Chaired by Lord Woolfe, this event marked a detailed open discussion on recent developments in public international law, cosmopolitan morality and the erosion of American supremacy following Professor Sands’ explosive first hand accounts on the Bush administration’s top lawyers and how they legalized interrogation techniques that derogated from the US Army Field Manual 34-52 and Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits cruel or inhumane treatment and `outrages upon personal dignity’, without exceptions for `necessity’ or national security. A formal book signing and meet and greet session was organised for after the event for participants to continue the discussion further.

Following Professor Sand’s recent invitation to speak before the US House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, directly leading to (after the book launch) voluntary testimonials from David Addington (Chief of Staff of the Vice President) and the Douglas Feith (former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy for President George W. Bush) to answer the claims laid out in Torture Team and in the context of recent Supreme Court Decisions.