Philippe Sands, professor of law at University College London and author of Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values, discusses Douglas J. Feith’s role in coming up with the twisted excuse for abandoning the Geneva Conventions in the name of saving them, the “necessity” excuse invoked by participants in the decision making process, the dismissal, last week, of the charges against the tortured “20th hijacker” al Quatani, the complete lack of evidence against him, his understanding that the torture at Guantanamo was limited to a few cases, the migration and escalation of “aggressive” interrogation tactics and the threat to the bad apples at the top of America’s torture policy due to the immunity clause of the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

MP3 here. (23:04)

Philippe Sands is Professor of Law and Director of the Center on International Courts and Tribunals in the Faculty, and a key member of staff in the Center for Law and the Environment at University College London. His teaching areas include public international law, the settlement of international disputes (including arbitration), and environmental and natural resources law.

Philippe is a regular commentator on the BBC and CNN and writes frequently for leading newspapers. He is frequently invited to lecture around the world, and in recent years has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto (2005), the University of Melbourne (2005) and the Universite de Paris I (Sorbonne) (2006, 2007). He has previously held academic positions at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, Kings College London and , University of Cambridge and was a Global Professor of Law at New York University from 1995-2003. He was co-founder of FIELD (Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development), and established the programmes on Climate Change and Sustainable Development. He is a member of the Advisory Boards of the European Journal of International Law and Review of European Community and International Environmental Law (Blackwell Press). In 2007 he served as a judge for the Guardian First Book Prize award.

As a practicing barrister he has extensive experience litigating cases before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, and the European Court of Justice. He frequently advises governments, international organisations, NGOs and the private sector on aspects of international law. In 2003 he was appointed a Queen’s Counsel. He has been appointed to lists of arbitrators maintained by ICSID and the PCA.

Michael Scheuer, former chief of the CIA’s bin Laden unit and author of Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq, discusses his view that the U.S. betrayal of loyal dictator Musharraf is terrible for Pakistan and U.S. interests in the region, the rising hatred of U.S. foreign policy in the Muslim World, the detrimental effect of the U.S. government’s Israel-centric foreign policy, Ron Paul’s effort to explain to the American people why al Qaeda attacked us on 9/11, why a Ron Paul-style foreign policy would be the worst thing for them, energy independence, future war for oil in Nigeria, Cheney’s argument that al Qaeda in Iraq could ever take over that land, the failure of the media to challenge politicians on this point, his view that Obama, McCain and Clinton – due to their Israel-first stances – will stay in Iraq for at least the next four years, the danger to Israel posed by the neocons’ stupid policies, the extraordinary rendition program and his role in creating it, the necessity of figuring out a way to apply the rule of law to those detained in the terror war, torture, al Libbi’s tortured accusations of ties between Saddam and Osama, his CIA team’s proving that there were no such ties before the war, the strategy behind the September 11th attacks, the fact that Osama has explained exactly what that strategy is for 10 years, and a brief sketch of his new book.

MP3 here. (40:42)

Michael Scheuer is a 22-year veteran of the CIA and the author of Through Our Enemies Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America, Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraqand Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror.