After Abu Ghraib: Exploring Human Rights in America and the Middle East (Cambridge Studies in Law and Society)

This work traverses three pivotal human rights struggles of the post-September 11th era. It presents snapshots of human rights being appropriated, promoted, claimed, reclaimed, and contested within and between the American and Middle Eastern contexts.;American imaginings of human rights and the Middle East -- The human rights challenge from within -- The Middle Eastern gaze on American human rights commitments -- American imprints and the Middle East's new human rights landscape -- From the ashes of the post-September 11th era : lessons for the human rights project. This book traverses three pivotal human rights struggles of the post-September 11th era: the American human rights campaign to challenge the Bush administration's 'War on Terror' torture and detention policies, Middle Eastern efforts to challenge American human rights practices (reversing the traditional West to East flow of human rights mobilizations and discourses) and Middle Eastern attempts to challenge their own leaders' human rights violations in light of American interventions. This book presents snapshots of human rights being appropriated, promoted, claimed, reclaimed and contested within and between the American and Middle Eastern contexts. The inquiry has three facets: first, it explores intersections between human rights norms and power as they unfold in the era. Second, it lays out the layers of the era's American and Middle Eastern encounter on the human rights plane. Finally, it draws out the era's key lessons for moving the human rights project forward Mokhtaris book examines the changes in the human rights discourse in the United States and the Middle East after the maltreatment and torture of the U.S. captives in the Abu Ghraib and other prisons became public. Through the text analysis of speeches and news reports, as well as in-depth interviews with human rights NGO officials, she makes a thorough assessment that both credits and criticizes the NGOs. Mokhtari shows that human rights advocacy has been successful in pushing the U.S. courts and Congress to recognize the relevance of international human rights law. The book presents human rights struggles within and between the United States and the Middle East in the post-September 11th era. It looks at both the human rights failings and opportunities that emerged after September 11th and particularly after Abu Ghraib.