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Cruel Britannia: A Secret History Of Torture
Who concealed a torture centre in London during WWII?
Who pioneered hooding, stress positions, starvation, sleep deprivation and white noise?
Who knew about the US programme of extraordinary rendition just five days after 9/11?
Whose government is still trying to prevent the truth from being heard in open court today?
It's time to challenge the assumption that the British don't 'do' torture?
Who pioneered hooding, stress positions, starvation, sleep deprivation and white noise?
Who knew about the US programme of extraordinary rendition just five days after 9/11?
Whose government is still trying to prevent the truth from being heard in open court today?
It's time to challenge the assumption that the British don't 'do' torture?
349 pages, Paperback
First published October 20, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
June 23, 2013
Eye-popping catalogue of British misdeeds, chronicling the inheritance of the skill of torture. Passages about our systematic and scientific examination of torture after WWII, and the application of those lessons in Africa are particularly staggering. A must-read for anyone interested either in general geopolitics or in the reality of our nation's human rights history - and a necessary component in understanding the present apparent fondness of our intelligence apparatus and government for torture evidence. Important book, well written.
November 10, 2012
This book belongs amongst the small library that contains the likes of James Bacque's Other Losses, Philip Agee's CIA Diary, William Pepper's An Act of State, George Crile's Charlie Wilson's War and Edwin Black’s IBM & the Holocaust - which have contributed great exposures of the epic scale of state terrorism. It is well written, clearly argued and although the subject matter is harrowing - the insight that it brings to the level of political and military duplicity over the continuous use of torture by the British State is a very positive achievement. In my view this book is compulsory reading.
October 7, 2013
An incredible account of investigative journalism into Britain's use of torture which covers the pre WW2 and Cold War eras, right up until the post 9/11 situation we're in now. Whilst the subject itself is heavy going and deeply disturbing, Cobain writes in such an accessible way that you almost feel like you're reading a fictional crime novel when it's actually all recently declassified fact.
In Cruel Britannia you'll find out about Britain's involvement in just about every incident of torture ever recorded (seriously, it seems like we taught others how to do it first). The accounts of torture are recorded from survivors of the secret interrogation camps during WW2 and the Cold War, the Mau Mau Uprising, and from those who were unlucky enough to get wrapped up in the post 9/11 hysteria, the fact is horrifying. Cobain also dedicates a good portion of the book to the infamous 'Five Techniques' of torture and particularly hones in on their usage during the IRA/ Northern Ireland conflict.
As well as the obvious, there's the usual accounts of dirty politics, dodgy laws, smear campaigns against those who tried to whistleblow / speak out about torture, enormous amounts of money being wasted, lots of bureaucracy and more cover ups than I thought could be possible.
In Cruel Britannia you'll find out about Britain's involvement in just about every incident of torture ever recorded (seriously, it seems like we taught others how to do it first). The accounts of torture are recorded from survivors of the secret interrogation camps during WW2 and the Cold War, the Mau Mau Uprising, and from those who were unlucky enough to get wrapped up in the post 9/11 hysteria, the fact is horrifying. Cobain also dedicates a good portion of the book to the infamous 'Five Techniques' of torture and particularly hones in on their usage during the IRA/ Northern Ireland conflict.
As well as the obvious, there's the usual accounts of dirty politics, dodgy laws, smear campaigns against those who tried to whistleblow / speak out about torture, enormous amounts of money being wasted, lots of bureaucracy and more cover ups than I thought could be possible.
March 28, 2016
"One important reason why these crimes have been committed with impunity over the years is that the British public tends not to believe that it has been happening, and the British media is reluctant to make them any the wiser. On the isles of fair play, it is assumed, the use of torture cannot be possible, because it is unthinkable.
But delve a little deeper, observe a little more clearly, far from being alien, torture can be seen to be as British as suet pudding and red pillar-boxes."
A harrowing, sickening but vital history of the oft ignored or generally unknown policies of British torture from WWII to the present day.
But delve a little deeper, observe a little more clearly, far from being alien, torture can be seen to be as British as suet pudding and red pillar-boxes."
A harrowing, sickening but vital history of the oft ignored or generally unknown policies of British torture from WWII to the present day.
October 3, 2013
Ian Cobain’s book is a masterpiece of investigative journalism. He uncovers some of Whitehall’s darkest secrets and traces a truly shocking continuum of official sanction and encouragement of torture as a weapon of state from the 1930s to today.
Anyone who has a passing acquaintance with the news will have heard of some of the more recent cases and issues – extraordinary rendition, Moazzam Begg, Binyam Mohamed – but the way torture has actually been used by the British military and intelligence services in virtually every conflict since the World War Two is staggering.
Cobain traces the development of 'interrogation centres' in the heart of London during the war through to their use in colonial conflicts like Cyprus, Kenya, Palestine and Aden, the secret discussions on torture, brainwashing, sensory deprivation and internment among the British, US and Canadian governments in the 50s and 60s, the ‘Five Techniques’ of interrogation in Northern Ireland, onto the way torture has been used as part of the ‘war on terror’ and in Iraq.
Through freedom of information requests, rigorous hunting through the National Archives and other sources, plus the use of leaks, interviews and sleuthing, Cobain uncovers an amazing amount of detail on the way torture has been used, who has ordered and condoned it, and ministerial involvement and hypocrisy (Ted Heath and Jack Straw come out of this book particularly badly). Over and over again, he shows it is not ‘bad apples’, rogue spies or out-of-control soldiers responsible for brutality, but just how official it really is – and the amazing lengths officials and politicians have gone to in an attempt to cover it all up.
Cobain also shows how not all torture is waterboarding, fingernail-pulling and so on – much more common, but still excruciating, is simply being forced to adopt ‘stress positions’ for hours and days on end, being beaten and starved and shackled and humiliated. He also details the psychological damage that can come from complete sensory deprivation.
Cobain doesn’t seek to exonerate or mythologise all the victims of torture in this book – some are innocent and blameless, but others are clearly criminals and terrorists and Nazi spies and war criminals. His point is that Britain regularly uses torture when it says it doesn’t, in contravention of its treaty obligations and international law.
I didn’t begin this book thinking of Britain as a paragon of virtue in world affairs and human rights, and I’ve never been someone who’s bought into the ‘fair play and tolerance’ myth. But Cobain’s journalism is a vital corrective to official lies and hypocrisy, and should be required reading.
The most shocking individual incident, for me, was to learn about Bad Nenndorf, the interrogation centre in the British zone of occupation in post-war Germany – specifically, that the British “recovered a number of ‘shin screws’ from a Gestapo prison in Hamburg and had put them to use”.
We literally borrowed Nazi torture equipment to use against people. Could there be a more flagrant example of the lies we tell ourselves as a country versus the reality of our actions?
Anyone who has a passing acquaintance with the news will have heard of some of the more recent cases and issues – extraordinary rendition, Moazzam Begg, Binyam Mohamed – but the way torture has actually been used by the British military and intelligence services in virtually every conflict since the World War Two is staggering.
Cobain traces the development of 'interrogation centres' in the heart of London during the war through to their use in colonial conflicts like Cyprus, Kenya, Palestine and Aden, the secret discussions on torture, brainwashing, sensory deprivation and internment among the British, US and Canadian governments in the 50s and 60s, the ‘Five Techniques’ of interrogation in Northern Ireland, onto the way torture has been used as part of the ‘war on terror’ and in Iraq.
Through freedom of information requests, rigorous hunting through the National Archives and other sources, plus the use of leaks, interviews and sleuthing, Cobain uncovers an amazing amount of detail on the way torture has been used, who has ordered and condoned it, and ministerial involvement and hypocrisy (Ted Heath and Jack Straw come out of this book particularly badly). Over and over again, he shows it is not ‘bad apples’, rogue spies or out-of-control soldiers responsible for brutality, but just how official it really is – and the amazing lengths officials and politicians have gone to in an attempt to cover it all up.
Cobain also shows how not all torture is waterboarding, fingernail-pulling and so on – much more common, but still excruciating, is simply being forced to adopt ‘stress positions’ for hours and days on end, being beaten and starved and shackled and humiliated. He also details the psychological damage that can come from complete sensory deprivation.
Cobain doesn’t seek to exonerate or mythologise all the victims of torture in this book – some are innocent and blameless, but others are clearly criminals and terrorists and Nazi spies and war criminals. His point is that Britain regularly uses torture when it says it doesn’t, in contravention of its treaty obligations and international law.
I didn’t begin this book thinking of Britain as a paragon of virtue in world affairs and human rights, and I’ve never been someone who’s bought into the ‘fair play and tolerance’ myth. But Cobain’s journalism is a vital corrective to official lies and hypocrisy, and should be required reading.
The most shocking individual incident, for me, was to learn about Bad Nenndorf, the interrogation centre in the British zone of occupation in post-war Germany – specifically, that the British “recovered a number of ‘shin screws’ from a Gestapo prison in Hamburg and had put them to use”.
We literally borrowed Nazi torture equipment to use against people. Could there be a more flagrant example of the lies we tell ourselves as a country versus the reality of our actions?
May 24, 2015
"I still suffer from my time in detention. I want to understand why I was tortured and why I was so humiliated. I was treated like an animal. Nobody has ever explained to me why." Probably the hardest book I've ever read. This will banish any notion of patriotism you have for the UK and make you feel sick to your stomach at the treatment countless people have endured at the hands of Her Majesty's Government. A heartbreaking read that's definitely worth doing, if only to see how easy it is for bodies of authority to excuse atrocities like this.
February 25, 2014
The British Government does not do torture. Never has. Unless you count Britain in WWII, Europe post WWII, Palestine, Kenya, Cyprus, Aden, Northen Ireland, Iraq and worldwide post-9/11. Apart from these instances, the British Government does not do torture, and never has.
December 17, 2023
A curate's egg of a book, this. Aiming to dispel some comfortable myths of British exceptionalism, Ian Cobain mixes some genuinely impressive research with speculation and inference.
It starts early. Looking at the impressive results achieved by the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centres (CSDIC) in WW2, Cobain concludes that they produced those results quickly so they must have used torture. Transcripts of prisoner conversations provide evidence of widely varying lengths of stay, and show that the mix of direct interrogation, stool pigeons and microphones rendered violence unnecessary as well as counterproductive.
More seriously, he uses the same inferential approach to denounce MI5's Camp 020 where there is decent evidence that inmates' treatment was firm, going on harsh, but not brutal. Yet Camp 020 is repeatedly invoked as a platform on which allegations about later mistreatment stand, and in many cases where he has better contemporary evidence.
This is not to say there were no excesses. Prisoners were probably abused at the notorious London District Cage (see Helen Fry's The London Cage: The Secret History of Britain's World War II Interrogation Centre and certainly at the post-war centre in Bad Nenndorf in Germany. Robin 'Tin Eye' Stephens who headed both Camp 020 and Bad Nenndorf was tried and acquitted for the abuses there - which Cobain presents as a stitch-up. Nonetheless he went on to become a Security Service liaison officer in Accra in the Gold Coast (Ghana), which sounds distinctly like being put out to grass.
Subsequent chapters deal with the messier experiences of retreat from empire and domestic insurrection, where military and police forces have been asked to face opponents who don't wear uniform, cannot be distinguished from the civilian population, and don't acknowledge the same values or rules of combat. All of which is a perilous formula for a spiral of violence. Here Cobain's journalistic approach pays off. He has managed to track down a number of survivor accounts from both sides of the table to build a compelling story. There is just a nagging question left by the earlier lacunae: are we getting a selective account here?
It starts early. Looking at the impressive results achieved by the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centres (CSDIC) in WW2, Cobain concludes that they produced those results quickly so they must have used torture. Transcripts of prisoner conversations provide evidence of widely varying lengths of stay, and show that the mix of direct interrogation, stool pigeons and microphones rendered violence unnecessary as well as counterproductive.
More seriously, he uses the same inferential approach to denounce MI5's Camp 020 where there is decent evidence that inmates' treatment was firm, going on harsh, but not brutal. Yet Camp 020 is repeatedly invoked as a platform on which allegations about later mistreatment stand, and in many cases where he has better contemporary evidence.
This is not to say there were no excesses. Prisoners were probably abused at the notorious London District Cage (see Helen Fry's The London Cage: The Secret History of Britain's World War II Interrogation Centre and certainly at the post-war centre in Bad Nenndorf in Germany. Robin 'Tin Eye' Stephens who headed both Camp 020 and Bad Nenndorf was tried and acquitted for the abuses there - which Cobain presents as a stitch-up. Nonetheless he went on to become a Security Service liaison officer in Accra in the Gold Coast (Ghana), which sounds distinctly like being put out to grass.
Subsequent chapters deal with the messier experiences of retreat from empire and domestic insurrection, where military and police forces have been asked to face opponents who don't wear uniform, cannot be distinguished from the civilian population, and don't acknowledge the same values or rules of combat. All of which is a perilous formula for a spiral of violence. Here Cobain's journalistic approach pays off. He has managed to track down a number of survivor accounts from both sides of the table to build a compelling story. There is just a nagging question left by the earlier lacunae: are we getting a selective account here?
February 3, 2021
A thorough history of the use of torture by British forces from WWII to the War on Terror. The author tracks the use and development of torture techniques by the British, in order to extract information and turn enemy agents, whilst leaving the minimum of marks upon the body, culminating in the "Five Techniques", of food deprivation/"sparse diet", sleep deprivation, hooding, subjection to noise, and "wall standing"/leaning against a wall supported only by the fingers. As torture is used, and techniques refined, the government and military deny torture, but occasionally when caught out, will say "never again", whilst surreptitiously leaving the door open for it to continue. The book can roughly be divided into three sections.
The first concerns WW2 and it's immediate aftermath in Europe as the Cold War begins. This section in particular is revealing, and can be challenging, as it is suggested that many of the Allies intelligence achievements are at least partially due to the torture of Axis agents. In addition, in a book of this nature, not all those tortured are overly sympathetic, such as members of the British Union of Fascists or adjutants to Adolf Hitler.
The second broad section concerns colonial wars, and the atrocities committed, and often hidden, in Palestine, Kenya, Cyprus, Yemen (Aden), Nigeria, Malaya, Brunei, Swaziland, Borneo, Oman, and Northern Ireland.
Finally, the book discusses the War on Terror, and both torture committed by British forces in Iraq, and British complicity in torture around the world in the American network of black site torture camps.
Torture is not something the British state sanctions lightly in the way some regimes do, however it appears to be an indispensably tool, and there are no reassurances it will not be used, and covered up, in future.
The book is very well researched, with extensive use of the National Archives made, in addition to many interviews with those involved from all perspectives. The writing is clear and easy, though at times a little dry. Overall, it is an excellent, thorough, and engaging look at an aspect of British governance that many would rather not think about.
The first concerns WW2 and it's immediate aftermath in Europe as the Cold War begins. This section in particular is revealing, and can be challenging, as it is suggested that many of the Allies intelligence achievements are at least partially due to the torture of Axis agents. In addition, in a book of this nature, not all those tortured are overly sympathetic, such as members of the British Union of Fascists or adjutants to Adolf Hitler.
The second broad section concerns colonial wars, and the atrocities committed, and often hidden, in Palestine, Kenya, Cyprus, Yemen (Aden), Nigeria, Malaya, Brunei, Swaziland, Borneo, Oman, and Northern Ireland.
Finally, the book discusses the War on Terror, and both torture committed by British forces in Iraq, and British complicity in torture around the world in the American network of black site torture camps.
Torture is not something the British state sanctions lightly in the way some regimes do, however it appears to be an indispensably tool, and there are no reassurances it will not be used, and covered up, in future.
The book is very well researched, with extensive use of the National Archives made, in addition to many interviews with those involved from all perspectives. The writing is clear and easy, though at times a little dry. Overall, it is an excellent, thorough, and engaging look at an aspect of British governance that many would rather not think about.
December 17, 2019
Since the tragedy of 9/11, there has been much in the news about the war on terror, and the questionable interrogation methods used by the United States of America. While many point fingers at the United States, Great Britain has also participated in interrogations during which prisoners were tortured.
What is less well known, is that many of the physical and psychological torture techniques used by the British were developed at two British interrogation centres during World War II: the London Cage and Camp 020. The London Cage seems to have leaned more towards physical torture, whereas Camp 020 used psychological torture.
During World War II, Lt. Col. Alexander Scotland commanded the London Cage, an interrogation centre for German prisoners of war. Thousands of prisoners passed through the doors of the Cage, located in Kensington Gardens, behind the doors of three Victorian mansions. Most were deprived of sleep and forced to assume stress positions for days at a time. Some were beaten. Some died and were secretly buried.
Camp 020 had a slightly different history. It opened in July 1940 under the command of Lt. Col. Robert Stephens. Stephens apparently eschewed physical violence, claiming it produced low-grade information. The first inmates at the camp were members of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). They claimed that they were subjected to:
- solitary confinement for weeks,
- meagre rations,
- woken up frequently at night,
- only two 30 minute periods of exercise,
- pulled from beds in middle of night and brought in for interrogation,
- some held in cells lit 24 hours a day or kept in complete darkness,
- moved from one location to another without notice,
- all were threatened with being shot or hanged (Cobain, 10)
One member of the BUF said that his memory was badly damaged by this treatment. "Certain periods of my life completely disappeared from my mind. Others who shared my experiences at Ham Common [Camp 020] have since remarked on similar symptoms in themselves. The resident doctor...stated to me plainly that the treatment was intended to produce a state of "mental atrophy and extreme loquacity". (Cobain, 11)
The doctor in question was Dr. Harold Dearden, a medical doctor and psychologist. He dreamed up regimes of starvation and sensory & sleep deprivation that were designed to break the will of even the most stubborn Camp 020 detainee.
Many of the techniques used by Scotland at the London Cage were contraventions of the Geneva Conventions (forcing prisoners to stand at attention for more than 24 hours at a time, forcing them to kneel while they were beaten about the head). (Cobain 32) While Camp 020 apparently stayed away from such physical tortures, it too contravened the Geneva Convention by threatening to have men shot for failing to disclose information. Eventually all British subjects at Camp 020 were moved elsewhere and the camp was devoted to the interrogation of foreign espionage suspects.
Stephens claimed physical violence was never used at Camp 020 because it produced information of dubious quality. Some scholars question that assertion and point to the track record Stephens developed at his next posting.
When the war ended, Stephens was appointed Commandant of Bad Nenndorf, a British interrogation centre in Germany. As the months progressed, there was no doubt that prisoners at Bad Nenndorf were starved, beaten and deprived of heat and clothing. They were told that their wives and children would be murdered. Such threats were apparently considered quite "proper" by the British officers in charge of the camp.
Sick inmates were dropped off at the local hospital where they were found to be: filthy, confused, emaciated, terrified and suffering from frostbite and multiple injuries.
An investigation was eventually conducted against Stephens and some of his fellow officers who were brought before a court martial. Stephens claimed he had no idea what was going on at Bad Nenndorf as he was busy writing the history of Camp 020. In private, his lawyer threatened to spill the beans and say that if cruelties did take place, they were of the sort used at Camp 020 and authorized by the government and the head of MI5. In the end, Stephens was a acquitted.
Between 1950 and 1970, British authorities experimented with various techniques for extracting information from stubborn subjects. Drugs and hypnosis were generally not successful. Scientists began to dabble in sensory deprivation and discovered a most useful tool. Most people became disorientated in less than 24 hours. The idea that isolation and sensory deprivation could be used to break down an individual's resistance to interrogation would have come as no surprise to Dr. Harold Dearden at Camp 020. By the early 1970s, British authorities had come up with a torture regime that included:
- isolation
- sensory deprivation
- seemingly self-inflicted pain (stress positions - e.g. standing at attention for hours)
- exhaustion
- humiliation (Cobain, 129)
The British tweaked their technique during the Irish troubles. But by the 21st century, little had changed in the British interrogation toolkit:
- shouting and deception (used at Camp 020)
- sleep deprivation (used at Camp 020)
- stripped naked (possibly used at Camp 020)
- hooding, light and auditory deprivation (used at Camp 020)
- use of stress positions (possibly used at Camp 020)
- isolation up to 30 days (used at Camp 020)
- mild, non-injurious physical contact
- death threats (used at Camp 020)
- exposure to extreme cold
- water boarding
The modern British interrogator makes a distinction between "torture" (severe pain as accompanying a serious physical injury) and "inhuman and degrading treatment (not torture). In their view, the simple infliction of pain and suffering, whether it is physical or mental, is not torture (Cobain, 231).
Cobain admitted that he didn't want to see what his government was doing. He admitted that when things look desperate, England resorts to torture (Cobain, 308).
A most fascinating book, well-researched and timely. Everyone who doubts that the "upstanding" British could stoop so low, should read this book. It was disturbing to learn of the fragility of the human psyche.
What is less well known, is that many of the physical and psychological torture techniques used by the British were developed at two British interrogation centres during World War II: the London Cage and Camp 020. The London Cage seems to have leaned more towards physical torture, whereas Camp 020 used psychological torture.
During World War II, Lt. Col. Alexander Scotland commanded the London Cage, an interrogation centre for German prisoners of war. Thousands of prisoners passed through the doors of the Cage, located in Kensington Gardens, behind the doors of three Victorian mansions. Most were deprived of sleep and forced to assume stress positions for days at a time. Some were beaten. Some died and were secretly buried.
Camp 020 had a slightly different history. It opened in July 1940 under the command of Lt. Col. Robert Stephens. Stephens apparently eschewed physical violence, claiming it produced low-grade information. The first inmates at the camp were members of the British Union of Fascists (BUF). They claimed that they were subjected to:
- solitary confinement for weeks,
- meagre rations,
- woken up frequently at night,
- only two 30 minute periods of exercise,
- pulled from beds in middle of night and brought in for interrogation,
- some held in cells lit 24 hours a day or kept in complete darkness,
- moved from one location to another without notice,
- all were threatened with being shot or hanged (Cobain, 10)
One member of the BUF said that his memory was badly damaged by this treatment. "Certain periods of my life completely disappeared from my mind. Others who shared my experiences at Ham Common [Camp 020] have since remarked on similar symptoms in themselves. The resident doctor...stated to me plainly that the treatment was intended to produce a state of "mental atrophy and extreme loquacity". (Cobain, 11)
The doctor in question was Dr. Harold Dearden, a medical doctor and psychologist. He dreamed up regimes of starvation and sensory & sleep deprivation that were designed to break the will of even the most stubborn Camp 020 detainee.
Many of the techniques used by Scotland at the London Cage were contraventions of the Geneva Conventions (forcing prisoners to stand at attention for more than 24 hours at a time, forcing them to kneel while they were beaten about the head). (Cobain 32) While Camp 020 apparently stayed away from such physical tortures, it too contravened the Geneva Convention by threatening to have men shot for failing to disclose information. Eventually all British subjects at Camp 020 were moved elsewhere and the camp was devoted to the interrogation of foreign espionage suspects.
Stephens claimed physical violence was never used at Camp 020 because it produced information of dubious quality. Some scholars question that assertion and point to the track record Stephens developed at his next posting.
When the war ended, Stephens was appointed Commandant of Bad Nenndorf, a British interrogation centre in Germany. As the months progressed, there was no doubt that prisoners at Bad Nenndorf were starved, beaten and deprived of heat and clothing. They were told that their wives and children would be murdered. Such threats were apparently considered quite "proper" by the British officers in charge of the camp.
Sick inmates were dropped off at the local hospital where they were found to be: filthy, confused, emaciated, terrified and suffering from frostbite and multiple injuries.
An investigation was eventually conducted against Stephens and some of his fellow officers who were brought before a court martial. Stephens claimed he had no idea what was going on at Bad Nenndorf as he was busy writing the history of Camp 020. In private, his lawyer threatened to spill the beans and say that if cruelties did take place, they were of the sort used at Camp 020 and authorized by the government and the head of MI5. In the end, Stephens was a acquitted.
Between 1950 and 1970, British authorities experimented with various techniques for extracting information from stubborn subjects. Drugs and hypnosis were generally not successful. Scientists began to dabble in sensory deprivation and discovered a most useful tool. Most people became disorientated in less than 24 hours. The idea that isolation and sensory deprivation could be used to break down an individual's resistance to interrogation would have come as no surprise to Dr. Harold Dearden at Camp 020. By the early 1970s, British authorities had come up with a torture regime that included:
- isolation
- sensory deprivation
- seemingly self-inflicted pain (stress positions - e.g. standing at attention for hours)
- exhaustion
- humiliation (Cobain, 129)
The British tweaked their technique during the Irish troubles. But by the 21st century, little had changed in the British interrogation toolkit:
- shouting and deception (used at Camp 020)
- sleep deprivation (used at Camp 020)
- stripped naked (possibly used at Camp 020)
- hooding, light and auditory deprivation (used at Camp 020)
- use of stress positions (possibly used at Camp 020)
- isolation up to 30 days (used at Camp 020)
- mild, non-injurious physical contact
- death threats (used at Camp 020)
- exposure to extreme cold
- water boarding
The modern British interrogator makes a distinction between "torture" (severe pain as accompanying a serious physical injury) and "inhuman and degrading treatment (not torture). In their view, the simple infliction of pain and suffering, whether it is physical or mental, is not torture (Cobain, 231).
Cobain admitted that he didn't want to see what his government was doing. He admitted that when things look desperate, England resorts to torture (Cobain, 308).
A most fascinating book, well-researched and timely. Everyone who doubts that the "upstanding" British could stoop so low, should read this book. It was disturbing to learn of the fragility of the human psyche.
Read
October 25, 2020Brutal, harrowing, shocking - all words to describe the information in this book.
The light journalistic style belies a revealing story of the systematic abuses of the UK state traced from the dark days of WW2 all the way through the decline of empire, N.Ireland, and 9/11 right up to the post-Iraq era; a tale of inhumane treatment, torture and cover-ups. No government in the post-war era comes out unscathed; i kept thinking, someone must have known, the sad fact is they did and turned the other way.
This book is for those interested in politics, the military or colonial Britain. It is engaging, well written and compelling. You may need a brave stomach (i had to put it down several times in horror) but it is a fascinating and rewarding read.
You'll never watch the news the same way again...
The light journalistic style belies a revealing story of the systematic abuses of the UK state traced from the dark days of WW2 all the way through the decline of empire, N.Ireland, and 9/11 right up to the post-Iraq era; a tale of inhumane treatment, torture and cover-ups. No government in the post-war era comes out unscathed; i kept thinking, someone must have known, the sad fact is they did and turned the other way.
This book is for those interested in politics, the military or colonial Britain. It is engaging, well written and compelling. You may need a brave stomach (i had to put it down several times in horror) but it is a fascinating and rewarding read.
You'll never watch the news the same way again...
January 17, 2020
The title is a little misleading on this book. I think a more appropriate title would be “Interrogation a secret history”!
Pretty interesting book looking at the interrogation techniques Britain from WW2 until now.
Nothing I didn’t already know but covers it in a little depths whilst still being interesting.
Pretty interesting book looking at the interrogation techniques Britain from WW2 until now.
Nothing I didn’t already know but covers it in a little depths whilst still being interesting.
July 30, 2022
A shocking and worthwhile book
Ian Cobain skillfully and coherently pieces together the history of institutionalised brutality used by UK authorities in our modern age. He also chronicles the largely successful efforts by all levels of government to hide the shameful facts from the wider public. It's a devastating read.
Ian Cobain skillfully and coherently pieces together the history of institutionalised brutality used by UK authorities in our modern age. He also chronicles the largely successful efforts by all levels of government to hide the shameful facts from the wider public. It's a devastating read.
September 6, 2017
An eye opening account of Britain's use of torture since WW2, including details of how its use in Northern Ireland exacerbated the Troubles and how the military in Iraq was not as clean cut as everyone wanted to think. Highly recommended.
July 7, 2020
An eye-opening read. Horrendous hypocrisy, mostly. Perfidious Albion at work. One can see why they called the Union Jack, The Butcher's Apron.
May 25, 2022
Deeply disturbing book on the horrific practises of Britain around the globe. Our legacy will be stained forever.
December 9, 2025
Such an incredible piece of investigative journalism - uncovers so many horrific British state secrets hidden over the last 80 years.
February 11, 2013
This is the secret, now de-classified history of torture. Cruel Britannia is a real eye-opener, tracing the deployment of torture by British forces since WWII all the way to the Iraq War and contemporary times. Cobain proves through the testaments of witnesses, victims and de-classified documents that torture have been used systematically and ruthlessly in times of crisis against definite and potential enemies and terrorism suspects. He uncovers the five techniques of torture deployed as well as the sixth which has been added during the Iraq war. Cobain also uncovers the systematic denyal and cover up by several British governments of any British involvement in torture, leading to the use of wild cards to divert the course of justice.
What is more shocking is the involvement of numerous countries and governments in torture. The Americans started the Rendition Programme after 9/11, which is the process of kidnapping terrorism suspects and shipping them to be tortured on foreign soil outside the cover of U.S law which incriminates torture. The co-partners in torture are Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh and more. The governments of these countries never hesitated to accept request by the British and American intelligencies to question suspects on their behalf which involved severe and injurious torture.
Cruel Britannia: A Secret History of Torture is a book written after lengthy pains-taking research. Cobain requested the de-classification of some of the top secret documents himself. He is a brave man and I am grateful for him to have done all the research and presented the bloody truth for me on a clean plate of gold.
What is more shocking is the involvement of numerous countries and governments in torture. The Americans started the Rendition Programme after 9/11, which is the process of kidnapping terrorism suspects and shipping them to be tortured on foreign soil outside the cover of U.S law which incriminates torture. The co-partners in torture are Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh and more. The governments of these countries never hesitated to accept request by the British and American intelligencies to question suspects on their behalf which involved severe and injurious torture.
Cruel Britannia: A Secret History of Torture is a book written after lengthy pains-taking research. Cobain requested the de-classification of some of the top secret documents himself. He is a brave man and I am grateful for him to have done all the research and presented the bloody truth for me on a clean plate of gold.
December 30, 2012
This was pretty depressing Christmas reading, but full marks to Ian Cobain for digging out and presenting the story. Quite a lot is ancient history (well, back as far as the early days of World War II) and the book rather tailed off towards the present - I'd been hoping for more on extraordinary rendition and the UK authorities' complicity in this. But that has been quite widely covered elsewhere I suppose. The use of illegal torture in the Norther Ireland troubles and the Mau Mau insurgencoes are very well described, though I don't know if any of this is very new. The real strength of Cobain's narrative is to show the strong thread of continuity between tortures illicitly practised to combat the Nazis and turn fifth-columnists in the 1940s, and what is known to have been going on so very recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. Plus ca change? Who are they torturing now?
February 16, 2016
One of the books that make you glad someone wrote it. An insight into Britain's history of torture, written by a journalist with a thick skin against threats from people sitting in high places and saddening and infuriating details of humans being subjected to inhumane interrogation.
The book gives an immense amount of details of Britain's methods of torture as well as tactics in hiding its existence and it is an eye-opener when it comes to who is being tortured (not just your standard "terrorist", but also many innocent people) and who is allowing it and how it is denied from those people.
The book gives an immense amount of details of Britain's methods of torture as well as tactics in hiding its existence and it is an eye-opener when it comes to who is being tortured (not just your standard "terrorist", but also many innocent people) and who is allowing it and how it is denied from those people.
Want to read
November 26, 2012
August 4, 2022
This is not a book for the prurient but more of a political science approach to why torture, rendition, all the mess of abusing human beings in search of information is so consistently pursued by governments who officially abhor the practice. It isn't an easy read, not due to the unpleasant recounting of the practices but rather to the endless hypocrisy of the UK, the US, and other Western countries who are quite ready to point fingers at other nations doing the same thing.
March 3, 2013
I was shocked by what I learnt about British Gov involvement in torture and "harsh" interrogation techniques. The book is written by a journalist and as a result is very easy to read; despite the very disturbing content.
October 19, 2015
An absolutely horrifying but vital book. Made me quite ashamed to be British. Extremely well-written, Cobain's book doesn't shy away from rooting out the UK's complicity with torture at all levels, from the lowest ranks to the highest echelons of government.
February 7, 2016
Interesting book looking into the history of torture carried out by the UK. Worrying that despite proof that torture doesn't really work, it has still been carried out for the past 60/70 years by the UK. Two long chapters were dedicated to Northern Ireland also...
March 18, 2013
A chilling and welcome reminder of the efforts of the British government to simultaneously conduct and cover up evidence of torture since the second world war.
August 10, 2013
While not a surprise, how both Labour and ConDem gov'ts have avoided War Crimes tribunals is beyond me. A devastating read.
November 5, 2014
Tony Blair is an utter bastard.
January 3, 2015
Truly shocking. I can't recall the last time I read a book that so comprehensively undermined my faith in the system.
January 18, 2016
This book clearly shows that the British, although they generally have a high opinion of themselves, are not much better than the Nazis. It's one of the most fascinating histories that I have read.
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