the Bush administration finds itself holding some suspects who clearly have joined terrorist conspiracies and might have been criminally convicted and subjected to long prison terms, but against whom prosecution has become impossible. In February 2005, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began openly fretting about the problem.What happens, it worried, when continuing to detain suspects without trial becomes politically untenable, but prosecuting them is legally impossible because of taint from coercive interrogation? 7 None of this is to say that the United States is the worst human rights abuser. There are many more serious contenders for that notorious title, including governments that torture more frequently and more ruthlessly. But the United States is certainly the most influential abuser, making its contribution to the degradation of human rights standards unique and the costs to global institutions for upholding human rights incalculable.It is not enough to argue, as its defenders do, that the Bush administration is well intentioned—that they are the â€Å"good guys,† in the 394 Getting Away with Torture words of the Wall Street Journal. 8 A society ordered on intentions rather than law is a lawless society. Nor does it excuse the administrati on’s human rights record, as its defenders have tried to do, to note that it removed two tyrannical governments—the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Ba’ath Party in Iraq. Attacks on repressive regimes cannot justify attacks on the body of principles that makes their repression illegal.So, how did we get here? How did the United States, historically perhaps the most vigorous governmental proponent of human rights, come to undermine through its own actions one of the most basic human rights there is? Several books, both new and old, provide insight into this sorry state of affairs. Cover-Up and Self-Investigation When the photos from Abu Ghraib became public, the Bush administration reacted like many abusive governments that are caught redhanded: it went into damage control mode. It agreed that the torture and abuse featured in the photographs were wrong but sought to minimize the problem.The abusers, it claimed, were a handful of errant soldiers, a few â€Å"bad a pples† at the bottom of the barrel. The problem, it argued, was contained, both geographically (one section of Abu Ghraib prison) and structurally (only low-level soldiers, not more senior commanders). The abuse photographed at Abu Ghraib and broadcast around the world, it maintained, had nothing to do with the decisions and policies of more senior officials. President Bush vowed that â€Å"wrongdoers will be brought to justice,†9 but as of March 2005, virtually all of those facing prosecution were of the rank of sergeant or below.To some extent, the sheer outrageousness of the sexual and physical depravity featured in the Abu Ghraib photographs made it easier for the administration to disown responsibility. Few believe that President Bush or his senior officials would have ordered, for example, Lyndie England to parade about a naked detainee on a leash. Yet behind this particular mistreatment was an atmosphere of abuse to which the Bush administration, at the highest l evels, did contribute. The ingredients of that atmosphere are described in several new books.The most comprehensive compilation of the documentary record is contained in The Torture Papers, a book edited by Karen Greenberg and Joshua Dratel, which includes all of the administration’s notorious â€Å"torture memos† available by late 2004. Mark Danner’s book, Torture and Truth, includes many of these same documents, as well as his insightful analysis, drawn from his articles in the New York Review of Kenneth Roth 395 Books, of the policy decisions that lay behind them. The Human Rights Watch report, The Road to Abu Ghraib,10 details how this atmosphere played out on he ground, as American interrogators deployed â€Å"stress and duress† interrogation techniques and then covered up the cruel and occasionally deadly consequences. Torture: A Collection, a new set of essays on torture edited by Sanford Levinson, contains thoughtful essays from a range of scholar s, including a vigorous debate about how to limit torture in the post-September 11 environment. The key to the administration’s strategy of damage control was a series of carefully limited investigations—at least ten so far.The reports of several of these are reprinted in the Greenberg and Dratel compilation. Most of the investigations, such as those conducted by Maj. Gen. George Fay and Lt. Gen. Anthony Jones, involved uniformed military officials examining the conduct of their subordinates; these officers lacked the authority to scrutinize senior Pentagon officials. Typical was the most recent investigation, conducted by Vice Admiral Albert T. Church III, who said he did not interview senior officials such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld or draw conclusions about their individual responsibility. 11The one investigation with the theoretical capacity to examine the conduct of Secretary Rumsfeld and his top aides—the inquiry led by former secretary of def ense James Schlesinger—was initiated by Rumsfeld himself and seemed to go out of its way to distance Rumsfeld from the problem. At the press conference releasing the investigative report, Schlesinger said that Rumsfeld’s resignation â€Å"would be a boon to all America’s enemies. † The Schlesinger investigation lacked the independence of, for example, the September 11 Commission, which was established with the active involvement of the U.S. Congress. 12 As for the CIA—the branch of the U. S. government believed to hold the most important terrorist suspects—it has apparently escaped scrutiny by anyone other than its own inspector general. Meanwhile, no one seems to be looking at the role of President Bush and other senior administration officials. As for criminal investigations, there has been none independent of the Bush administration. When an unidentified government official retaliated against a critic of the administration by revealing th at his wife was a CIA agent—a erious crime because it could endanger her—the administration agreed, under pressure, to appoint a special prosecutor who has been promised independence from administration direction. Yet the administration has refused to appoint a special prosecutor to determine whether senior officials authorized torture and other coercive interrogation—a far more serious and systematic offense. So far, prosecutors 396 Getting Away with Torture under the direction of the administration have focused only on the little guy. The Policies Behind Abu Ghraib What would a genuinely independent investigation find?It would reveal that the abusive interrogation seen at Abu Ghraib did not erupt spontaneously at the lowest levels of the military chain of command. It was not merely a â€Å"management† failure, as the Schlesinger investigation suggested. As shown in the collection of official documents organized by Greenberg and Dratel and Danner, Danner ’s analysis, and the Human Rights Watch study, these abuses were the direct product of an environment of lawlessness, an atmosphere created by policy decisions taken at the highest levels of the Bush administration, long before the start of the Iraq war.They reflect a determination to fight terrorism unconstrained by fundamental principles of international human rights and humanitarian law, despite commitments by the United States and governments around the world to respect those principles even in times of war and severe security threats. These policy decisions included: †¢ The decision not to grant the detainees in U. S. custody at Guantanamo their rights under the Geneva Conventions, even though the conventions apply to all people picked up on the battlefield of Afghanistan.Senior Bush officials vowed that all detainees would be treated â€Å"humanely,† but that vow seems never to have been seriously implemented and at times was qualified (and arguably eviscera ted) by a selfcreated exception for â€Å"military necessity. † Meanwhile, the effective shredding of the Geneva Conventions—and the corresponding sidestepping of the U. S. Army’s interrogation manual—sent U. S. interrogators the signal that, in the words of one leading counterterrorist official, â€Å"the gloves come off. †13 The decision not to clarify for nearly two years that, regardless of the applicability of the Geneva Conventions, all detainees in U. S. custody are protected by the parallel requirements of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention Against Torture. Even when, at the urging of human rights groups, the Pentagon’s general counsel belatedly reaffirmed, in June 2003, that CAT prohibited not only torture but also other forms of ill treatment, that announcement was communicated to interrogators, if at all, in a way that had no discernible impact on their behavior.Kenneth Roth 397 †¢ The decision to interpret the prohibition of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment narrowly, to permit certain forms of coercive interrogation—that is, certain efforts to ratchet up a suspect’s pain, suffering, and humiliation to make him talk. At the time of ratifying the ICCPR in 1992 and the CAT in 1994, the U. S. government said it would interpret this prohibition to mean the same thing as the requirements of the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution.The clear intent was to require that if an interrogation technique would be unconstitutional if used in an American police station or jail, it would violate these treaties if used against suspects overseas. Yet U. S. interrogators under the Bush administration have routinely subjected overseas terrorist suspects to abusive techniques that would clearly have been prohibited if used in the United States. That the use of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment was intentional was suggested by Att orneyGeneral Alberto Gonzales during his confirmation process.In his written reply to Senate questions—after the administration had supposedly repudiated the worst aspects of its torture memos—he interpreted the U. S. reservation as permitting the use of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment so long as it was done against non-Americans outside the United States. 14 That makes the United States the only government in the world to claim openly as a matter of policy the power to use cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.Other governments obviously subject detainees to inhumane treatment or worse as a matter of clandestine policy, but the Bush administration is the only government to proclaim this policy publicly. Reflecting that policy, the Bush administration in late 2004 successfully stopped a congressional effort to proscribe the CIA’s use of torture and inhumane treatment in interrogation. †¢ The decision to hold some suspects—eleven known15 and r eportedly some three dozen—in unacknowledged incommunicado detention, beyond the reach of even the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).Many other suspects were apparently temporarily hidden from the ICRC. Victims of such â€Å"disappearances† are at the greatest risk of torture and other mistreatment. For example, U. S. forces continue to maintain closed detention sites in Afghanistan, where beatings, threats, and sexual humiliation are still reported. At least twenty-six prisoners have died in U. S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002 in what army and navy investigators have concluded or suspect were acts of criminal homicide. 16 One of those deaths was as recently as September 2004. The refusal for over two years to prosecute U. S. soldiers implicated in the December 2002 deaths of two suspects in U. S. custody in Afghanistan—deaths ruled â€Å"homicides† by U. S. Army pathologists. 398 Getting Away with Torture Instead, the interroga tors were sent to Abu Ghraib, where some were allegedly involved in more abuse. †¢ The approval by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld of some interrogation methods for Guantanamo that violated, at the very least, the prohibition of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and possibly the ban on torture.These techniques included placing detainees in painful stress positions, hooding them, stripping them of their clothes, and scaring them with guard dogs. That approval was later rescinded, but it contributed to the environment in which the legal obligations of the United States were seen as dispensable. †¢ The reported approval by an unidentified senior Bush administration official, and use, of â€Å"water boarding†Ã¢â‚¬â€known as the â€Å"submarine† in Latin America—a torture technique in which the victim is made to believe he will drown, and in practice sometimes does.Remarkably, Porter Goss, the CIA director, defended water boarding in March 2005 testimon y before the Senate as a â€Å"professional interrogation technique. †17 †¢ The sending of suspects to governments such as Syria, Uzbekistan, and Egypt that practice systematic torture. Sometimes diplomatic assurances have been sought that the suspects would not be mistreated, but if, as in these cases, the government receiving the suspect routinely flouts its legal obligation under the CAT, it is wrong to expect better compliance with the nonbinding word of a diplomat.The administration claimed that it monitored prisoners’ treatment, but a single prisoner, lacking the anonymity afforded by a larger group, would often be unable to report abuse for fear of reprisal. One U. S. official who visited foreign detention sites disparaged this charade: â€Å"They say they are not abusing them, and that satisfies the legal requirement, but we all know they do. †18 †¢ The decision (adopted by the Bush administration from its earliest days) to oppose and undermine the International Criminal Court (ICC), in part out of fear that it might compel the United States to prosecute U.S. personnel implicated in war crimes or other comparable offenses that the administration would prefer to ignore. The administration spoke in terms of the ICC infringing U. S. sovereignty, but since the ICC could not have jurisdiction over offenses committed by Americans in the United States without Washington’s consent, the sovereignty argument actually cuts the other way: it is a violation of the sovereignty of other governments on whose territory an atrocity might be committed not to be free to determine whether to prosecute the crime themselves or to send the matter to the ICC.The administration’s position on the ICC was thus reduced to an assertion of exceptionalism—a claim that no international enforcement regime should regulate U. S. criminality overseas. Kenneth Roth 399 That signaled the administration’s determination to protect U. S. personnel from external accountability for any serious human rights offense that it might authorize. Since, in the absence of a special prosecutor, the administration itself controlled the prospects for domestic criminal accountability, its position offered an effective promise of impunity. The decision by the Justice Department, the Defense Department, and the White House counsel to concoct dubious legal theories to justify torture, despite objections from the State Department and professional military attorneys. Under the direction of politically appointed lawyers, the administration offered such absurd interpretations of the law as the claim that coercion is not torture unless the pain caused is â€Å"equivalent to the pain that would be associated with serious physical injury so severe that death, organ failure, or permanent damage resulting in a loss of significant body function will likely result. Similarly, the administration claimed that President Bush has â€Å"command er-in-chief authority† to order torture—a theory under which Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein may as well be given the keys to their jail cells, since they too presumably would have had â€Å"commander-in-chief authority† to authorize the atrocities that they directed. The Justice Department, in a December 2004 memorandum modifying the definition of torture, chose not to repudiate the claim about commander-in-chief authority to order torture but instead stated that repudiation was unnecessary because, it said, the president opposes torture as a matter of policy.These policy decisions, taken not by low-level soldiers but by senior officials of the Bush administration, created an â€Å"anything goes† atmosphere, an environment in which the ends were assumed to justify the means. Sometimes the mistreatment of detainees was merely tolerated, but at other times it was actively encouraged or even ordered. In that environment, when the demand came from on hi gh for â€Å"actionable intelligence†Ã¢â‚¬â€intelligence that might help stem the steady stream of U. S. asualties at the hands of Iraqi insurgents—it was hardly surprising that interrogators saw no obstacle in the legal prohibition of torture and mistreatment. Nor did these basic human rights rules limit the broader effort to protect Americans from the post-September 11 risks of terrorism. To this day, the Bush administration has failed to repudiate many of these decisions. It continues to refuse to apply the Geneva Conventions to any of the more than 500 detainees held at Guantanamo (despite a U. S. court ruling rejecting its position) and to many others detained in Iraq and Afghanistan.It continues to â€Å"disappear† detainees, despite ample proof that these â€Å"ghost detainees† are extraordinarily vulnerable 400 Getting Away with Torture to torture. It continues to defend the practice of â€Å"rendering† suspects to governments that torture on the basis of unbelievable assurances and meaningless monitoring. It refuses to accept the duty never to use cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment anywhere. It continues its vendetta against the ICC. It has only selectively repudiated the many specious arguments for torture contained in the administration lawyers’ notorious â€Å"torture memos. And long after the abuses of Abu Ghraib became public—at least as late as June 2004—the Bush administration reportedly continued to subject Guantanamo detainees to beatings, prolonged isolation, sexual humiliation, extreme temperatures, and painful stress positioning, all practices that the ICRC reportedly called â€Å"tantamount to torture. †19 In selecting his cabinet for his second presidential term, President Bush seemed to rule out even informal accountability. Secretary of State Colin Powell, the cabinet official who most forcefully opposed the administration’s disavowal of the Geneva Conventions, left his post.Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who ordered abusive interrogation techniques in violation of international law, stayed on. White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, who sought production of the memos justifying torture and who wrote that the fight against terrorism renders â€Å"obsolete† and â€Å"quaint† the Geneva Conventions’ limitations on the interrogation and treatment of prisoners, was rewarded with appointment as attorney general. 20 As for the broader Bush administration, the November 2004 electoral victory seems to have reinforced its traditional disinclination to serious self-examination.It persists in its refusal to admit any policylevel misconduct in the treatment of detainees under interrogation. The Twisted Logic of Torture The Bush administration’s policy of abusive interrogation has received important support in the United States from three Harvard professors: Alan Dershowitz and Phil Heymann of Harvard Law School and Juliette Kayy em of Harvard’s Kennedy School. Rather than reinforce the absolute prohibitions of international law, each would seek to regulate exceptions to the prohibitions on mistreating detainees.Ostensibly their aim is to curtail that mistreatment but, by legitimizing it through regulation, they would have the opposite effect. Dershowitz, in his book Why Terrorism Works and in his chapter in the Levinson compilation, typifies this regulatory approach. In his view, torture is inevitable, so prohibiting it will only drive it underground, where low-level officials use it in their discretion. Instead, he would subject torture to judicial oversight by requiring investigators who want Kenneth Roth 401 to use it to seek the approval of a judge—to procure a torture warrant, much like they would seek a search warrant or an arrest warrant.This independent scrutiny, he posits, would reduce the incidence of torture. Dershowitz’s argument is built largely on faith that forcing tortur e into the open would reduce its use. But he simply assumes that judges would have a less permissive attitude toward torture than do the senior members of the Bush administration. The available evidence is not encouraging. Since torture would presumably be sought in connection with investigations into serious criminal or national security matters, the information behind the request for a torture warrant would presumably be secret.As in the case of a search warrant or a wiretap, that would mean an ex parte application to a judge, with no notice to the would-be victim of torture and no independent counsel opposing the request. How rigorous would judicial oversight be in such cases? We can derive some sense from the record of the courts used to approve foreign intelligence wiretaps, and the picture is not impressive. According to the Center for Democracy and Technology, between 1993 and 2003, courts operating under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) were asked to approve nearly 10,000 wiretaps of foreign sovereign agents.Of those, all but four were approved. When an intelligence agent claims that life-and-death matters of national security are at stake, there is no reason to believe that the scrutiny by Dershowitz’s torture courts would be any more rigorous. In the meantime, by signaling that torture is at least sometimes acceptable, Deshowitz would reduce the stigma associated with its use. Torture would no longer be a despicable practice never to be used, but merely one more tool in the law enforcement arsenal.Torture specialists eager to practice their trade would appear, international prohibitions of torture would be undermined, and America’s credibility as an opponent of torture would be deeply tarnished. Dershowitz points out that accepting clandestine torture also legitimizes it, but he seems never seriously to consider the alternative: vigorously trying to stop, and prosecute, anyone who breaches the absolute ban on torture. He ymann and Kayyem take a slightly different approach in their monograph, Preserving Security and Democratic Freedoms in the War on Terrorism. They foreswear torture but would allow a U. S. resident to order cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment so long as he or she certified to Congress that American lives were at stake. Again, the theory is that such treatment would be rare because the president would be reluctant to invoke that power. But since the president has already claimed â€Å"commander-in-chief authority† to order even torture, and since his attorney general claimed the power as recently as January 2005 to 402 Getting Away with Torture order cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment so long as it is used against non-Americans overseas,21 Heymann and Kayyem are probably overestimating presidential inhibitions.Making the defense against cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment depend on the man who has made such treatment a central part of U. S. counterterrorism strategy i s truly asking the fox to guard the chicken coop. Heymann and Kayyem take a similar regulatory approach to coercive interrogation short of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The U. S. Army’s field manual on intelligence interrogation makes clear that coercive interrogation is unnecessary, unreliable, and wrong.That’s because, as most professional interrogators explain, coercive interrogation is far less likely to produce reliable information than the time-tested methods of careful questioning, probing, cross-checking, and gaining the confidence of the detainee. A person facing severe pain is likely to say whatever he thinks will stop the torture. But a skilled interrogator can often extract accurate information from the toughest suspect without resorting to coercion. Yet Heymann and Kayyem would abandon that bright-line rule and permit coercive interrogation so long as the president notifies Congress of the techniques to be used.However, setting American interroga tors free from the firm mooring of the U. S. Army field manual can be dangerous, as we have seen so painfully in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. If mere coercion (itself a violation of the Geneva Conventions in wartime) does not work—and, given that the suspect is supposedly a hardened terrorist, often it will not—interrogators will be all too tempted to ratchet up the pain, suffering, and humiliation until the suspect cracks, regardless of the dubious reliability of information provided in such circumstances.In this way, coercion predictably gives way to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, which in turn gives rise to torture. The proposals from Dershowitz and Heymann and Kayyem suffer from the same fundamental defect: they seek to regulate the mistreatment of detainees rather than reinforce the prohibition against such abuse. In the end, any effort to regulate mistreatment ends up legitimizing it and inviting repetition. â€Å"Never† can not be redeemed if allowed to be read as â€Å"sometimes. † Regulation too easily becomes license.Behind the Dershowitz and Heymann and Kayyem proposals is some variation of the â€Å"ticking bomb† scenario, a situation in which interrogators are said to believe that a terrorist suspect in custody knows where a ticking bomb has been planted and must urgently force that information from him to save lives. Torture and inhumane treatment Kenneth Roth 403 may be wrong, those who talk of ticking bombs would concede, but the mass murder of a terrorist attack is worse, so in these supposedly rare situations, the lesser evil must be tolerated to prevent the greater one.The ticking bomb scenario makes for great philosophical discussion, but it rarely arises in real life, at least not in a way that avoids opening the door to pervasive torture. In fact, interrogators hardly ever learn that a suspect in custody knows of a particular, imminent terrorist bombing. Intelligence is rar ely if ever good enough to demonstrate a particular suspect’s knowledge of an imminent attack. Instead, interrogators tend to use circumstantial evidence to show such â€Å"knowledge,† such as someone’s association with or presumed membership in a terrorist group.Moreover, the ticking bomb scenario is a dangerously expansive metaphor capable of embracing anyone who might have knowledge not just of immediate attacks but also of attacks at unspecified future times. After all, why are the victims of only an imminent terrorist attack deserving of protection by torture and mistreatment? Why not also use such coercion to prevent a terrorist attack tomorrow or next week or next year? And once the taboo against torture and mistreatment is broken, why stop with the alleged terrorists themselves?Why not also torture and abuse their families or associates—or anyone who might provide lifesaving information? The slope is very slippery. Israel’s experience is in structive in showing how dangerously elastic the ticking bomb rationale can become, as described by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem in its report on interrogations by Israel’s intelligence agency, the General Security Services (GSS). In 1987, an official government commission, headed by former Israeli Supreme Court president Moshe Landau, recommended authorizing the use of â€Å"moderate physical pressure† in ticking bomb situations.As B’Tselem describes, a practice initially justified as rare and exceptional, taken only when necessary to save lives, gradually became standard GSS procedure. Soon, some 80 to 90 percent of Palestinian security detainees were being tortured until 1999 when the Israeli Supreme Court curtailed the practice. Dershowitz cites the court’s belated intervention as validation of his theory that regulating torture is the best way to defeat it, but he never asks whether the severe victimization of so many Palestinians c ould have been avoided with a prohibitory approach from the start.Notably, Israel’s escalation in the use of torture took place even though a ministerial committee chaired by the prime minister was supervising interrogation practices—a regulatory procedure similar to the one proposed by Heymann and Kayyem. Indeed, in September 1994, following several suicide bombings, the ministerial committee 404 Getting Away with Torture even loosened the restrictions on interrogators by permitting â€Å"increased physical pressure. † Heymann and Kayyem never explain why, especially in light of the abysmal record of the Bush administration, we should expect any better from high-level U. S. officials.The Way Forward Faced with substantial evidence showing that the abuses at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere were caused in large part by official government policies, the Bush administration must reaffirm the importance of making human rights a guiding force for U. S. conduct, even in figh ting terrorism. That requires acknowledging and reversing the policy decisions behind the administration’s torture and mistreatment of detainees, holding accountable those responsible at all levels of government for this abuse (not just a bunch of privates and sergeants), and publicly committing to ending all forms of coercive interrogation.These steps are necessary to reaffirm the prohibition of torture and ill treatment, to redeem Washington’s voice as a credible proponent of human rights, and to restore the effectiveness of a U. S. -led campaign against terrorism. Yet all that is easier said than done. How can President Bush and the Republican-controlled U. S. Congress be convinced to establish a fully independent investigative commission—similar to the one created to examine the attacks of September 11, 2001—to determine what went wrong in the administration’s interrogation practices and to prescribe remedial steps?How can Attorney-General Gonz ales, who as White House counsel played a central role in formulating the administration’s interrogation policy, be persuaded to recognize his obvious conflict of interest and appoint a special prosecutor charged with investigating criminal misconduct independently of the Justice Department’s direction? These are not steps that the administration or its congressional allies will take willingly. Pressure will be needed. And that pressure cannot and should not come from only the usual suspects.The torture and abuse of prisoners is an affront to the most basic American values. It is antithetical to the core beliefs in the integrity of the individual on which the United States was founded. And it violates one of the most basic prohibitions of international law. This is not a partisan concern, not an issue limited to one part of the political spectrum. It is a matter that all Americans—and their friends around the world—should insist be meaningfully addressed and changed.It is an issue that should preoccupy governments, whether friend or foe, as well as such international organizations and actors as Kenneth Roth 405 the UN Commission on Human Rights, Human Rights Committee, High Commissioner on Human Rights, and Special Rapporteur on Torture. Taking on the world’s superpower is never easy, but it is essential if the basic architecture of international human rights law and institutions is not to be deeply compromised.As Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the March 2005 International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security: â€Å"Upholding human rights is not merely compatible with successful counter-terrorism strategy. It is an essential element. †22 There is no room for torture, even in fighting terrorism; it risks undermining the foundation on which all of our rights rest. Notes Kenneth Roth is executive director of Human Rights Watch. 1. See Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Art. 1. . Ibid. , Art. 16. 3. See â€Å"Malaysia: P. M’s Visit Puts Spotlight on Detainee Abuse,† Human Rights Watch News, 19 July 2004, available online at http://hrw. org/english/ docs/2004/07/19/malays9097. htm. 4. Fifty-fifth Inaugural Ceremony, 20 January 2005; see www. whitehouse. gov/inaugural. 5. Headquarters, Department of the Army, Field Manual 34-52 Intelligence Interrogation, Washington, D. C. , 28 September 1992, available online at http://atiam. train. army. mil/portal/atia/adlsc/view/public/302562-1/FM/3452/FM34_52. PDF. 6. ‘Torture Intelligence’ Criticized,† BBC News, 11 October 2004, available online at http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/uk/3732488. stm. 7. Douglas Jehl, â€Å"C. I. A. Is Seen as Seeking New Role on Detainees,† New York Times, 16 February 2005. 8. â€Å"Red Double-Crossed Again,† Wall Street Journal, 2 December 2004. 9. Remarks by President Bush and His Majesty King Abdullah II of the Hashemite K ingdom of Jordan in a Press Availability, 6 May 2004, available online at www. whitehouse. gov/news/releases/2004/05/20040506-9. html. 10. Available online at http://www. rw. org/reports/2004/usa0604/. 11. Josh White and Bradley Graham, â€Å"Senators Question Absence of Blame in Abuse Report,† Washington Post, 11 March 2005. 12. The 9/11 Commission Report, see http://a257. g. akamaitech. net/7/257/ 2422/05aug20041050/www. gpoaccess. gov/911/pdf/fullreport. pdf. 13. Testimony of Cofer Black, former director of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, before a joint session of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, 26 September 2002, available online at www. fas. org/irp/congress/ 2002_hr/092602black. tml. (â€Å"All I want to say is that there was ‘before’ 9/11 and ‘after’ 9/11. After 9/11 the gloves come off. †) 14. â€Å"A Degrading Policy,† Washington Post, 26 January 2005; â€Å"U. S. Justifying Abuse of Detainees,† H uman Rights Watch News, 25 January 2005. 406 Getting Away with Torture 15. Human Rights Watch, The United States’ â€Å"Disappeared†: The CIA’s Long-Term â€Å"Ghost Detainees† (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2004), available online at www. hrw. org/backgrounder/usa/us1004/index. htm. 16. Douglas Jehl and Eric Schmitt, â€Å"U. S.Military Says 26 Inmate Deaths May Be Homicide,† New York Times, 16 March 2005. 17. Douglas Jehl, â€Å"Questions Are Left by C. I. A. Chief on the Use of Torture,† New York Times, 18 March 2005. 18. Dana Priest, â€Å"CIA’s Assurances on Transferred Suspects Doubted,† Washington Post, 17 March 2005. 19. Neil A. Lewis, â€Å"Red Cross Finds Detainee Abuse in Guantanamo,† New York Times, 30 November 2004. 20. Memorandum to the President from Alberto R. Gonzales, 25 January 2002, available online at www. msnbc. msn. com/id/4999148/site/newsweek. â€Å"In my judgment, this new paradigm [the war aga inst terrorism] renders obsolete Geneva’s strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions requiring that captured enemy be afforded . . . [listed] privileges. †) 21. â€Å"A Degrading Policy† and â€Å"U. S. Justifying Abuse of Detainees. † 22. Keynote address to the Closing Plenary of the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security, â€Å"A Global Strategy for Fighting Terrorism,† Madrid, Spain, 10 March 2005, available online at www. un. org/apps/sg/ sgstats. asp? nid=1345.