A question of torture by Alfred W McCoy

¶ … torture: CIA interrogation from the Cold War to the War on Terror by Alfred W. McCoy. Specifically it will contain a book report on the book, including key points and evidence that supports the author's thesis. The author is a history professor at the University of Wisconsin and has written heavily on the U.S. Government and covert operations conducted by the government. He researched and wrote this book after seeing news accounts of the torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq, however, the author had been researching CIA torture in various forms since 1986 (Wolff, 2006). His purpose in writing this expose is to show that the CIA has a 50-plus year history of torture against others, and that the situation at Abu Ghraib was not isolated or something new, but instead a long-held tradition in the CIA and other covert operations in the U.S. Government. He opens the book by saying, "Rather they [the Abu Ghraib photos] show CIA torture methods that have metastasized like an undetected cancer inside the U.S. intelligence community over the past half century" (McCoy, 2006, p. 5). This is the premise of his book, and he goes on to write a brief history of torture in the United States, as disturbing as that might seem.

The author notes his express purpose early on in the book. He writes, "This book does not focus primarily on particular incidents, even important ones such as the events at Abu Ghraib, but instead examines these events as expressions of how American power has been brought to bear upon the world -- so strong, so forceful, and so misapplied" (McCoy, 2006, p.7). Thus, the secondary theme to this book is that America is misusing her power, and showing a side of the country to the world that is without explanation or common decency. The government condones torture, something that the Geneva Convention and common human rights speak out against, and in employing torture, the country aligns itself with some of the most brutal governments and organizations of all time.

The author defines psychological torture as some of the most mentally damaging, even if it is not physically harmful. The CIA uses psychological torture, and has used it throughout the world in the past, beginning with the Vietnam War, according to the author. He writes, "Just four years after the CIA compiled its 1963 manual for use against a handful of counterintelligence targets, its agents were operating forty interrogation centers in South Vietnam that killed more than twenty thousand suspects and tortured thousands more" (McCoy, 2006, p. 13). This is an appalling number of deaths, and the author maintains that most of them did not give out information of any use before they died, making the practice even more appalling and inhumane.

The author shows that initially, the CIA torture process came into being as a reaction to the Soviet Union's KBG, and was created to help insure the safety of the nation when it was clear the Soviet Union was developing deep intelligence and spy networks geared at undermining the U.S. In an interview about the book he states, "In the deepest darkest days of the Cold War initially as a defensive move, the CIA launched a massive mind control project to crack the code of human consciousness, a veritable Manhattan project of the mind with research expenses reaching up to $1 billion a year" (Jones, 2006). Researchers discovered that psychological techniques as simple as sensory deprivation and isolation could break down a victim in as little as 48 hours. The problem was, some of the people were so debilitated they "confessed" to things that did not actually occur, simply to stop the psychological process (Jones, 2006). This is one of the problems with torture like this, as the author shows throughout this book. Victims will confess to anything to end the torture, and so, it is not an effective or reliable means of gaining important information. In fact, much of the information gained from these types of torture are actually suspect and should be carefully questioned.

Another aspect of this state-sanctioned torture and abuse is that the government is detaining prisoners without just cause, and once their rights have been violated, there is really nowhere for them to go. The author continues, "The CIA, no longer able to pump and dump, has found itself stuck with hundreds of detainees, who will remain in legal limbo the rest of their lives" (McCoy, 2006, p. 120). Not only is this a terrible precedent, it is a basic denial of human rights and even common decency. The detainees rights are violated, many of them may be totally innocent, and it remains one of America's nastiest secrets, only now the secret is out, and yet, there is not more of a public outcry, which is even more disturbing.

Even more disturbing is McCoy's evidence that the sanctioning of torture after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, the approval to use torture on terror suspects and detainees trickled down directly from the White House. He writes, "In effect, the White House had passed the word quietly down the chain of command that torture was an acceptable weapon in the war on terror" (McCoy, 2006, p.123). He also shows how Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and others helped continue and build on the practices of torture to try to gain information from detainees, and how they systematically approved increasingly violent methods, such as "waterboarding" in an attempt to gain information - information that was not forthcoming despite these tactics.

He also vividly describes tactics used by the CIA in an attempt to gain information. In another interview he maintains, "So imagine that? 244 days locked up inside a cell with no human contact, no sunlight. That's an extreme form of sensory disorientation" (Jones, 2006). This describes one Guantanamo detainee who was eventually released and brought a suit against the United States Government - David Hicks. His treatment is just one example of the systematic torture of detainees, not only at Guantanamo but also around the world. The government may justify their actions as an attempt to keep more terrorism from occurring in the country, but it is still torture, and the country should not engage in torture of any kind, it lowers the country to the level of dictatorships and oppressed people, somewhere the country does not belong, and most people do not condone.

The book notes that this systematic development of torture was created by the CIA in reaction to the Soviets, but it has since traveled around the world, and other agencies, like the FIB, have become involved in torture, as well. So far, these techniques seem to have been used on foreign suspects, but the question remains, when will the techniques be used on Americans, and when will terrorist activities or enemies of the state become just one of many excuses the government uses to engage in torture? This is another troubling aspect of this book and what it discloses. If the government feels it is necessary to use torture in certain situations, when will that change, and the use of torture grows to include any kind of prison or detainee setting? That is a frightening concept, and it seems entirely possible after reading this book.

The book raises many questions, and one of the most disturbing is why the American people seem largely disinterested about the use of torture and the human rights violations that have become known. The news reports on these activities, Congress makes a feeble attempt to look into them, and then they seem to just be swept under the rug. Guantanamo is still in operation, rights are being violated, and it seems as if nothing changes. Are these tactics really keeping the country safer? That question remains unanswered, and the question of how many of those detainees are actually guilty of terrorist activities remains unanswered, as well. There have been news reports of suicides at Guantanamo, a very real result of the conditions and torture methods used there, and yet, the American people seem unmoved, and that is almost as appalling as the torture tactics themselves.

The author's thesis was extremely well supported; the research is impeccable, supported by a large section of notes and bibliography at the back of the book. Also, the author has been working on this topic since 1986, and has supported his research with numerous in-person interviews and conversations to back up his research. In another interview, the author notes, "Through interviews with survivors, particularly Maria Elena Ang, I learned about the protracted, devastating impact of torture upon its victims" (Wolff, 2006). These first-hand accounts were so disturbing to the author he put the research aside, and did not return to it until the news of Abu Ghraib became known.

McCoy concludes the book with a chilling look at the implications of state-sanctioned torture. He writes, "[T]he logical corollary to state-sanctioned torture is state-sanctioned murder" (McCoy, 2006, p. 196). While the reader does not want to admit this could happen in the United States, after reading this book it does not seem so far-fetched, and that is a frightening, even unspeakable conclusion. The fact that the government condones these torture techniques is bad enough. The situation at Guantanamo Bay underscores how deeply the government has delved into torture and other forms of detention that fly in the face of human rights and what is right and wrong. Many Americans may turn their backs on these practices, saying they are "necessary" for the time, but they are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to losing human rights and our own personal freedoms. There is little difference between the torture techniques the CIA is using around the world, and many of the tactics the Soviets and many other dictatorships have used throughout the years. The regime of Saddam Hussein of course comes to mind. We "liberated" the Iraqis, only to practice methods of torture on detainees that Saddam himself probably would have approved of and appreciated, and his trial and subsequent hanging indicates that "state-sanctioned murder" is already a part of the government's arsenal of torture and "liberation."