The National Catholic Weekly June 21-28, 2010 $3.50 of Many Things
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THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY JUNE 21-28, 2010 $3.50 OF MANY THINGS PUBLISHED BY JESUITS OF THE UNITED STATES basic requirement for any they were applied singly provided justi- endeavor to be counted as a fication for combined use of torture EDITOR IN CHIEF Drew Christiansen, S.J. Aprofession is a set of ethical methods—e.g., waterboarding a suspect standards. They guarantee the integrity in a protracted kneeling position. EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT of practice, bind the members of the The C.I.A. has denied that the MANAGING EDITOR profession to one another and build health personnel in its employ were Robert C. Collins, S.J. trust on the part of the public in the engaged in unlawful “human experi- EDITORIAL DIRECTOR services rendered by the profession. mentation” and asserts their activities Karen Sue Smith Medicine is one of the oldest profes- were under government supervision, ONLINE EDITOR sions in the West; its ethical standards including that of the Justice Maurice Timothy Reidy reach back to the Greek physician Department. The problem is, however, CULTURE EDITOR Hippocrates (fifth century B.C.). that this is the same Justice James Martin, S.J. Medical students who still swear the Department that under George W. LITERARY EDITOR Hippocratic Oath pledge that “in every Bush rewrote the rules on torture. Patricia A. Kossmann house where I come I will enter only for Unfortunately, the Obama administra- POETRY EDITOR the good of my patients, keeping myself tion has backed off from prosecuting James S. Torrens, S.J. from all intentional ill-doing.” Medical Bush-era employees and is ambiguous ASSOCIATE EDITORS professionalism rises and falls on that about its own detainee policies. George M. Anderson, S.J. double commitment: the good of the While the P.H.R. report is not con- Peter Schineller, S.J. patient and the avoidance of harm. clusive, it has assembled enough infor- Kevin Clarke For that reason, a new report from mation to merit further investigation. ART DIRECTOR Physicians for Human Rights, which Though the administration may not Stephanie Ratcliffe provides evidence of the participation pursue this question, Congress and ASSISTANT EDITORS of medical professionals (physicians, associations of health professionals Francis W. Turnbull, S.J. psychiatrists and others) in the torture should do so. Congress possesses the Kerry Weber of “high-value” detainees held by the subpoena power to bring to light the ASSISTANT LITERARY EDITOR Central Intelligence Agency after data still held from public view, and Regina Nigro September 2001, is distressing. There is professional associations have the no smoking gun in the report, only responsibility to investigate violations BUSINESS DEPARTMENT careful re-examination of the declassi- of professional integrity. PUBLISHER fied public record. There is sufficient In recent decades, professional Jan Attridge data, however, to suggest high-level associations have too often deteriorat- CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER inquiries are in order, as the physicians’ ed into little more than trade groups Lisa Pope group and the National Religious and have been reluctant to police their ADVERTISING Campaign Against Torture have urged. members. I hope Physicians for Julia Sosa Among the practices in which doc- Human Rights will succeed in per- tors and others are said to have engaged suading the American Medical 106 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019-3803 are these: determining how far harsh Association and other organizations interrogation could go before suspects of health professionals to investigate Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 would suffer irreparable harm, provid- the suspicions of participation by E-mail: [email protected]; ing a defense against potential prosecu- some of their colleagues in torture. [email protected] Web site: www.americamagazine.org. tion and designing procedures for The trust of the public that physicians Customer Service: 1-800-627-9533 future interrogations. and other health care providers will © 2010 America Press, Inc. According to the report, one techni- work only in their patients’ interest cal adjustment introduced by medical and never intentionally consent to personnel was the use of saline solution harm them is essential to their social instead of plain water during water- contract as well as to their profession- boarding to prevent pneumonia and a al integrity. It is also necessary to drop in blood pressure. A finding that resist the erosion of ethical standards multiple techniques used in combina- by the national security state. Cover: Composite images. tion produced no more pain than when DREW CHRISTIANSEN, S.J. Shutterstock/America. CONTENTS www.americamagazine.org VOL. 202 NO. 20, WHOLE NO. 4898 JUNE 21–28, 2010 ARTICLES 11 THE GREENING OF DETROIT Urban farmers reimagine a city’s landscape. David Alire Garcia COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS 4 Current Comment 5 Editorial Adrift in the Gulf 11 6 Signs of the Times 9 Column Uninformed Conscience John F. Kavanaugh 16 Faith in Focus My Father’s Dreams Douglas W. Kmiec 28 Letters 30 The Word The Path to Life; Laborers for the Harvest Barbara E. Reid 16 BOOKS & CULTURE 21 THEATER August Wilson’s “Fences” and race on Broadway BOOKS Bonhoeffer; The Dead Republic ON THE WEB ON THE WEB A video report from the Gulf Coast oil cleanup, and an interview with Douglas W. Kmiec, ambassador to Malta. Plus, Jim McDermott, S.J., asks why film sequels so often disappoint. All at americamagazine.org. 2135 CURRENT COMMENT course of forming a new nation. Two decades later Defining Aggression President John Adams set May 9 as a day not only of Following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the numerous prayer but also of fasting at a time when the United States wars among the onetime member states of the former was at odds with France. In his proclamation in 1863, Yugoslavia, the 1999 Treaty of Rome established the Abraham Lincoln also called for a national day of prayer International Criminal Court to end impunity for crimes and fasting as the Civil War ground on, in the hope that of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. “genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon” for While the court’s mandate also included the crime of “our presumptuous sins.” aggression, a review meeting the last two weeks in Congress finally established a national day of prayer in Kampala, Uganda, wrestled with defining that crime and 1952, and in 1988 it set the first Thursday in May as the establishing related rules for the court’s jurisdiction. A day for presidents to issue a proclamation asking major issue is whether the court should leave the identifi- Americans to pray. With wars raging in the Middle East cation of the crime of aggression to the United Nations and Central Asia—whatever the outcome of Judge Crabb’s Security Council on the grounds that naming aggression ruling—the proclamation may seem to many not unrea- involves political judgment. Smaller nations, not wanting sonable, especially when we too might accuse ourselves, in to leave the decision to the Big Five on the Security Lincoln’s words, of “presumptuous sins.” Council (Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and the United States) propose instead moving it to the A Win-Win Situation General Assembly—whose actions are even more political. On a playing field in Indianapolis a few weeks ago, Vince In its short history, the court has made serious advances Lombardi’s slogan, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only in extending the rule of law to states, establishing warrants thing,” would have been clearly out of place. The junior for Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir for genocide in varsity girls softball team from Roncalli Catholic High was Darfur and Joseph Kony, the notorious leader of the Lord’s set to play Marshall Community, an inner-city middle Resistance Army in Uganda, for crimes against humanity. school playing its first softball game ever. While some African leaders are among the court’s fore- After nine Roncalli girls were walked by the Marshall most critics, others argue that it has already made a sub- pitcher, the girls realized there is more to sports than stantial contribution to establishing the rule of law across crushing the opponent. They probably could have won 100 that continent. Its record suggests that in the future it may to 0. Roncalli had not lost a game in over two years but even be able to address the question of aggression where decided to offer to forfeit the game rather than humiliate major powers are involved. It is unreasonable to think that the Marshall girls. international law should be applied only to lesser powers What happened next? The Roncalli team spent the next and emerging states and not to major powers. A possible two hours teaching the Marshall girls how to get better compromise lies in allowing the Security Council to retain instead of beaten. Together they practiced batting and jurisdiction for a stated period of time, with jurisdiction fielding, running bases and how to use the equipment the reverting to the court once that time has elapsed. Roncalli girls shared with them. Marshall had come with only two bats, no helmets, no cleats and five balls. National Day of Prayer Even after the game, this spirit continued. Roncalli’s J.V. Is a national day of prayer unconstitutional? Yes, ruled a coach, Jeff Taylor, appealed to the parents of his girls for federal judge in Wisconsin, Barbara Crabb, in mid-April, equipment for Marshall—used bats, gloves, helmets and because such a statute points to “an inherently religious team shirts. Reebok and the Cincinnati Reds also con- exercise that serves no secular function.” Her ruling tributed to assist the Marshall girls. Instead of an embar- stemmed from a lawsuit brought by the Madison-based rassing blowout victory for Roncalli, the loss became a win Freedom From Religion Foundation, which claimed that a for everyone.