Interrogating the War on Terror

2021-04-16 Political Science

Author : Deborah Staines
Release : 2021-04-16
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 423/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Interrogating the War on Terror by : Deborah Staines

Download or read book Interrogating the War on Terror written by Deborah Staines. This book was released on 2021-04-16. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interrogating the War on Terror presents a critique of contemporary war culture and politics, introducing a range of political, philosophical, legal, artistic and social perspectives on a devastating war. Bringing together contributors from the United States, UK and Australia—implicitly dissenting from within the Coalition of the Willing—this volume explores the discourses and cultural effects of the current “war on terror”. Is the so-called war on terror justified? Seeking an ethical engagement with the problems and paradoxes of this global conflict, the authors situate the historical and legal meanings of terror and terrorism alongside the exploitation of such terms by the Bush Administration and other governments in recent years. Contributions by philosophers, sociologists, and law and literature scholars raise questions about neo-conservatism, freedom, security and the new legitimation of torture, and demonstrate how this war brings political and discursive power to bear on democracy, human rights and individuals in places as far-flung as Iraq, Bali, and the U.S. Artworks by internationally renowned war artist George Gittoes, and several essays by cultural theorists return a critical emphasis to the role of visual media, affect, gender and popular culture in understanding and rethinking war. Interrogating the War on Terror’s multi-disciplinary and international perspectives will be useful to scholars and students alike in addressing this highly topical issue. The essays reference mainstream sources and widely-documented events in the war on terror, making it accessible also to the general reader.

The Interrogators

2004-07-19 Political Science

Author : Chris Mackey
Release : 2004-07-19
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 098/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Interrogators by : Chris Mackey

Download or read book The Interrogators written by Chris Mackey. This book was released on 2004-07-19. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 3,000 prisoners in the war on terrorism have been captured, held, and interrogated in Afghanistan alone. But no one knows what transpired in those interactions between prisoner and interrogator -- until now. In The Interrogators, Chris Mackey, the senior interrogator at Bagram Air Base and in Kandahar, where al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners were first detained and questioned, lifts the curtain. Soldiers specially trained in the art of interrogation went face-to-face with the enemy. These mental and psychological battles were as grueling, dramatic, and important as any in the war on terrorism. We learn how, under Mackey's command, his small group of "soldier spies" engineered a breakthrough in interrogation strategy, rewriting techniques and tactics grounded in the Cold War. Mackey reveals the tricks of the trade, and we see how his team -- four men and one woman -- responded to the pressure and the prisoners. By the time Mackey's group was finished, virtually no prisoner went unbroken.

Discourses and Practices of Terrorism

2010-02-25 History

Author : Bob Brecher
Release : 2010-02-25
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 506/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Discourses and Practices of Terrorism by : Bob Brecher

Download or read book Discourses and Practices of Terrorism written by Bob Brecher. This book was released on 2010-02-25. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This interdisciplinary book investigates the consequences of the language of terror for our lives in democratic societies. The approach of this book is in direct contrast with those that either view terrorism simplistically, as a clear reality threatening democratic society and thus requiring certain sorts of response, or argue, equally simplistically, that the invocation of terror is merely the ideological veil for continued capitalist exploitation. While closer in spirit to the second of these, this work does not simply dismiss the discourse on terror, but rather investigates the consequences of this discourse for the organisation of life in democratic societies. In interrogating the discourse of terror from a variety of viewpoints, this interdisciplinary text builds upon the understanding of the importance of the language of terror from a new perspective: the interconnections between discourses of terror; the material realities they at once reflect and help produce; and the specificities of particular historical circumstances. In offering an integrated approach of this sort, and founded on a base of applied philosophy, broadly conceived, the contributors offer a new contribution to both public and academic debate, and at the same time initiate a series of further interventions in Critical Terrorism Studies. This book will be of interest to students of critical terrorism studies, terrorism studies, security studies, philosophy and discourse theory. Bob Brecher is Director of the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics & Ethics at Brighton University. He has published widely in moral, political and applied philosophy and the politics of higher education. Mark Devenney is Academic Programme Leader in Humanities at the University of Brighton. He has published in the areas of critical theory, post-Marxism and post-Colonial politics. Aaron Winter is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Abertay Dundee. His research focuses on terrorism and the concept of ‘extremism’, whiteness, masculinity and violence, and the extreme right, organised racism and the religious right in the United States.

A Question of Torture

2007-04-01 History

Author : Alfred McCoy
Release : 2007-04-01
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 687/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis A Question of Torture by : Alfred McCoy

Download or read book A Question of Torture written by Alfred McCoy. This book was released on 2007-04-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A startling exposé of the CIA's development and spread of psychological torture, from the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and beyond In this revelatory account of the CIA's secret, fifty-year effort to develop new forms of torture, historian Alfred W. McCoy uncovers the deep, disturbing roots of recent scandals at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo. Far from aberrations, as the White House has claimed, A Question of Torture shows that these abuses are the product of a long-standing covert program of interrogation. Developed at the cost of billions of dollars, the CIA's method combined "sensory deprivation" and "self-inflicted pain" to create a revolutionary psychological approach—the first innovation in torture in centuries. The simple techniques—involving isolation, hooding, hours of standing, extremes of hot and cold, and manipulation of time—constitute an all-out assault on the victim's senses, destroying the basis of personal identity. McCoy follows the years of research—which, he reveals, compromised universities and the U.S. Army—and the method's dissemination, from Vietnam through Iran to Central America. He traces how after 9/11 torture became Washington's weapon of choice in both the CIA's global prisons and in "torture-friendly" countries to which detainees are dispatched. Finally McCoy argues that information extracted by coercion is worthless, making a case for the legal approach favored by the FBI. Scrupulously documented and grippingly told, A Question of Torture is a devastating indictment of inhumane practices that have spread throughout the intelligence system, damaging American's laws, military, and international standing.

War by Other Means

2007-12-01 Political Science

Author : John Yoo
Release : 2007-12-01
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 633/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis War by Other Means by : John Yoo

Download or read book War by Other Means written by John Yoo. This book was released on 2007-12-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The key legal architect of the Bush administration’s response to 9/11 delivers a fascinating insider account of the war on terror. While America reeled from the cataclysmic events of September 11, 2001, John Yoo and a skeletal staff of the Office of Legal Counsel found themselves on the phone with the White House. In a series of memos, Yoo offered his legal opinions on the president’s authority to respond, and in the process had an almost unmatched impact on America’s fight against terrorism. His analysis led to many of the Bush administration’s most controversial policies, including detention at Guantanamo Bay, coercive interrogation, and military trials for terrorists, preemptive attacks, and the National Security Agency’s wiretapping program. In fascinating detail, Yoo takes us inside the corridors of power and examines specific cases, from John Walker Lindh and Jose Padilla to an American al-Qaeda leader assassinated by a CIA pilotless drone in the deserts of Yemen. “At its core, War by Other Means offers spirited, detailed and often enlightening accounts of the decision-making process behind the key 2001-03 legal decisions.” —The Washington Post “Unambiguous and combative, Yoo’s philosophy is sure to spark further debate.” —Publishers Weekly

Popular eBooks

Interrogating the War on Terror

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