The Torturer in the Mirror

by Ramsey Clark, Thomas Ehrlich Reifer, Haifa Zangana

Before the US invasion of Iraq, before the American public saw the infamous photos from Abu Ghraib, the CIA went to the White House with a What, according to the Constitution, was the line separating interrogation from torture—and could that line be moved? The White House lawyers' answer—in the form of legal documents later known as the "Torture Memos"—became the US's justification for engaging in torture.
The Torturer in the Mirror shows us how when one of us tortures, we are all implicated in the crime. In three uncompromising essays, Iraqi dissident Haifa Zangana, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and professor of sociology Thomas Ehrlich Reifer teach us how physically and psychologically insidious torture is, how deep a mark it leaves on both its victims and its practitioners, and how necessary it is for us as a society to hold torturers accountable.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

80 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2010

Reviews

[Algernon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a little book consisting of three essays about United States torture programs. For such a small book it is an exhausting read because it reveals our national shame. The authors are Haifa Zangana, an Iraqi dissident who was imprisoned and tortured by Saddam's regime at Qasr al-Nihaya, and who is still suffering psychological effects 40 years later; Ramsey Clark, former United States Attorney General under President Johnson; and Thomas Ehrlich Reifer, a sociologist. Each contributes one essay on the ramifications of torture and state secrecy; each reveal the painful contradiction of a nation that promotes human rights and democracy while conducting torture on human beings and covering it up.

And Zangana may yet be going too easy on us. She concludes that "Americans have to stop seeing their way of life as the only one to fit all," as if our illegal occupation and subsequent atrocities have something to do with exporting an American lifestyle to Iraq, including the good things. There is no indication that this is the case. Our illegal occupation and subsequent atrocities are part of maintaing a certain lifestyle for us, not the Iraqis. The groupthink that views other nations and their people as wilderness to be controlled for our own interests is something we must topple if humanity is ever to face the roots of war, terrorism, and our ecological emergency. As a nation that presumes to stand for human rights and democracy, we must resolve the contradiction: the institutions of American power do not, in their actions, uphold these values.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to read as a historical document, written in the first year of the Obama presidency at a time when there was some hope that Obama would close Guantanamo, put an end to the US practice of torture, and bring to justice the war criminals (Bush, Cheney, John Yoo, etal).
Well, none of that happened of course.

[Monster Longe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found Ramsey Clark's essay to be the best of the three, with Professor Reifer's very close behind. My knock concerning the book is that, while damning, I didn't find it to be as damning of the U.S. as it should be for the government's undeniable employment of torture in violation of the country's founding document, international law, and basic moral decency. I needed more bite, and less rose-colored optimism that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

[Timothy McNeil · Rating 3 out of 5]

An uneven collection of essays on torture that ultimately does little more than scratch the already known surface.

[Rima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely heartbreaking and gut-wrenching, the entire collection.

[Austin Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Small and important!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Yoo...

"If the President deems that he's got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person's child, there is no law that can stop him?", to which Yoo replied "No treaty." Cassel followed up with "Also no law by Congress—that is what you wrote in the August 2002 memo", to which Yoo replied "I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that."

[David Porter]

Helpful to counter the current lionization of Barack Obama.