Tortured: When Good Soldiers Do Bad Things

by Justine Sharrock

An eye-opening expos� of America's torture regimeMyths about torture Waterboarding is the worst we've done. The soldiers were hardened professionals. All Americans now believe that what we did was wrong. Torture is now a thing of the past. Journalist Justine Sharrock's reporting reveals a huge chasm between what has made headlines and what has actually happened. She traveled around the country, talking to the young, low-ranking soldiers that watched our prisoners, documenting what it feels like to torture someone and discovering how many residents of small town America think we should have done a lot more torture.Tortured goes behind the scenes of America's torture program through the personal stories of four American soldiers who were on the frontlines of the war on terror, including the Abu Ghraib whistleblower. They reveal how their orders came from the top with assurances that those orders were legal and how their experiences left them emotionally scarred and suffering a profound sense of betrayal by the very government for which they fought.Based on the firsthand accounts of young, working-class soldiers who were forced to carry out orders crafted by officers, politicians, and government lawyers who have never answered for their actionsThe Department of Justice may still launch an investigation into torture under Bush--and Sharrock argues it must be doneDescribes how it feels to torture, and how people back home reacted to the soldiers' revelationsIf reading Tortured doesn't make you angry, nothing America does to tarnish its reputation as a beacon of fairness and freedom ever will.

Genres: Nonfiction

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 11, 2010

Reviews

[Mar · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Kelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very thought provoking book about the torture that has happened at the hands of the US military against foreign detainees. It is really disturbing that this abuse actually happens under the direction of our government and by US soldiers. I have always read about the abuse during WW2 with a vague belief that Americans would never treat people that way (naive, I know), much less with approval from our government. This book angered me in many ways. I was also horrified by some of the civilian reactions to those who have come forward and revealed the abuse. It is a very interesting psychological study. Anyway, there is some language in this and disturbing material, but definitely makes you think...

[Lucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a pretty interesting book but it was not great. Obviously having the opportunity to try to understand these four veterans and their experiences is a privilege. I commend their courage and believe that they should not have been ostracized as they were. Apart from the soldiers themselves, the book itself felt like a big blur. The paragraphs phased into chapters and the chapters into sections. The writing was repetitive and tedious to read at times. There were parts of the book that I very much enjoyed but they were outweighed by the slow, repetitive slog up to those points. Although it wasn’t a great book, it was still an interesting and thought-provoking read.

2.5/5

[Steve Woods · Rating 3 out of 5]

A straight account of the experiences of three soldiers posted to duty in prisons during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It follows their experience during their deployment and their responses after return to the US. It's a straight narrative with little analysis. It does present the issue of torture as a moral dilemma and the abuse of service personnel in carrying out the orders of a morally corrupt Bush White House. It points up the cost to the torturer and ultimately to the moral authority of the US in the world.

[Libertylover501 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an eye opening account of the troubles are returning Vets are facing. Aside from physical injuries, so many are hurting mentally with PTSD. This book is the story of several soldiers. While in theater and when they came home.