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Bad Men: Guantanamo Bay and the Secret Prisons
Explosively personal account by a British lawyer who defends Death Row prisoners and Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Clive Stafford Smith is the 46-year-old human-rights lawyer who has famously - some would say notoriously - spent more than twenty years in the United States representing prisoners on Death Row. His clients include many detainees in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and he established the London-based charity Reprieve, developed to defending human rights in 1999. His book is quite simply, devastating, and many will laugh and cry reading laugh in disbelief, and cry in despair at the utter inhumanity and lack of imagination wrapped up in hypocrisy so enormous that it beggars understanding.
Yet even in the face of insurmountable odds, Clive Stafford Smith remains an optimist. Few could maintain his capacity for work and his commitment to his clients if he allowed frustration or despair to divert him. His experiences, graphically recounted in this book, have enabled him to shine a bright, unblinking light into the darkest corners of illegality that are being justified by governments in the name of the War on Terror.
Clive Stafford Smith is the 46-year-old human-rights lawyer who has famously - some would say notoriously - spent more than twenty years in the United States representing prisoners on Death Row. His clients include many detainees in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and he established the London-based charity Reprieve, developed to defending human rights in 1999. His book is quite simply, devastating, and many will laugh and cry reading laugh in disbelief, and cry in despair at the utter inhumanity and lack of imagination wrapped up in hypocrisy so enormous that it beggars understanding.
Yet even in the face of insurmountable odds, Clive Stafford Smith remains an optimist. Few could maintain his capacity for work and his commitment to his clients if he allowed frustration or despair to divert him. His experiences, graphically recounted in this book, have enabled him to shine a bright, unblinking light into the darkest corners of illegality that are being justified by governments in the name of the War on Terror.
313 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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271 people want to read
About the author
Clive Stafford Smith
17 books30 followersClive Stafford Smith OBE is a British, formerly US-based lawyer specializing in civil rights and the death penalty in the United States. He is also the founder and Director of Reprieve, a human rights not-for-profit organization. To date, Clive has helped secure the release of 65 prisoners from Guantánamo Bay (including every British prisoner) and still acts for 15 more. More recently, Clive has turned a strategic eye to the other secret detention sites, including Bagram in Afghanistan and the British island of Diego Garcia. In 2000 he was awarded an OBE for ‘humanitarian services’, and has since received numerous honours and awards. His book BAD MEN: Guantanamo Bay and the Secret Prisons was published by Phoenix in 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 18, 2021
If Bad Men were a book about the former Soviet Union or Iran, it would be the subject of a blockbuster film. Some of the court scenes have all the drama and irony of the best in legal fiction, but much of the reality described here would not be out of place in Kafka (Orwell has nothing on this). It is a gripping read and whatever time you spend on this book will be well rewarded by informed, intelligent and incisive decostruction of the house of horrors Cheney, Wolfowitz and Addington built in the wake of 9/11.
August 17, 2014
Guantanamo Bay is a dastardly place, devoid of moral prowess and is probably the best recruitment tool that extremist groups such as Al Qaeda have. This much we know, but it is only because of the sterling work of people like Clive Stafford-Smith that we know anything. For years he and many others like him; lawyers battling for global human rights, at Reprieve and similar organisations , have lifted the lid on the abusive regime at Guantanamo Bay, a regime that has become almost a parody of itself over the years, a shameful blemish on the democratic idealism of the United States. This book tracks the stories of just a handful of the inmates of the prison complex and highlights the barmy contradictions and ill judgment of the authorities involved in sustaining the system. It is conclusive in its indictment of the American intelligence services with regards to their collusion with repressive regimes in the middle east and north Africa vis a vis torture and possible murder of innocent people. The philosophical theme of torture is ever present as Stafford-Smith presents an expert-case for the redundancy of such measures in this so-called War on Terror. At times the book is difficult to read with its documentation of horrors that would seem more at home in a Clive Barker novel. Yet it is never gratuitous or seeking undue sympathy for the victims. Rather, this is a passionate cry for justice on behalf of those wronged, many of which are still awaiting any form of that heavily loaded word. It is a plea for the western nations who claim to carry the torch of liberty passed down via Rousseau, De Toqueville, Paine etc in to the 21st century to live up to the rhetoric they so love. By gone ideals such as habeus corpus cannot be so readily removed and destroyed as they have been to suit the ideological leanings of right-wing thugs hell bent on an excuse for destruction. This is an excellent book, though much of what is written is now widely accepted as truth. When first published, it wasn’t and for that the author deserves unending credit.
March 9, 2010
Harrowing but now dated in the light of what we know from the internet and newspapers regarding rendition. I read the chapter about Binyam Mohamed and it left me depressed and horrified.
This is a good book but I had to put it down after the aforementioned chapter. I'll go back to it but it is a chapter per month read.
What they are doing is just wrong. It is not necessarily wrong in it's intentions (the mythical ticking bomb scenario) but it is wrong because they have not followed the due process of law which is designed to punish wrongdoers whilst protecting the innocent. If they are terrorists, bring them before the courts - don't leave innocent people rotting in prison camps.
If you follow this through to it's logical conclusion, you could be picked up on your way to the supermarket and detained indefinitely for no reason whatsoever. Incredible as it may sound, there are people in torture chambers in Egypt and Morocco who have done nothing wrong, one day they were like you and me, the next they were hanging from a ceiling being whipped and beaten.
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me."
This is a good book but I had to put it down after the aforementioned chapter. I'll go back to it but it is a chapter per month read.
What they are doing is just wrong. It is not necessarily wrong in it's intentions (the mythical ticking bomb scenario) but it is wrong because they have not followed the due process of law which is designed to punish wrongdoers whilst protecting the innocent. If they are terrorists, bring them before the courts - don't leave innocent people rotting in prison camps.
If you follow this through to it's logical conclusion, you could be picked up on your way to the supermarket and detained indefinitely for no reason whatsoever. Incredible as it may sound, there are people in torture chambers in Egypt and Morocco who have done nothing wrong, one day they were like you and me, the next they were hanging from a ceiling being whipped and beaten.
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me."
October 5, 2017
I have never had to put a book down so many times than I have with this one. Absolutely brutal but most people, myself included, do not fully understand what has happened there. I highly recommend this book.
July 8, 2014
Definitely worth a read! Although a bit outdated but shows without a doubt the level of inhumanity from the US government!
June 20, 2017
This book describes the abhorrent treatment and torture of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Also this book deals with debunking the myths that torture advocates usually spew. Overall this book was well researched and offers first hand experience from a lawyer, Clive Stanford Smith, that has worked with prisoners of Guantanamo.
Prisons are kept without a trial, let alone a fair one. Once they arrive they are stripped of all rights and violently tortured regularly. Several measures are taken to break them mentally and physically, such as: sleep deprivation, cutting genitals, use of heat/cold, bright lights, force feeding, refusing medical assistance or the right to a lawyer. Similar to the Japanese internment camps in the 40s many innocent people are kept prisoner and treated inhumanely. The US government captured most of the inmates based on false information and through paying bounties to captors. Moreover some of the prisoners had not even reached 16 when initially captured. Furthermore many academic and political prisoners have been imprisoned based on wrong information. It is ironic that prison itself was set up to try and demonstrate that the war on terror had successful results.
Clearly the US has no regard for abiding by the Geneva conventions as they have broken numerous articles via Guantanamo. Citizens should question why their military and government has the power to suspend laws and trials whenever they see fit. Keep in mind that this obstruction of justice was supported by the British government. It is hypocritical for so called 'democratic' governments to condemn dictatorships for their destructive actions and then behave in the same way.
Torture is criticised heavily in Bad Men. While being tortured the prisoners were 'willing to say anything and only wanted to repeat what their abusers wanted to hear' . This renders intel gained from torture completely useless. An example of this is coerced confession from Sheikh al-Libi which lead to the Iraq war. This method is certainly useless coupled with the fact that many prisoners don't know why they are being held captive. Besides there is no way for prisoners with actual links to terrorist organisations to have intel for future plots years after being captured. Obviously any sophisticated terrorist organisation would change their plans if they thought an agent was comprised. And they would not be foolish enough to give them the details of every plot that they ever intended to complete, or would not be able to tell them any future plots as long as they were imprisoned.
Bad Man was a shocking and insight into into torture and Guantanamo Bay. The prison is clouded in secrecy to this day. Although the work of the press has made the operations more transparent, some information is still kept classified. Imagine how damning the classified information must be. Read this book if you want an insight into Guantanamo Bay and why torture is an ineffective torture method.
Prisons are kept without a trial, let alone a fair one. Once they arrive they are stripped of all rights and violently tortured regularly. Several measures are taken to break them mentally and physically, such as: sleep deprivation, cutting genitals, use of heat/cold, bright lights, force feeding, refusing medical assistance or the right to a lawyer. Similar to the Japanese internment camps in the 40s many innocent people are kept prisoner and treated inhumanely. The US government captured most of the inmates based on false information and through paying bounties to captors. Moreover some of the prisoners had not even reached 16 when initially captured. Furthermore many academic and political prisoners have been imprisoned based on wrong information. It is ironic that prison itself was set up to try and demonstrate that the war on terror had successful results.
Clearly the US has no regard for abiding by the Geneva conventions as they have broken numerous articles via Guantanamo. Citizens should question why their military and government has the power to suspend laws and trials whenever they see fit. Keep in mind that this obstruction of justice was supported by the British government. It is hypocritical for so called 'democratic' governments to condemn dictatorships for their destructive actions and then behave in the same way.
Torture is criticised heavily in Bad Men. While being tortured the prisoners were 'willing to say anything and only wanted to repeat what their abusers wanted to hear' . This renders intel gained from torture completely useless. An example of this is coerced confession from Sheikh al-Libi which lead to the Iraq war. This method is certainly useless coupled with the fact that many prisoners don't know why they are being held captive. Besides there is no way for prisoners with actual links to terrorist organisations to have intel for future plots years after being captured. Obviously any sophisticated terrorist organisation would change their plans if they thought an agent was comprised. And they would not be foolish enough to give them the details of every plot that they ever intended to complete, or would not be able to tell them any future plots as long as they were imprisoned.
Bad Man was a shocking and insight into into torture and Guantanamo Bay. The prison is clouded in secrecy to this day. Although the work of the press has made the operations more transparent, some information is still kept classified. Imagine how damning the classified information must be. Read this book if you want an insight into Guantanamo Bay and why torture is an ineffective torture method.
March 28, 2020
"A society should be judged by the way it treats those accused of the worst crimes".
The claims made in this book are absolutely shocking... Yet at the same time, quite believable. This book made me question who the Bad Men really are... The Americans acted no better than terrorists. The treatment of hundreds of potentially innocent men (and young boys!) was brutal and inhumane, made even worse by the fact that some of these men had been PROVEN innocent and were still detained! The torture scenes were hard to stomach, particularly the graphic descriptions of the removal of the 43 inch feeding tube.
The author came across as intelligent and knowledgeable. This book was much better than I'd anticipated.
The claims made in this book are absolutely shocking... Yet at the same time, quite believable. This book made me question who the Bad Men really are... The Americans acted no better than terrorists. The treatment of hundreds of potentially innocent men (and young boys!) was brutal and inhumane, made even worse by the fact that some of these men had been PROVEN innocent and were still detained! The torture scenes were hard to stomach, particularly the graphic descriptions of the removal of the 43 inch feeding tube.
The author came across as intelligent and knowledgeable. This book was much better than I'd anticipated.
May 23, 2019
Read this for a uni assignment but decided to add it to my Goodreads shelf because I ended up reading it in it’s entirety because it was so interesting and well written. Prior to this assignment I hadn’t heard of Guantanamo Bay but after reading this book I am very convinced it is a corrupt, ineffective torture chamber and find it ridiculous that it hasn’t been shut down after promises by leaders like Obama. I liked the way the prisoners were humanised and we got a background description on their lives and how they came to be imprisoned in the Bay. I hope the other books I’ve borrowed on the topic are just as informative.
June 7, 2007
An eye opener!!! I knew Bush was crazy but this book totally proves it.
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August 9, 2011A truly chilling account of the War on Terror and some of the rather disturbing acts that take place in the name of freedom and liberty.
November 19, 2013
Written by a lawyer whose clients are prisoners in Guantanamo. Very insightful.
October 27, 2014
great book. If you want to form an opinion on Guantanamo Bay, and other secret prisons - this is the book to help you do it.
September 2, 2015
Excellent, fascinating and scary read. A thorough examination of the "logic" behind the existence of Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. and U.K. governments do not come out of this well.
September 7, 2025
This book changed the entire trajectory of my life.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews