Administration of torture : a documentary record from Washington to Abu Ghraib and beyond

When the American media published photographs of U.S. military personnel abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the Bush administration assured the world that the perpetrators were "rogue soldiers" and that abuse was isolated. But the government's own documents, uncovered by the American Civil Liberties Union, show that abuse was pervasive in overseas U.S. detention facilities and, more disturbing still, that senior officials endorsed the abuse as a matter of policy. In __Administration of Torture__, Jameel Jaffer and Amrit Singh draw the connection between the policies adopted by senior civilian and military officials and the widespread torture and abuse that took place on the ground. __Administration of Torture__ also reproduces hundreds of government documents-including interrogation directives, FBI e-mails, and Defense Department investigative files-that constitute both an important historical record and a profound indictment of the Bush administration's policies with respect to the detention and interrogation of prisoners. When the American media published photographs of U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the Bush administration assured the world that the abuse was isolated and that the perpetrators would be held accountable. Over the next three years, it refined its narrative at the margins, but by and large its public position remained the same. Yes, the administration acknowledged, some soldiers abused prisoners, but these soldiers were anomalous sadists who ignored clear orders. Abuse, the administration said, was aberrational-not systemic, not widespread, and certainly not a matter of policy. The government's own documents, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, tell a starkly different story. They show that the abuse of prisoners was not limited to Abu Ghraib but was pervasive in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan and at Guantánamo Bay. Even more disturbing, the documents reveal that senior officials endorsed the abuse of prisoners as a matter of policy-sometimes by tolerating it, sometimes by encouraging it, and sometimes by expressly authorizing it. Records from Guantánamo describe prisoners shackled in excruciating "stress positions," held in freezing-cold cells, forcibly stripped, hooded, terrorized with military dogs, and deprived of human contact for months. Files from Afghanistan and Iraq describe prisoners who had been beaten, kicked, and burned. Autopsy reports attribute the deaths of those in U.S. custody to strangulation, suffocation, and blunt-force injuries. __Administration of Torture__ is the most detailed account thus far of what took place in America's overseas detention centers, including a narrative essay in which Jameel Jaffer and Amrit Singh draw the connection between the policies adopted by senior civilian and military officials and the torture and abuse that took place on the ground. The book also reproduces hundreds of government documents—including interrogation directives, FBI e-mails, autopsy reports, and investigative files—that constitute both an important historical record and a profound indictment of the Bush administration's policies with respect to the detention and treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody abroad.

Die "Schriften des Historischen Kollegs" werden herausgegeben vom jeweiligen Vorsitzenden des Kuratoriums des Historischen Kollegs: bis 2011 von Herrn Professor Dr. Lothar Gall, von 2012 bis Oktober 2017 durch Herrn Professor Dr. Andreas Wirsching, ab Oktober 2017 durch Herrn Professor Dr. Martin Schulze Wessel in Verbindung mit Georg Brun, Thomas O. Höllmann, Hartmut Leppin, Susanne Lepsius, Bernhard Löffler, Frank Rexroth, Willibald Steinmetz und Gerrit Walther.
Zum Historischen Kolleg: http://www.historischeskolleg.de/

Jaffer And Singh Construct A Portrait Of The Systematic Abuse Suffered By Detainees Caught In The Net Of America's 'war On Terror'. They Argue That The Endorsement Of Abuse At The Highest Levels Of Government Presents A Powerful Test For American Democracy And The Rule Of Law. Introduction : Administration Of Torture -- Timeline Of Key Events -- Description Of The Documents -- The Documents. Jameel Jaffer And Amrit Singh. Includes Bibliographical References.