More on the Evil Expert

...Dr. Michael Welner, who's had a bit of a go at Omar Khadr today. At this point I think I'll just leave the ambiguity intact.

Defence lawyers are expected to present their own mental-health experts and the cross-examination of Dr. Welner promises to be compelling.

Impeaching Dr. Welner for his reliance on the work of Nicolai Sennels, a Danish psychologist who ran a failed de-radicalization program, will be central to that cross-examination.

Among the controversial Dr. Sennels’ more spectacular claims is that "massive inbreeding within the Muslim culture during the last 1.400 years may have done catastrophic damage to their gene pool.’’ The Danish doctor also advocates paying Muslims to leave Western countries and claims that an Islamic upbringing fosters violence.

Dr. Welner claims he didn’t read Dr. Sennels' book "because it was in Danish and I don’t speak Danish,’’ but sought his opinion and read articles by and about him.

Dr. Sennels, in an open letter in July decrying Turkey's bid to join the European Union, claims the Koran is a criminal book.

"It is a criminal book that forces people to do criminal things! From September 11th 2001 (do you remember…?) to July 28th 2010 there have been 15,373 confirmed murders motivated by the Koran and the inhuman example of the Muslim prophet."

Nice bit of digging, there, Paul Koring.

And here's a more academic view of the use of "evil" as an analytical category.

[H/t]