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Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values | 
 enlarge | Author: Philippe Sands
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $17.23
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 395
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0230603904
Dewey Decimal Number: 341.48
EAN: 9780230603905
ASIN: 0230603904
Publication Date: May 13, 2008 (New: This Week)
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Product Description
On December 2, 2002 the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, signed his name at the bottom of a document that listed eighteen techniques of interrogation--techniques that defied international definitions of torture. The Rumsfeld Memo authorized the controversial interrogation practices that later migrated to Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, as part of the policy of extraordinary rendition. From a behind-the-scenes vantage point, Phillipe Sands investigates how the Rumsfeld Memo set the stage for a divergence from the Geneva Convention and the Torture Convention and holds the individual gatekeepers in the Bush administration accountable for their failure to safeguard international law. The Torture Team delves deep into the Bush administration to reveal: How the policy of abuse originated with Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, and was promoted by their most senior lawyers Personal accounts, through interview, of those most closely involved in the decisions How the Joint Chiefs and normal military decision-making processes were circumvented How Fox TV’s 24 contributed to torture planning How interrogation techniques were approved for use How the new techniques were used on Mohammed Al Qahtani, alleged to be “the 20th highjacker” How the senior lawyers who crafted the policy of abuse exposed themselves to the risk of war crimes charges
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| Customer Reviews:
A Successful Exercise in Connecting the Dots May 16, 2008
Phillipe Sands book brings together a lot that was already known with some new information provided by interviews. This book was valuable in that it places the information in a coherent narrative. Sands lets his interviewees speak for themselves and succeeds in not judging them personally, nor questioning their motives, but only points out where the International and US law may be used to judge them and their possible guilt. He interviews Jim Haynes, General Hill, Doug Feith, Diane Beaver, General Myers and others, devoting a chapter to each interview.
Sands focuses his main argument on the fact that lawyers were not guided by law in their memos and advice to the President, VP,Secratary of Defense, and others but were subservient to the policy choices of our leaders. To use a phrase of Vice President Cheney, the Pentagon and Justice Department lawyers tried to write the law from the "dark side." We the readers are the jury who will decide if they stayed within the bounds of the rule of law.
In his interview with a medical expert who has had extensive experience with torture survivors, we learn that deciding whether techniques are torture, a lot can be gleaned from the reaction of the victim. This chapter based on the actual interrogation logs of Mohammed Al-Qahtani, Detainee 063 are chilling to say the least.
In one interview with an International Judge and Prosecuter, Sands quotes them as saying the Administration Principals and lawyers' attempt to immunize themselves from prosecution in the treatment of detainees before the passage of the Military Commissions Act may come back to haunt them. In rejecting US courts oversight of their case they open themselves up to judgment by International Commissions and Courts. This move was characterized as stupid. It could lead to a tap on the shoulder if the Principles visit other countries much in the same way that Pinochet was arrested in Spain for crimes committed while he was the leader in Argentina.
Critics may find that Sands spends too much time on Mohammed al-Qahtani Detainee 063 and exaggerates the importance of the treatment of one detainee, but I believe he shows how the part reveals the whole. Philippe Sands is very thorough in his analysis of detainee 063 case. He speaks with lawyers and medical experts to determine whether the treatment of 063 crossed the line into torture. His concentration, primarily on one case, did not detract from his book but strengthened it in my opinion. Sands also makes the point that illegal activity in regards to violations of Geneva Art. 3 can be imputed to a defendant based on only one case.
Underlining the seriousness of this book and its charges, Sands quotes Justice Kennedy who wrote that acts against Geneva Art 3 are war crimes. The Supreme Court overturned the President's decision and OLC and Pentagon lawyers position that Geneva Conventions did not apply to Al Qaeda.
Critics are not going to like his drawing on the Nuremburg trial with inference that the US leaders and lawyers can be compared to Nazis. Sands is very careful to note that it is not his intention to make such a comparison but only to use the legal principles derived from that era that are still applicable today. Mr. Sands does all this without swamping the average readers with a lot of legalese and jargon. Anyone with a patience and openness can follow his common sense approach.
Sadly this story is not over and much more is to come about meetings and involvement of top officials in the US government with torture. The Torture Team will provide an excellent bridge to future revelations and responses.
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