Resolution on United States Government Practices Inimical to the Values of the Historical Profession

HISTORIANS TAKE A STAND

[excerpt below, full text via link above]

Whereas during the war in Iraq and the so-called war on terror, the current Administration

has violated the above-mentioned standards and principles through the following practices:
- excluding well-recognized foreign scholars;
- condemning as "revisionism" the search for truth about pre-war intelligence;
- reclassifying previously unclassified government documents;
- suspending in certain cases the centuries-old writ of habeas corpus and substituting indefinite administrative detention without specified criminal charges or access to a court of law;
- using interrogation techniques at Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and other locations incompatible with respect for the dignity of all persons required by a civilized society;

Whereas a free society and the unfettered intellectual inquiry essential to the practice of historical research, writing, and teaching are imperiled by the practices described above;
and

Whereas the foregoing practices are inextricably linked to the war in which the United States is presently engaged in Iraq; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, that the American Historical Association urges its members through publication of this resolution in Perspectives and other appropriate outlets:

- to take a public stand as citizens on behalf of the values necessary to the practice of our profession; and
- to do whatever they can to bring the Iraq war to a speedy conclusion.