The Torture Papers

The Torture Papers
Author: Karen J. Greenberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 1306
Release: 2005-01-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521853248

Download The Torture Papers Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Documents US Government attempts to justify torture techniques and coercive interrogation practices in ongoing hostilities.

The Torture Debate in America

The Torture Debate in America
Author: Karen J. Greenberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 436
Release: 2005-11-21
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780521857925

Download The Torture Debate in America Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Widely acclaimed as a publishing milestone, The Torture Papers (Cambridge, 2005) constitutes the definitive book of public record detailing the Bush Administration's policies on torture and political prisoners. In the process of assembling the documents, memoranda, and reports that comprise the material in The Torture Papers, a vital question arose: What was the rationale behind the Bush Administration's decision to condone the use of coercive techniques in the interrogation of detainees suspected of terrorist connections? The use of these techniques at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo has sparked an intense debate in America. The Torture Debate in America captures the arguments on torture that have been put forth by legislators, human rights activists, and others. It raises the key moral, legal, and historical questions that have led to current considerations on the use of torture. Divided into three sections, the contributions cover all sides of the debate, from absolute prohibition of torture to its use as a viable option in the War on Terror.

The Torture Debate in America

The Torture Debate in America
Author: Karen J. Greenberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2005-11-21
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9781139447034

Download The Torture Debate in America Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

As a result of the work assembling the documents, memoranda, and reports that constitute the material in The Torture Papers the question of the rationale behind the Bush administration's decision to condone the use of coercive interrogation techniques in the interrogation of detainees suspected of terrorist connections was raised. The condoned use of torture in any society is questionable but its use by the United States, a liberal democracy that champions human rights and is a party to international conventions forbidding torture, has sparked an intense debate within America. The Torture Debate in America captures these arguments with essays from individuals in different discipines. This volume is divided into two sections with essays covering all sides of the argument from those who embrace absolute prohibition of torture to those who see it as a viable option in the war on terror and with documents complementing the essays.

Torture and Truth

Torture and Truth
Author: Mark Danner
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Total Pages: 612
Release: 2004-10-31
Genre: History
ISBN:

Download Torture and Truth Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Includes the torture photographs in color and the full texts of the secret administration memos on torture and the investigative reports on the abuses at Abu Ghraib. In the spring of 2004, graphic photographs of Iraqi prisoners being tortured by American soldiers in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison flashed around the world, provoking outraged debate. Did they depict the rogue behavior of "a few bad apples"? Or did they in fact reveal that the US government had decided to use brutal tactics in the "war on terror"? The images are shocking, but they do not tell the whole story. The abuses at Abu Ghraib were not isolated incidents but the result of a chain of deliberate decisions and failures of command. To understand how "Hooded Man" and "Leashed Man" could have happened, Mark Danner turns to the documents that are collected for the first time in this book. These documents include secret government memos, some never before published, that portray a fierce argument within the Bush administration over whether al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners were protected by the Geneva Conventions and how far the US could go in interrogating them. There are also official reports on abuses at Abu Ghraib by the International Committee of the Red Cross, by US Army investigators, and by an independent panel chaired by former defense secretary James R. Schlesinger. In sifting this evidence, Danner traces the path by which harsh methods of interrogation approved for suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Guant‡namo "migrated" to Iraq as resistance to the US occupation grew and US casualties mounted. Yet as Mark Danner writes, the real scandal here is political: it "is not about revelation or disclosure but about the failure, once wrongdoing is disclosed, of politicians, officials, the press, and, ultimately, citizens to act." For once we know the story the photos and documents tell, we are left with the questions they pose for our democratic society: Does fighting a "new kind of war" on terror justify torture? Who will we hold responsible for deciding to pursue such a policy, and what will be the moral and political costs to the country?

Liberal Democracies and the Torture of Their Citizens

Liberal Democracies and the Torture of Their Citizens
Author: Cynthia Banham
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2017-02-09
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1509906835

Download Liberal Democracies and the Torture of Their Citizens Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book analyses and compares how the USA's liberal allies responded to the use of torture against their citizens after 9/11. Did they resist, tolerate or support the Bush Administration's policies concerning the mistreatment of detainees when their own citizens were implicated and what were the reasons for their actions? Australia, the UK and Canada are liberal democracies sharing similar political cultures, values and alliances with America; yet they behaved differently when their citizens, caught up in the War on Terror, were tortured. How states responded to citizens' human rights claims and predicaments was shaped, in part, by demands for accountability placed on the executive government by domestic actors. This book argues that civil society actors, in particular, were influenced by nuanced differences in their national political and legal contexts that enabled or constrained human rights activism. It maps the conditions under which individuals and groups were more or less likely to become engaged when fellow citizens were tortured, focusing on national rights culture, the domestic legal and political human rights framework, and political opportunities.

A Genealogy of the Torture Taboo

A Genealogy of the Torture Taboo
Author: Jamal Barnes
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2017-04-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351977741

Download A Genealogy of the Torture Taboo Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1 Abolishing torture -- 2 The taboo and the fear of regression -- 3 The Nuremburg Trials and the Universal Declaration -- 4 Decolonisation and the UN Convention Against Torture -- 5 The politics of the definition of torture -- 6 Torture and the 'war on terror' -- Conclusion -- Index

Torture Memos

Torture Memos
Author: David Cole
Publisher: The New Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2009-09-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1595584935

Download Torture Memos Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

On April 16, 2009, the Justice Department released never-before-seen secret memos describing, in graphic detail, the brutal interrogation techniques used by the CIA under the Bush administration’s “war on terror.” Now, for the first time, the key documents are compiled in one remarkable volume, showing that the United States government’s top attorneys were instrumental in rationalizing acts of torture and cruelty, employing chillingly twisted logic and Orwellian reasoning to authorize what the law absolutely forbids. This collection gives readers an unfiltered look at the tactics approved for use in the CIA’s secret overseas prisons—including forcing detainees to stay awake for eleven days straight, slamming them against walls, stripping them naked, locking them in a small box with insects to manipulate their fears, and, of course, waterboarding—and at the incredible arguments advanced to give them a green light. Originally issued in secret by the Office of Legal Counsel between 2002 and 2005, the documents collected here have been edited only to eliminate repetition. They reflect, in their own words, the analysis that guided the legal architects of the Bush administration’s interrogation policies. Renowned legal scholar David Cole’s introductory essay tells the story behind the memos, and presents a compelling case that instead of demanding that the CIA conform its conduct to the law, the nation’s top lawyers contorted the law to conform to the CIA’s abusive and patently illegal conduct. He argues eloquently that official accountability for these legal wrongs is essential if the United States is to restore fidelity to the rule of law.

A Genealogy of the Torture Taboo

A Genealogy of the Torture Taboo
Author: Jamal Barnes
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2017-04-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351977733

Download A Genealogy of the Torture Taboo Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book examines the historical genealogy of the torture taboo. The dissonance between the absolute prohibition against torture and its widespread violation raises important questions about the torture taboo in world politics. Does the torture taboo matter? Or are political realists correct in arguing that power politics rules? Barnes argues that despite the torture taboo’s violation, it still matters, and paradoxically, its strength can be seen by studying its violation. States hide, deny, re-define and outsource their torture, as well as torture without leaving marks to avoid being stigmatised as a norm violating state. Tracing a genealogy of the torture taboo from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century Barnes shows how the taboo has developed over time, and how violations have played an important role in that development. Through six historical and contemporary case studies, it is argued that the taboo’s humanitarian pressures do not cease when states violate the norm, but continue to shape actors in unexpected ways. Building upon the constructivist norm literature that has shown how norms shape state actions and interests, the book also widens our understanding of the complex role norm violations play in international society. Making a contribution to existing public debates on the use of torture in counter-terrorism policy, it will be of great use to scholars, postgraduates and practitioners in the fields of human rights, international relations theory (in particular constructivism), security studies and international law.

Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul

Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul
Author: David P. Gushee
Publisher: Mercer University Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2010
Genre: History
ISBN: 0881462039

Download Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Proceedings of a conference held Sept. 11-12, 2008 at Mercer University--Preface and Acknowledgements.

The Torture and Prisoner Abuse Debate

The Torture and Prisoner Abuse Debate
Author: Laura L. Finley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2008-07-30
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0313342938

Download The Torture and Prisoner Abuse Debate Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Revelations about U.S. torture and prisoner abuse in blatant violation of the long-established and universally recognized Geneva Conventions have horrified most Americans. Nevertheless, it has been argued that the high stakes of the War on Terror have made the protections offered by the Conventions obsolete, or that the abuses are the work of a few rogue soldiers and officers. This book reaches past the headlines into the historical record to document POW torture and also domestic prisoner abuse dating well back in our history as well as government and military knowledge of and collusion in such ostensibly illegal and reprehensible acts. Is torture and prisoner abuse justified in the name of some greater good? As a society we shall have to decide. The historical record presented here can contribute much to an informed national discussion.