If the post–September 11th era is to bear the imprint of a succession of setbacks to the human rights paradigm epitomized by Abu Ghraib's arresting images, the era should also be marked by human rights' reemergence at the fore of local and global contests and consciousness. This study traverses three pivotal human rights struggles of the era: the American human rights campaign to challenge Bush administration “War on Terror” torture and detention policies, Middle Eastern efforts to challenge American human rights practices (in effect, reversing the traditional West-to-East flow of human rights mobilizations and discourses), and Middle Eastern attempts to challenge their own leaders' human rights violations in light of American post–September 11th interventions in the Middle East. The snapshots that emerge are of human rights repeatedly being appropriated, invoked, promoted, claimed, reclaimed, and contested within and between the American and Middle Eastern contexts. By placing these deployments side by side and highlighting the myriad of contradictions they encompass and produce, this book brings to light human rights' role as both an emancipatory and hegemonic force following September 11th. There are thus several facets to the present inquiry. First, it explores the era's key intersections between international human rights norms and power as they unfold in post–September 11th era. Second, it lays out the many interconnections and layers of the era's American and Middle Eastern encounters within the human rights realm. Finally, it draws out the primary lessons of post–September 11th developments for moving the human rights project forward.