States of Terror, States of Consent - Philip Bobbitt August 7, 2008

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/04/29/Uncommon_Knowledge_Philip_Bobbitt

Columbia University Law Professor Philip Bobbitt discusses the nature of terrorism, and argues that the widely-rejected phrase "War on Terror" is a more valid description than its critics would suggest.

This program was recorded as a part of the Hoover Institution's interview series, "Uncommon Knowledge."

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Professor Philip Bobbitt describes the "wars for the 21st century" as wars against terror -- against modern market-state terrorism, against the distribution and assimilation of weapons of mass destruction, and against the forces that create human catastrophes, such as genocide and ethnic cleansing.

During the 20th century it was important that the law and the allied war strategy were separate. According to Bobbitt, "We won the war and then the law followed."

In the current century, however, Bobbitt says, our challenge is to unite the two: law and war strategy must meet because we are now fighting to protect what free people have the lawful right to do.

But how do we strengthen the power of government to protect us and at the same time protect civil and human rights? - Hoover Institution

Philip Bobbitt is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also a Fellow of the Club of Madrid. He is a Life Member of the American Law Institute, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy, the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law. He is a member of the Commission on the Continuity of Government. He has served as Law Clerk to the Hon. Henry J. Friendly (2 Cir.), Associate Counsel to the President, the Counselor on International Law at the State Department, Legal Counsel to the Senate Iran-Contra Committee, and Director for Intelligence, Senior Director for Critical Infrastructure and Senior Director for Strategic Planning at the National Security Council.

Formerly the A.W. Walker Centennial Chair at the Law School, Professor Bobbitt now holds a chair at the Columbia Law School, though he remains a Senior Fellow in the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas.

Professor Bobbitt's interests include not only constitutional law but also international security and the history of strategy. He is most recently the author of Terror and Consent: The Wars for the Twenty-First Century (Knopf, 2008).

Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits Hoover's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's television program, Uncommon Knowledge. Robinson is also the author of three books: How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life; It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP; and the best-selling business book Snapshots from Hell: The Making of an MB.