Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

2-11-2009

SSRN Discipline

Economics Research Network; Legal Scholarship Network; Public Choice & Political Economy eJournals; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; ERN Subject Matter eJournals; Financial Economics Network; Management Research Network

Abstract

This essay reviews Ward Churchills On the Justice of Roosting Chickens Reflections on the Consequences of US Imperial Arrogance and Criminality 2003 One of the most talked about but least read books of recent years On the Justice of Roosting Chickens documents a long history of US wars invasions and violations of international law on the way to concluding that when the terrible events of 911 took place the US deserved and should have expected retribution In popular language we had it coming As the reader may recall when Hamilton College rescinded Churchills invitation to speak in the winter of 2004 it set in motion a cascade of events including further such cancellations efforts in Colorado to dismiss him from his tenured position and nightly discussion on Fox News The review evaluates Churchills argument that the US is an outlaw nation as well as his little Eichmanns corollary that the investment bankers and stockbrokers who perished in the conflagration were complicit with the US war machine and thus legitimate targets of the Muslim suicide bombers It breaks his argument down into its component parts or premises shows which ones are moral and which ones factual and evaluates each ones plausibility and cogency The review also addresses the authors treatment at the hands of Colorado authorities and the implications of that treatment for academic freedom

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