September 6, 2002

A Civil Libertarian Wants Professors to Talk About Morality and Tactics

By DAVID GLENN

Terrorists are preparing to detonate a nuclear weapon in downtown Chicago. If FBI agents capture a suspect who they believe knows the weapon's location, should they be allowed to torture him to make him talk? Alan M. Dershowitz, the prolific Harvard Law School professor, believes we need to have public conversations about the moral trade-offs involved in fighting terror. In his just-released, 18th book, Why Terrorism Works: Understanding the Threat, Responding to the Challenge (Yale