From Booklist
*Starred Review* Bush administration officials and top military brass continue to maintain that the well-documented abuses of prisoners at Abu Ghraib were the isolated actions of a few rogue guards. Not so, say the editors of this book. Greenberg is the executive director of the Center on Law and Security at the New York University School of Law, and Dratel is a prominent defense attorney currently assisting in the defense of detainees at the Guantanamo base in Cuba. As their introductory essays make clear, they believe the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the claimed abuses at Guantanamo are the direct result of administration policies. They do not prove their case conclusively, but their compilation of administration documents is still riveting, chilling, and infuriating. They clearly reveal that, at the highest levels, the Bush administration sought legal justification to circumvent both the Geneva Convention and other international accepted norms regarding the interrogation and treatment of military detainees. We have top Justice Department officials claiming "non-state actors" are not protected by the Geneva Convention. We have Department of Defense officials approving "non-injurious physical contact," which, of course, opens the door to a wide variety of abusive and degrading practices. This vitally important book reminds us that the pursuit of intelligence by "unorthodox" means is a dangerous and slippery slope. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib thoroughly documents repeated and shocking perversions of justice. The torture of prisoners became standard practice as the internationally accepted tenets of the Geneva Convention were bypassed and ignored. This is not a collection of complex legalese but pages where a clear episodic story unfolds free of bias and spin. The documents and their authors speak for themselves; key individuals approved torture as a coercive interrogation technique while others, namely Secretary of State Colin Powell, strongly opposed it. This is required reading for everyone concerned with fairness, justice, and difficult choices made under the pressures of our post 9/11 world." Nadine Strossen, President, American Civil Liberties Union

"The Torture Papers may well be the most important and damning set of documents exposing U.S. government lawlessness ever published. Each page tells the story of U.S. leaders consciously willing to ignore the fundamental protections that guarantee all of us our humanity. I fear for our future. Read these pages and weep for our country, the rule of law and victims of torture everywhere." Michael Ratner, President, Center for Constitutional Rights

"The minutely detailed chronological narrative embodied in this volume..possesses an awful and powerful cumulative weight.[...]The book is necessary, if grueling, reading for anyone interested in understanding the back story to those terrible photos from Saddam Hussein's former prison, and abuses at other American detention facilities." New York Times Book Review

"This is a commendable, timely, and useful collection of key documents. The material goes far in helping us to understand the logic and advice that led to Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. From awful advice spring awful events." Philippe Sands QC is a practising barrister in the Matrix Chambers and a professor of international law at University College London. He is the author of Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules.

"Not since the Pentagon Papers have we seen such an important set of classified documents as the memoranda, reports and orders on detention and interrogation that began emerging into public view in the United States. Cambridge University Press is serving an important need in providing these papers in one authoritative and well-organized collection." Mary Ellen O'Connell, William B. Saxbe Designated Professor of Law & Fellow of the Mershon Center for International Security, The Ohio State University

"With this superb collection of documents, we can begin to see the contours of our new post 9-11 world: from the reinterpretation of laws and treaties that once seemed immutable, to the pressure on soldiers and CIA officers in the field to set aside old rules in the hunt for useable intelligence. The papers speak for themselves and readers can decide whether the trade-offs are worth it or not." Dana Priest, National Security Reporter, The Washington Post.

"This book is a must read for anyone who cares about the role the United States plays on the world scene. It describes the steps in an ominous path leading from the high road down to the low road in the words of those who took that journey. Throughout our history, the United States has taken justifiable pride in our adherence to the Rule of Law and our strong advocacy for human rights. Read The Torture Papers and see for yourself if that is still true. If we do not have the courage and wisdom to confront this shameful episode, then we are bound to repeat it." John D. Hudson (Rear Adm. Ret.) Dean and President, Franklin Pierce Law Center

"The memos and other material collected in this book reveal how political lawyers in the Administration adopted an 14ends justify the means12 policy, and tailored their advice to justify torture and avoidance of obligations under the Geneva Conventions. They lost their own moral compass in the process and created a brief for the enemies of America to use the tactics they sought to justify against present and future American servicemen and women captured by our enemies." James Cullen (Brig. General U.S. Army ret.)

"...a block of granite on the path of any forgetfulness. The book is a true public service, compiled by two U.S. lawyers, which brings the whole twisted story into the public domain, and let us hope into every library and many personal hands." Toronto Globe and Mail

" The Torture Papers then, is no historical artifact. It's why we do what we're (still) doing. It's a monument to denial, arrogance and hypocrisy. It's why they hate us. Its' the most important book you'll never read." Ted Rall, San Diego Union-Tribune


Book Description
The Torture Papers document the so-called 'torture memos' and reports which US government officials wrote to prepare the way for, and to document, coercive interrogation and torture in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib. These documents present for the first time a compilation of materials that prior to publication have existed only piecemeal in the public domain. The Bush Administration, concerned about the legality of harsh interrogation techniques, understood the need to establish a legally viable argument to justify such procedures. The memos and reports document the systematic attempt of the US Government to prepare the way for torture techniques and coercive interrogation practices, forbidden under international law, with the express intent of evading legal punishment in the aftermath of any discovery of these practices and policies.


From the Publisher
Timely in its publication and extremely distrurbing in its implications, The Torture Papers consists of the "torture memos" and reports which US government officials wrote to prepare the way for, and to legitimize, coercive interrogation, including techniques many would label as torture, in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. These documents present - for the first time - a compilation of materials that, prior to publication, have not been collected in one source. The authors of these memos and documents include President George W. Bush, Deputy Assistant Attorneys General John Yoo, Jack Goldsmith, and Patrick Philbin; Counsel to the President Alberto Gonzales; Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; Department of Defense General Counsel William J. Haynes II; Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee; and Secretary of State Colin Powell, among others. The volume also contains the investigative reports of the International Committee of the Red Cross, The Taguba Report, the Mikolashek Report, the Schlesinger Report, the Fay-Jones Report and the American Bar Association Report to the House of Delegates. Taken together, these incredibly shocking memos and reports document the systematic attempt of the US Government to prepare the way for torture techniques and coercive interrogation practices, forbidden under international law, with the express intent of evading legal punishment in the aftermath of any discovery of these practices and policies. As the editors' introduction points out, "Ultimately, what the reader is left with after reading these documents is a clear sense of the systematic decision to alter the use of methods of coercion and torture that lay outside of accepted and legal norms. Not only did the lawyers and policymakers knowingly overstep legal doctrine, but they did so against the advice of individuals in their midst, notably Secretary of State Powell and William H. Taft, Legal Advisor to the the Secretary of State."


About the Author
Karen J. Greenberg is the Executive Director of the Center on Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. She is a visiting Professor of European Studies at New York University and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Joshua L. Dratel is a prominent defense attorney. He serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. he is currently assisting in the defense of a Guantanamo detainee and has defended al Qaeda member Waldih el Hage after the embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Torture Papers consists of the so-called 'torture memos' and reports which US government officials wrote to prepare the way for and to document coercive interrogation and torture in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib. Comprising 2 volumes, these documents present for the first time a compilation of materials that prior to publication have existed only piecemeal in the public domain. The Bush Administration, concerned about the legality of harsh interrogation techniques, understood the need to establish a legally viable argument to justify such procedures. The reports in these two volumes document the systematic attempt of the US Government to prepare the way for torture techniques and coercive interrogation practices, forbidden under international law, with the express intent of evading legal punishment in the aftermath of any discovery of these practices and policies. Volume 1 examines, amongst other things, memos from the Bush Administration on the legal use of torture.

FROM THE CRITICS

Michiko Kakutani - The New York Times