Monstering: Inside America's Policy of Secret Interrogations and Torture in the Terror War

by Tara McKelvey

In April 2004, the Abu Ghraib photographs set off an international scandal. Yet until now, the full story has never been told. Tara McKelvey — the first U.S.journalist to speak with female prisoners from Abu Ghraib — traveled to the Middle East and across the United States to seek out victims and perpetrators. McKelvey tells how soldiers, acting in an atmosphere that encouraged abuse and sadism, were unleashed on a prison population of which the vast majority, according to army documents, were innocent civilians. Drawing upon critical sources, she discloses a series of explosive revelations: An exclusive jailhouse interview with Lynndie England connects the Abu Ghraib pictures to lewd vacation photos taken by England's boyfriend Charles Graner; formerly undisclosed videotapes show soldiers "Robotripping" on cocktails of over-the-counter drugs while pretending to stab detainees; new material sheds light on accusations against an American suspected of raping an Iraqi child; and first-hand accounts suggest the use of high-voltage devises, sexual humiliation and pharmaceutical drugs on Iraqi prisoners. She also provides an inside look at Justice Department theories of presidential power to show how the many abuses were licensed by the government.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Middle East

336 pages, Hardcover

First published May 10, 2007

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't finish this book. The author seemed over intereseted in additional loosly relted gross stuff.

[Michael K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad and informative. America was asleep and not paying attention! We have stooped to the level of the Nazi's!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an alarming and depressing book. McKelvey documents abuses and outrages committed in the name of the American people upon occupants of sundry detention facilities, with emphasis on Abu Ghraib. McKelvey is a journalist and writes like one, touching on main points without delving too deeply into any individual case. One thing is established: many people, a large number of them completely innocent of any wrongdoing, were tortured, humiliated, raped, starved, and sometimes killed by Americans while in American custody. The writer also points out that the only persons receiving any punishment for excesses were at the bottom of the command structure, but that will be no surprise.

What might surprise the average reader is that some torture, such as stress positions, forced exercise, and sleep deprivation, is officially approved. This is the same type of abuse that Americans complained of receiving at the hands of the Japanese in WWII. If it was wrong then, why is it OK now?

If anything positive can be taken from this, it would be the fact that investigative writers like McKelvey are free to investigate such abuses and report on them in an open and public manner. It leads me to hope that the USA won't plunge into total fascism.

[Rock Angel]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/boo...
Tara McKelvey's book came out 3 years after Seymour Hersh's New Yorker articles.

The HBO documentary "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (2007)" lead me to Seymour Hersh's "Chain of Command," but there are criticism of his sources/credibility (he also wrote "The Dark Side of Camelot" 1997). Besides, one can just search the archives of The New Yorker, May 2004.

A note on the HBO documentary: it made reference to The Lucifer Effect, based on a 1971 prison experiment by a psychology professor at Stanford University. Similar studies cannot come to any definitive consensus about The Lucifer Effect.

[Gemma · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books on the policy of prisoner torture that I've read (and I've now read a ludicrous amount). Very straightforward language, an excellent balance of personal and institutional stories, and really tells you, immediately, what you need to know.

[Nisá · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too cruel.

[Maduck831 · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Teatro Regio] “It was a hospital bed, that much appeared certain, though certainty was coming and going.” (1) “He allowed himself a smile of deep satisfaction.” (306)

[Tessa Stockton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing like some nice, light reading.

[Samuel Provance · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best and most candid book that can be found on Abu Ghraib.

[Charity · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author writes in an extremely biased manner. It is a challenge to read through the pages upon pages of the author’s pov. She riles up the public against the military and other government representative units/agencies/etc. We all know of the wrongdoing on the parts of said groups (and even some individuals). IMO, the author exasperates the circumstances and caveats her rants with a one liner quote or statement of reality/truth. It is a true frustration. Maybe I’ll finish the book at some point this year...