For Immediate Release
September 4, 2007

Contact:

Kara Tershel, (202) 662-9500

Professor David Cole

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Is America losing the war on terror?  Has the administration’s handling of this war made us more vulnerable to future terrorist attacks?  And how can the rule of law be used to keep us safe and free?

Georgetown University Law Center Professor David Cole and University of Pittsburgh School of Law Professor Jules Lobel tackle these questions and others in their new book, "Less Safe, Less Free: Why America Is Losing the War on Terror" (New Press, 2007).

In the first comprehensive examination of the administration’s record in the war on terror at home and abroad, Cole and Lobel contend that the "prevention paradigm" adopted by the administration in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks – from secret detention to torture to the war in Iraq – has actually made us more susceptible to the threat of terrorist attacks while sacrificing fundamental commitments to the rule of law.    

The authors offer an alternative vision that treats the rule of law as an asset, not an obstacle, in the struggle for security.  Their approach favors noncoercive measures, multilateral cooperation, safeguards that reduce the likelihood of future harm and a reshaping of our foreign policy to address the root causes of terrorism. 

"This compelling, necessary volume demolishes the doctrine of preemptive self-defense as an oxymoron, whose acceptance will surely render us less safe, less free, less American, and less able to lead globally through the rule of law," notes Harold Hongju Koh, Dean of Yale Law School.

Cole, whom New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis has called "one of the country's great legal voices for civil liberties today," received awards for two of his previous books.  "Enemy Aliens" won the American Book Award in 2003, and "No Equal Justice" was named best nonfiction book of 1999 by the Boston Book Review and best book on a subject of national policy by the American Political Science Association.  Cole has also received numerous honors for his civil rights and civil liberties work, including from the ACLU of Southern California, the Society of American Law Teachers and the American Bar Association’s Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section.  

In addition to teaching at Georgetown Law, Cole is a volunteer attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights.  He is also the legal affairs correspondent for The Nation, a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and a commentator on National Public Radio’s "All Things Considered."

About Georgetown University Law Center 

Georgetown University Law Center is one of the world's premier law schools. It has the largest full-time faculty in the nation and is pre-eminent in several areas, including constitutional, international, tax and clinical law. Drawing on its Jesuit heritage, it has a strong tradition of public service and is dedicated to the principle that law is but a means, justice is the end. With this principle in mind, Georgetown Law has built an environment that cultivates an exchange of ideas and the pursuit of academic excellence. It brings together an extraordinarily varied group of teachers, scholars and practitioners, as well as an outstanding student body representing more than 60 countries.

                                                                                 ##