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Overall, however, this is a very useful read that gives the reader a sense of the long term genesis of torture among US intelligence agencies.
Apart from the fact that this show's heyday was in the s, and it deals with a municipal police force, it is striking that McCoy failed to note the broadcasting of 24, which is far more explicit in its embrace of torture, both linking it very directly to the fight against terrorism and celebrating brutal acts much more explicitly than NYPD Blue although Jack Bauer is much more obsessed with inflicting and prolonging pain than the sort of psychological techniques recommended by the CIA.
Indeed, the US military, much more skeptical of torture than the CIA, actually pleaded with the producers to rane in this mentality. Meanwhile some have claimed the Bush administration adored the show. A Question Of Torture is a penetrating study of fifty years of United States involvement in torture research, practice, and propagation. But his book isn't a doctrinaire rejection of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Nor is it a compendium of tragic personal case studies. Instead, he takes advantage of his misgivings about torture to delve into its history, the whys and wherefores of state-sponsored torture, and the demonstrable results of these practices.
The work he has produced is as illuminating as it is easy to read.
And, supported by sixty pages of sources and notes, the book should prove useful to readers with academic interests as well. McCoy, whose previous works include a landmark study of the heroin trade, begins with an overview of torture and its usages through the past two thousand years. Then he takes us to the early days of the Cold War and a concerted US attempt to increase intelligence yields through mind control techniques.
Early on, the emphasis was on electroshock, hypnosis, psychosurgery, and drugs, including the infamous use of LSD on unsuspecting soldiers and civilians.
But the results were disappointing. Researchers soon learned that sensory disorientation hooding, manipulation of sleep, etc. Augmented by fears of physical abuse, sexual humiliation, and other psychological attacks on personal and cultural identity, our government produced exactly the system on display in the Abu Ghraib abuse photographs. But Iraq is hardly our country's maiden voyage into the application of torture on an industrial scale. During the Vietnam War, Project Phoenix, a joint CIA and Vietnamese counter-insurgency operation, resulted in the torture of tens of thousands of suspected Viet Cong and sympathizers and caused the deaths of more than 26, of them.
In Latin America, US operatives trained and abetted right-wing military and paramilitary personnel during the dirty wars of the s and 80s. We also shared our expertise with the shah of Iran's secret police and the Filipino military during the Marcos years. McCoy reports that Philippine officers trained in these "extralegal" methods, went on to lead RAM, one of the more persistent groups to seek the violent overthrow of Marcos and also his successor, Corazon Aquino. McCoy recounts the political moves that paved the way for prisoner abuse to become US policy during the war on terror.
And he documents the inability or failure of judicial, military, and congressional authorities to hold high-ranking personnel in the executive branch, CIA, military, or behavioral sciences accountable. In such an environment, he believes we should expect a continuing series of revelations concerning direct and indirect US sponsorship of torture. McCoy finds little specific factual evidence to suggest the "ticking time bomb" rationale for torture on a small scale has merit.
The Manila police learned of a plot to destroy several airliners from Abdul Hakim Murad's laptop computer, not from the sixty-seven days of torture that followed. Israeli claims of many suicide bombings prevented by harsh interrogation techniques boil down to one documented case. Mass torture, such as that practiced by the French in Algeria, Project Phoenix in Vietnam, the right-wing Latin American dictatorships of the Pinochet era, the shah's Iran, and the Marcos Philippines did win battles.
But, in each case, the popular reaction to it contributed to losing the war. If the "ticking time bomb" justification for torture doesn't correspond to experience and mass torture loses wars, why do governments resort to it? The reason, McCoy concludes, is not rational and not very different from kicking the dog after being barked at by the boss.
This book deserves a wide readership and should, but probably won't, stimulate some serious national soul searching.
Are you like me: Did you think that the horrific photos of prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib prison first published in April '04 were something entirely new, something that sprang sui generis from the dark heart of the American soul? McCoy traces in meticulous, often chilling detail how, beginning in the early years of the Cold War, an unholy alliance between the CIA and the scientific community gradually refined techniques of coercive interrogation into the "fine art" practiced around the world today.
This book is an excellent introduction to how torture has become increasingly accepted as a normal feature of government policy in the U. McCoy's writing is clear and well-sourced: McCoy is highly skeptical not only of the morality of torture, but also its efficacy both in terms of the value of the information obtained, and the long-term political fallout to nations that practice torture.
One person found this helpful 2 people found this helpful. A well researched background to how the U. The book paints a rather different and compelling story. See all 36 reviews. Most recent customer reviews. Published on January 2, Published on October 9, Published on October 8, Published on September 28, Published on September 1, Published on April 17, Published on December 19, Published on January 17, Finally, McCoy shows that information extracted by coercion is worthless, making a strong case for the FBI's legal methods of interrogation.
Scrupulously documented and grippingly told, A Question of Torture is a devastating indictment of inhumane practices that have damaged America's laws, military, and international standing. A Question Of Torture: The Rasputin File Edvard Lettere Dei Soldati Della The Oxford Handbook Of Diaspora Nationalism And Jewish I migliori risultati vengono dagli studi sulla deprivazione sensoriale compiuti alla McGill University di Montreal dal professor Donald O.
Hebb tuttora esiste un premio che porta il suo nome dedicato agli scienziati canadesi. La contraddizione appare doppia quando si apprende che la tortura selettiva, praticata su numeri a centinaia o qualche migliaio, porta risultati minimi in termini di intelligence. Proprio come gli US persero la guerra del Vietnam nonostante le ventimila vittime della tortura. Apr 13, Simon Wood rated it it was amazing.
Amazon Music Stream millions of songs. It was a freakin' teaser! At the UN and other international forums, Washington opposed torture and advocated a universal standard for human rights. Try the Kindle edition and experience these great reading features: I also didn't know that the CIA in project Phoenix in Vietnam tortured and then outright murdered 20, vietnamese people, and ne This book really spells it all out for ya. Trivia About A Question of Tor Write a customer review.
McCoy starts with a cursory account of Tortures lengthy pedigree in Europe and the West, before moving on to a detailed study of his period which runs from the end of the second world war to the date of publication During the Korean conflict there was much noise generated about the supposed effectiveness of the Communists at interrogation and "brain-washing" particular giving the performance of American prisoners.
Efforts were originally focussed on the use of drugs mainly LSD and various "truth" serums before psychological approaches took precedence, particularly after the Canadian Psychologist Dr Ewan Cameron's experiments relating to sensory deprivation appeared to yield promising results. Dr Cameron held his drug addled patients in conditions of extreme sensory deprivation, up to at least five weeks in one definite case, and perhaps up to a maximum of twelve weeks, causing grotesque long term psychological and physical damage.
Dr Cameron's research, amongst others, coalesced into the so called Kubark Counterintelligence Interrogation Handbook. This formed the basis of a 10 year training program for CIA operatives, and for forty years it was the basis of CIA practice, and overseas training programs, in a number of 3rd world countries. The main testing ground for US's new "interrogation" doctrines was Vietnam where the CIA run Phoenix program functioned with boundless impunity, going way beyond the Kubark manuals psychological torture.
From Vietnam this plague spread across the world to wherever the US felt its client regimes were under threat, particularly in Latin and Central America, where Project X who thinks up these names? There was even a systematic mail order program posting out a variety of interrogation psychological torture manuals to members of the security forces and militaries of US client regimes.
One of the distinctions McCoy makes is that between psychological and physical torture.
Clearly the psychological variety, though it doesn't leave physical marks, is - in terms of long term effects - at least as disastrous for its victims as physical torture. For those who doubt this, the testimony of a Philippine Priest, a high ranking navy officer and a student give a vivid and horrifying sense of what the reality of psychological torture is, and the long term nature of its effects. McCoy goes on to makes a case for a lull in direct US use of torture between the end of the cold war and the start of the war on terror, though no doubt alumni of US interrogation training especially the School of the Americas still kept the light burning through those years.
After September the 11th , and with the CIA as the lead organisation in operations against Al-Qaeda and associates, incidents of torture of both types increased, culminating at least in the public mind with the events at Abu Ghraib. McCoy carefully makes clear that it was not a few bad apples, but orders from on high The Whitehouse set the scene for the depraved acts at Abu Ghraib, as well as the extraordinary rendition program, and all the rest of the sordid and grotesque acts carried out across the globe by American forces and their fellow travellers in a number of countries.
The books final chapter "The Question of Torture" asks a number of questions regarding torture, and comes to the conclusion that it is generally ineffective, the circumstances in which its supporters make their strongest case eg. Alan Dershowitz's ticking bomb hasn't presented itself in the real world. Moreover even if the targets are limited to those identified as being important members of Al Qaeda or the Vietcong in Vietnam, or the Bath party in Iraq the practice will soon spread, and move from purely psychological to include physical torture.
This is particularly true when the US sets against organisations that have a great deal of popular support and finds itself on the back foot. It is no coincidence that the most murderous campaign of interrogation and intelligence gathering occurred in Vietnam where the Viet Cong had a great deal of popular support. In "A Question of Torture" Alfred McCoy has written a clear and concise history of the United States use of torture in the period from , how its doctrines developed, and spread via client regimes across the globe.
It is a book that I'd strongly recommend to anyone who wishes to know how the leading self proclaimed Liberal Democracy behaves in reality. Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine , which cites this book, is also worth reading for its detailed account of the aforementioned Dr Cameron's experiments, as well as on its own merits. Aug 03, Eric rated it it was amazing. This book really spells it all out for ya. I just read it over the past two days and it's informative and enraging, but also somewhat graphic.
I suppose that's to be expected though. I didn't realize that the brand of torture used today that's so invasive and so crippling was developed 50 years ago and been in use this whole time. Absolutely disgusting and deplorable. I also didn't know that the CIA in project Phoenix in Vietnam tortured and then outright murdered 20, vietnamese people, and ne This book really spells it all out for ya.
I also didn't know that the CIA in project Phoenix in Vietnam tortured and then outright murdered 20, vietnamese people, and never once in that time captured a clear vietcong agent. It also clearly shows that G. How embarassing is that? Read this book and get to work you lazy bastards! Aug 19, Charlie rated it it was amazing. Here is one good reason to read this book: But the paranoia he claims is helpful for our national defense is the same paranoia that allowed for the creation of torture programs by the CIA. The specifics of the CIA programs are honestly terrifying testing on unknowing US citizens, the size of the programs all over the world, etc and are well worth reading about.
McCoy also Here is one good reason to read this book: McCoy also makes a convincing case that torture is not only counter-productive in the obvious ways, but is also very ineffective at accomplishing its goal of gaining information. The book does an excellent job of putting the current debate on torture in its historical context. It is also very well documented, which is very important given how shocking it is.
A must read for anyone interested in the torture debate, in the CIA, in American history after WWII, or for anyone who isn't convinced that "they hate us for our freedom. May 21, Chi Dubinski rated it liked it. The CIA spent billions of dollars over the years developing psychological tools for interrogation.