One of the most comprehensive examinations of US torture policy, from
the Cold War to the War on Terror to the debate over accountability
Waterboarding. Sleep deprivation. Sensory manipulation. Stress
positions. Over the last several years, these and other methods of
torture have become garden variety words for practically anyone who
reads about current events in a newspaper or blog. We know exactly what
they are, how to administer them, and, disturbingly, that they were
secretly authorized by the Bush Administration in its efforts to extract
information from people detained in its war on terror. What we lack,
however, is a larger lens through which to view America's policy of
torture--one that dissects America's long relationship with
interrogation and torture, which roots back to the 1950s and has been
applied, mostly in secret, to "enemies," ever since. How did America
come to embrace this practice so fully, and how was it justified from a
moral, legal, and psychological perspective?
The United States and Torture opens with a compelling preface by
Sister Dianna Ortiz, who describes the unimaginable treatment she
endured in Guatemala in 1987 at the hands of the the Guatemalan
government, which was supported by the United States. Then a
psychologist, a historian, a political scientist, a philosopher, a
sociologist, two journalists, and eight lawyers offer one of the most
comprehensive examinations of torture to date, beginning with the CIA
during the Cold War era and ending with today's debate over
accountability for torture.
Ultimately, this gripping, interdisciplinary work details the complicity
of the United States government in the torture and cruel treatment of
prisoners both at home and abroad and discusses what can be done to hold
those who set the torture policy accountable.
Contributors: Marjorie Cohn, Richard Falk, Marc D. Falkoff, Terry
Lynn Karl, John W. Lango, Jane Mayer, Alfred W. McCoy, Jeanne Mirer,
Sister Dianna Ortiz, Jordan J. Paust, Bill Quigley, Michael Ratner,
Thomas Ehrlich Reifer, Philippe Sands, Stephen Soldz, and Lance Tapley.
