The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals |...

The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals | Jane Mayer | Fear and loathing in D.C. or when you lose the past the future makes no sense.

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The Dark Side: The...

	The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals Jane Mayer Doubleday, 2008 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 84 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A dramatic and damning narrative account of how America has fought the
"War on Terror"

In the days immediately following September 11th, the most powerful people in the country were panic-stricken. The radical decisions about how to combat terrorists and strengthen national security were made in a state of utter chaos and fear, but the key players, Vice President Dick Cheney and his powerful, secretive adviser David Addington, used the crisis to further a long held agenda to enhance Presidential powers to a degree never known in U.S. history, and obliterate Constitutional protections that define the very essence of the American experiment.

THE DARK SIDE is a dramatic, riveting, and definitive narrative account of how the United States made terrible decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the world-- decisions that not only violated the Constitution to which White House officials took an oath to uphold, but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda. In gripping detail, acclaimed New Yorker writer and bestselling author, Jane Mayer, relates the impact of these decisions?U.S.-held prisoners, some of them completely innocent, were subjected to treatment more reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition than the twenty-first century.

THE DARK SIDE will chronicle real, specific cases, shown in real time against the larger tableau of what was happening in Washington, looking at the intelligence gained?or not?and the price paid. In some instances, torture worked. In many more, it led to false information, sometimes with devastating results. For instance, there is the stunning admission of one of the detainees, Sheikh Ibn al-Libi, that the confession he gave under duress?which provided a key piece of evidence buttressing congressional support of going to war against Iraq--was in fact fabricated, to make the torture stop.

In all cases, whatever the short term gains, there were incalculable losses in terms of moral standing, and our country's place in the world, and its sense of itself. THE DARK SIDE chronicles one of the most disturbing chapters in American history, one that will serve as the lasting legacy of the George W. Bush presidency.

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Enlightening and necessary

Every American should read this book to find out what is being done in his and her name--supposedly for our benefit.

The evidence is shocking. The only heartening thing is the effort of some Bush appointees, some FBI, Navy, etc., to fight the Administration's illegal, self-defeating, foolish and disgusting practices. But they didn't have a chance against Bush and Cheney.

That Bush and Cheney, etc., know that what they are doing is unconstitutional and prosecutable is evident: they wrote pardons for themselves into the law.

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Fear and loathing in D.C. or when you lose the past the future makes no sense.

Those of you who are considering a truly scary read for Halloween "The Dark Side" by Jane Mayer is just the book for you. The horror of the Bush Administrations' CIA Terror Project has been given the Disney treatment in main stream media but Mayer sets the record straight with Grimm precision.

I must begin by acknowledging that few reviews of this book will come from non-partisan reviewers. As the Bush administration frames it, to have any opinion outside of GOP talking points is considered unpatriotic. I am a devotee of CSPAN and was familiar with most of the players and basic plot of this tragic play but was amazed at Mayer's ability to nail down with certitude the basic truth, even with the majority of evidence still classified as State Secrets. This is an exceptional work of investigative journalism, and at 335 pages this tightly packed expose is not for the faint of heart or fair weather patriot as it surely will test the mettle of any patriotic American.

This accurate account of the evil that was done in the name of justice will forever haunt me (and depressed me enough to abandon my desire to practice law). To see the obvious revealed and writ large and know that despite all, neither the current administration, legislature nor public opinion has wavered from the blank check given Bush/Cheney to fight their misguided war on terror. One can only hope that this book is only a first step in a national detoxification program to remove the poisons fed to us by the current administration before their cancerous effects create permanent dysfunction.

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"prosecutable war crimes"

The first Sunday after the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dick Cheney appeared on Meet the Press and described how the Bush administration would respond: "We'll have to work sort of the dark side, if you will. We've got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies." He wasn't kidding. In the panic and paranoia that engulfed the Bush administration after the September 11 attacks, Cheney decided that the end of national security justified any and all means.

Jane Mayer reconstructs in meticulous detail how Cheney and his closest aides legalized torture as American public policy. There were noble administration people who demurred and dissented, but virtually all of them were marginalized. A small "War Council" acted in secrecy to actively exclude all naysayers and normal processes of checks and balances -- David Addington, John Yoo, Tim Flanigan, Alberto Gonzales ("an empty suit"), and Jim Haynes. These highly partisan ideologues, a weak president, and interagency rivalry and dysfunction created the "perfect storm." According to Human Rights Watch, "more than 600 U.S. military and civilian personnel were involved in abusing more than 460 detainees." What the public has seen and heard about Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib are only the tip of the iceberg.

The Bush administration boasts that its torture program has been worth the intelligence it gathered, but that's far from clear. Furthermore, "seven years after the attacks of September 11, not a single terror suspect held outside of the U.S. criminal court system has been tried." This is a tragedy in itself because, let's be clear, many of these detainees deserved to be punished. But such prosecutions become impossible when evidence was gathered by torture. And so now America holds hundreds of detainees that it can't prosecute, can't very well release, and can't reasonably hold forever without charges.

In spurning "the last nearly universal moral taboo" of torture, America's reputation among its allies has been badly sullied. Canada, for example, placed the United States on its list of rogue nations that torture (332-333). Our enemies have been enraged and emboldened. Our own military personnel can expect similar treatment. Cheney was careful to pass legislation that granted himself and his colleagues retroactive legal immunity, which is an explicit acknowledgement of what nations around the world have already concluded-- that our highest government officials are liable for "prosecutable war crimes" (244). Such prosecution will not happen at home, but as Phillipe Sands has argued in his own book, Torture Team (2008), those responsible for legalizing torture ought to be very careful about traveling overseas. As I write, Mayer's book has been named as a finalist for a National Book Award.

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We do torture!: Required reading for any thinking American (that means you, Sen. Obama)

Jane Mayer's look deep inside the Bush/Cheney White House at how and why torture was and still is used to interrogate prisoners around the globe is simpy essential reading for all right thinking Americans interested in how we as a nation have lost our moral authority.

The book is certainly not going to be considered a "page-turner" by anyone, but the shocking depth or depravity within the Bush administration, and the ease with which hundreds of CIA and military personnel adopted torture techniques, is mind blowing. Apparently there are a lot of very bad men and women who were just waiting for the opportunity given them by the terrorist attacks to become, quite simply, outlaws. Shocking and despicable.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to read this book. Hopefully, Senator Obama will, once he wins the White House, put a stop to the insanity of torturing our prisoners and regain a moral foothold, both at home and in the world.

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Terrorism caused from the White House

This book gives an excellant account of gross control of power from within the White House by Bush, Cheney, and his croonies. How this power and control fed the terror we face as a nation and the future of terrorism within our boundries. The arrogance of the administration doing what they wanted regardless of the current laws. They were "ABOVE THE LAW".
The writer has done a very good job portraying this. I would highly recommend it. Action should be taken against the power monguls who had to control.....

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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