The failure of many in the US antiwar movement to fight anti-Arab/anti-Muslim racism is often rooted in conscious or unconscious acceptance of two interconnected racist ideologies—Islamophobia and Zionism. A good example of this is the anti-war movement’s wary response to Hamas’ overwhelming victory in this year’s Palestinian legislative elections.

American Methods is the latest from the author of Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America. In his latest book, Williams has produced a well-documented and extremely readable, if also extremely disturbing, piece of work that seeks to lay out the idea that torture works. He explains that torture is not something used to get information or punish, but is rather a system designed to control populations and is a base characteristic of state power. He writes, “Torture doesn’t represent a system of failure; it is the system.”

It is hard to make habeas corpus sound sexy. Consequently, it is perhaps the most important legal tool that no one knows about, and the Bush Administration is busy ensuring that fewer and fewer people will be able to use it.

Shorthand for the fancy Latin phrase “habeas corpus ad subjiciendum,” habeas corpus means to “hold the body to be subjected to examination”—or that one has the right to contest their detention if held by authorities. It has been around since the Magna Carta and has been used to challenge detention by everyone from public defenders to lawyers representing protestors at the 2004 Republication National Convention.