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michael.lee

The author primarily discusses the disaster investigation surrounding the aftermath of the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster. Dr. Knowles presents the investigation as having been marred by jurisdictional conflicts, clashes of authority among powerful institutions, competition among experts, and political pressure from both the public and the government. He argues that this phenomenon is not unique to the World Trade Center collapse but has occurred throughout every major disaster investigation in the United States, including the burning of the US Capitol Building in 1814, the Hague Street boiler explosion and building collapse in New York in 1850, and the Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago in 1903. He argues that disaster investigation is not the "dispassionate, scientific verdict of causality and blame" but is instead a "hard-fought contest to define the moment in politics and society, in technology and culture."

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jaostrander

The article has a long bibliography that includes other research papers, articles, public and private reports, as well as policies. The diversity of the bibliography shows the Knowles developed his arguement from a variety of sources and opinions.

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michael.lee

The authors primarily rely on anecdotal evidence provided through interviews and testimonies presented by disaster survivors. They supplement this anecdotal evidence with data from analysis of the socioeconomic conditions following a disaster and from analysis of the mental health disorders suffered by patients who were affected by the disaster. 

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jaostrander

This film suggests that the United States government and the United States Marine Corp should take corrective action in supporting those affected by cancer from the mishandlings of the polluted water and they should take action in cleaning up pollution on bases throughout the United States and communities nearby. 

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jaostrander

“legal protection for sick people was still considerably reduced by a decision of the European court of human rights… a Ugandan woman suffering from an advanced stage of AIDS. The court refused the women’s appeal [to stay in Britain for medical reasons] and authorized her deportation."

“Sometimes the foreigner, too, is no more than his body, but this body is no longer the same: useless to the political economy, it now finds its place in a new moral economy that values suffering over labor and compassion more than rights.”

 “The logic of state sovereignty in the control of immigration clearly prevailed over the universality of the principle of the right to life. The compassion protocol had met its limit.”