Human Rights in an Age of Terror Listen

Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Forums: What should be done with captured al Qaeda fighters?

Read Kofi Annan's Nobel Prize acceptance speech (Listen)

A large subtext of the "war on terror" has revolved around human rights. Americans have a right to live free from the fear of violence. Citizens of Afghanistan -- especially women -- are having their rights taken away by the brutal Taliban regime. But human rights organizations are concerned that the war on terrorism may create an environment where human rights are abused, not protected.

With President Bush recommending terrorists be brought before the kind of military tribunals that the U.S. has railed against for years, and freedom fighters around the globe facing the prospect of being painted by the same broad terrorist brush as al Qaeda, how do human rights coexist with the war on terrorism?

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Forums: Should the U.S. release the videotape in which bin Laden implicates himself for the Sept. 11th attack?

"The Assassins:" The World's First Terrorists Listen

Terrorism may have been the story of year in 2001, but it far from a new phenomenon. A millennium ago, a band of fanatic Muslims terrorized both the Arab world and invading Western Crusaders, using targeted murders and threats of violence to reach their political goals.

The similarities between the Assassins and al Qaeda are striking. According to Brocardus, a 14th-century German priest, "Like the devil, they transfigure themselves into angels of light, by imitating the gestures, garments, languages, customs and acts of various nations and peoples." The Assassin terrorist network recruited new members by promising them paradise if they were to die while carrying out a mission. This hour, the world's foremost authority on The Assassins traces terrorism back to its roots, one thousand years ago.

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