Who was being
tortured?
The torture
warrants
debate leaves
out the
details about
the people
actually
detained
after 9/11
KHALID EL-MASRI
KHALID AL-MASRI
German Citizen
Born in Kuwait but
married a German
woman
 Handed over to the CIA
and, according to a
lawsuit, tortured in
Afghanistan.



The name of a person
alleged to have made
contact in Germany
with the 9/11 hijackers
 No relation to El-Masri
The years after 9/11
Enemy Combatants (not prisoners of war,
do not have legal protections)
Operatives working for Al Qaeda, Taliban
Islamic (and more generally Middle Eastern)
Names someone or something (a force) against
the United States
Figure of evil
Fighter with access to arms, including nuclear,
and “weapons of mass destruction”
Anti-democratic
Isolates actions from other acts of violence
(e.g. mass murderers)
Relies on various oppositions:
West vs. East
Christian vs. Islam
US vs. terrorists (enemies)
"Either you are with us, or you are with
the terrorists.” George W. Bush, 9/20/01
George W.
Bush
State of the
Union Speech
January 28,
2003
TRANSCRIPT

http://georgewbushwhitehouse.archives.gov/n
ews/releases/2003/01/2003
0128-19.html
YOUTUBE VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=rgwqCdv3YQo

(Part 6, :30 – 2:40)
Evidence from intelligence sources, secret
communications, and statements by people
now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein
aids and protects terrorists, including members
of al Qaeda. Secretly, and without fingerprints,
he could provide one of his hidden weapons
to terrorists, or help them develop their own.
----------------------------------------------------------But chemical agents, lethal viruses and
shadowy terrorist networks are not easily
contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with
other weapons and other plans -- this time
armed by Saddam Hussein.
Professor of literature
at Columbia University
 Major influence in
literary studies and
postcolonialism
 Culture and Imperialism
(1993)
 Reflections on Exile and
Other Essays (2000)

Public intellectual and
supporter of
Palestinian statehood
 The Question of
Palestine (1979)
 Covering Islam (1981)

“Islam’s role in hijackings and terrorism,
descriptions of the way in which overtly
Muslim countries like Iran threaten ‘us’ and
our way of life, and speculations about the
latest conspiracy to blow up buildings,
sabotage commercial airliners, and poison
water supplies seem to play increasingly
on Western consciousness.” Said, 1993
Said’s work crossed various disciplines and fields
Women’s Studies
Ecology (biology, earth science, society)
Area Studies (Latin American, “Orient”)
Ethnic Studies (African American, etc.)
National Studies (American Studies - US)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Academic and general
Opposition between Orient and Occident
Opposition is “man-made”
Not a set of “lies” but a way of thinking
A cultural and political fact
Creates a relationship of power
Situates the Occident as superior
“Orientalism can be discussed and analyzed
as the corporate institution for dealing with the
Orient – dealing with it by making statements
about it, authorizing views of it, describing it,
by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short,
Orientalism as a Western style for dominating,
restructuring, and having authority over the
Orient.” (3)
West as modern, rational, democratic,
and ultimately superior
Orient as exotic and exaggerated
(camels, belly dancers, sheiks, desert)
Assumes an essential difference
• “Strategic Location” – author’s position or
starting point (20)
• “Orientalism is premised on exteriority” to
what is described
• Not a question of accuracy but rather an
emphasis on representation (style, figures
of speech, setting, narrative devices, etc)
(21)
• Does not address what is actually there.
The people? What do they say?
• Presents information as monolithic. What
about specifics/breaks?
• The field of Orientalist studies was more
varied than Said’s argument.
• Does not distinguish between academic
work and popular culture.
How do the types of perspectives that
Said associates with Orientalism become
intertwined with US racial visions and
racism, particularly in the wake of 9/11
and the Bush Administration’s arguments
about terrorism?
How does terrorism fit into US racial thinking?
Historical opposition between white/black
Historical opposition between white/other
(including Asian, Mexican Am, etc.)
21st Century growing acceptance of a
national multi-racial society.
Where does the terrorist figure fit in?
Race not biological, not essential
Racial constructions as appearing in history
(historically contingent)
Shifting meaning and codes (race changes)
Role of the contemporary global context?
The Case of Jose Padilla
US citizen born in
Brooklyn
Abdullah al-Muhajir
Arrested in 2002
Held for 3+ years without
charges
Enemy combatant
Was tortured
Guantánamo
Where does
the United
States hold
terrorists?