'We Don’t Want Dollars, Just Change': Narrative Counter-Terrorism Strategy, an Inclusive Model of Social Healing, and the Truth About Torture Commission

Abstract:     
In 2007, Professor Eric K. Yamamoto acknowledged that reparations theory and practice had reached a crossroads and called for a new strategic framework that reparations advocates could utilize in working to achieve redress for social and historical wrongs. My Article attempts to answer Yamamoto’s call. In it, I situate my proposal for a truth commission to redress the post-9/11 torture program in a new Inclusive Model for Social Healing. In the past, reparations advocates have relied on litigation – a model that excludes participants other than the named parties – to obtain redress. By increasing the number of stakeholders in a reparations scheme, the Inclusive Model of Social Healing has the potential to attract more widespread support from the public and is more resilient to criticism than exclusive litigation models.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 46

Keywords: terrorism, Islamist, narrative, reparations, truth commissions

Accepted Paper Series