A panel including Ron Suskind, Vince Warren and Fisher Stevens explore the dark corners of illegal kidnapping, confinement, secret prisons and torture.
Harold Pinter said "I believe that, despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies, is a crucial obligation. It is, in fact, mandatory."
Accountability is critical to democracy. At a time when grave challenges threaten American democracy, only a groundswell of public engagement can restore American values and moral standing in the world. At this crucial moment, Culture Project presents Blueprint for Accountability, a monthly series that asks "How can we empower ourselves to hold our leaders - in government, education and corporate institutions - accountable for the events of the past and the conditions of the future?"
In a bold new hybrid of investigative journalism and theater, Blueprint for Accountability brings together the world's leading experts in politics and journalism with the most visionary artists of our time to create an architectural plan for restoring accountability into our culture.
Stay tuned for events - on economic injustice, the criminal justice system, immigration, human trafficking, Hurricane Katrina, healthcare, education and corporate media.
Bio
Matt Dillon
Oscar Nominee, Crash
Mariska Hargitay
Golden Globe Winner, Law & Order: SVU
Allen Keller
Director, Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. is an attorney specializing in environmental law and was co-host of Ring of Fire on the Air America Radio network.
Julianna Margulies
Julianna Luisa Margulies is an American actress and producer.
After several small television roles, Margulies achieved success in her regular role as Nurse Carol Hathaway onNBC's long-running medical drama ER, for which she won an Emmy Award. After her departure from ER in 2000, Margulies appeared in the 2001 miniseries The Mists of Avalon and voiced the female Iguanodon, Neera, in Disney's CGI film Dinosaur (2000). In 2009, she took the lead role of Alicia Florrick in the American legal dramaThe Good Wife on CBS, for which she has won a Golden Globe, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the 2011 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
She holds the record for winning more Screen Actors Guild Awards than any other individual. She won six times for her work on ER, and twice for her performance on The Good Wife.
Valerie Plame Wilson
Former CIA Agent
Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez
Former Iraq Commander
Jeremy Scahill
Best-selling Author and Investigative Journalist
Liev Schreiber
Tony Award Winner, Glengarry Glen Ross
James Spader
Emmy Award Winner, Boston Legal
Rose Styron
Poet and Human Rights Activist
Ron Suskind
Ron Suskind, former national affairs writer for the Wall Street Journal, is the author of A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League and The Price of Loyalty, George W. Bush, the White House and the Education of Paul O'Neill. Mr. Suskind was awarded the Pulitzer Prize (Feature Writing) in 1995.
Vince Warren
Executive Director, Center for Constitutional Rights
Infliction of intolerable physical or psychological pain. Torture has been used by governments throughout history for punishment, coercion, and intimidation and for extracting confessions and information. A common practice in ancient times, it was defended by Aristotle but eloquently opposed by Cicero, Seneca, and St. Augustine. Beginning in the 12th century, torture was increasingly used in Europe; from the mid-14th through the 18th century it was a common part of the legal proceedings of most European countries. The Roman Catholic church supported its use by the Inquisition in cases of heresy. Common instruments of torture were the strappado (for repeatedly hoisting the body by the wrists behind the back and dropping it), the rack (for stretching the limbs and body), and the thumbscrew (for crushing the thumbs). By 1800 torture was illegal in many European countries, but it became common again in the 20th century, notably in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and it is still widely practiced in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. In 1984 the United Nations adopted an international convention against torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. By the early 21st century some 130 countries were party to the convention. The belief that only sadists are capable of committing torture was challenged by a study in the 1960s that found that ordinary people could be easily persuaded to inflict pain on others.
thankyou foratv., great disscussion, good people.
Torture by the State was a gift from the Vatican, tortured forever, Catholics 400 year Inquisition, killing was too easy torture was the proper protocal. Martin Luther was not against torture, all Monarchy tortured always, Nazi, Stalin, Mao, Americans, all torture, Hiroshima was a form of Torture, especially Nagasaki was totally unnecessary, TORTURE was inherited through Religion, Nothing New Here, it`s a bloody history, Industrialized Killing of Alfred Nobel, therefore Peace prize to General OBAMA! Tradition of WARS which always includes torture. Torture in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Newyork-USA, torture is everywhere, always has been!
I am 67,I will admit I have not been a responsible citizen never voting
never wanting to get involved. But I'm starting to find out that because
I never wanted to get involved, it has come back to haunt me. (me and several
other citizens) Our leaders are the one's that got us into this continuing
turmoil. Our leaders are not doing the will of the people in my opinion.
Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state.
Thomas Jefferson
Torture is said to be wrong and ineffective. Why would our military use it? Do they know something we dont or is our military leadership making egregious errors. That said, the media discussions about our specific behaviors during a time of war is treason. The prison pictures should not have been distributed and all contributing parties to the disclosure and dissemination of them should be held accountable. They must be tried and convicted and jailed as appropriate. Vince Warren, Ron Susskind, and Jeremy Scahill, are each polarizing parasites during a time of armed conflict. Their pompous five minutes of fame is at to great a price to soldiers and civilians in harms way. Their book educated but simple naive minds can not think of real on-the-ground consequences of data and specific support being provided to enemies. It just goes on and on in true parasite fashion while our boys and girls die more frequently and conflicts continue inpart because of theirs and others foul flatulent mouths and egos. They are part of an "I am the judge answer to me crowd" with no answers just more pain for everyone but themselves. They thrive in the continued turmoil.
Good luck dear Americans, it's hard to find shelter when the cold raw wind blows from inside and the men of power close all the windows for protection.
Mercernary heartless shit bags working for sociopathic ,corrupt political shitbags;And so the dying empire staggers on towards its long awaited destruction.....
member. 
