

Mayer notes the place of the USA in the history of international rules concerning treatment of captured enemies, beginning with Washington’s humane treatment of Brit prisoners at a time when the Brits treated captured Yanks like animals. Great detail is offered re the impact of the Office of Legal Counsel and how the people there were at the center of the attack on long-standing American principles. These people would have been right at home with the dark forces of yesteryear. I was reminded of the embrace of cruelty that became the norm in that prototypical horror-state.ĭavid Addington emerges as one of the real scary guys, Cheney’s attack dog. I have read a fair number of books that delve into the Bush administration and nowhere have I seen the comprehensive depth Mayer has given to her examination of how America has traded its soul for a false sense of security.Īlthough she does not make any comparisons of this sort (I mean any time the word Nazi is mentioned, the notion that follows is automatically dismissed) one notion that popped into my head was that so many of the dark players here seemed to get off on the idea of torture, regardless of the extant analysis, even from their own people, that it is counterproductive. Jane Mayer - image from Elle Magazine - shot by Heather Hazzan There is a wealth here of drill-down detail about the mechanisms by which America abandoned the constitution in favor of a unitary, imperial president (and really vice president) who believes that l’estat est moi.

Jane Mayer - image from Elle Magazine - shot by Heather Hazzan I have read a fair number of books that delve into the Bush administration and nowhere have I seen the comprehensive depth Maye The title comes from Dick Cheney’s vow to go to the “Dark Side” in the battle against terrorism. The title comes from Dick Cheney’s vow to go to the “Dark Side” in the battle against terrorism. The Dark Side chronicles one of the most disturbing chapters in American history, one that will serve as the lasting legacy of the George W. In all cases, whatever the short term gains, there were incalculable losses in terms of moral standing, and our country's place in the world, and its sense of itself. For instance, there is the stunning admission of one of the detainees, Sheikh Ibn al-Libi, that the confession he gave under duress-which provided a key piece of evidence buttressing congressional support of going to war against Iraq-was in fact fabricated, to make the torture stop. In many more, it led to false information, sometimes with devastating results. The Dark Side will chronicle real, specific cases, shown in real time against the larger tableau of what was happening in Washington, looking at the intelligence gained-or not-and the price paid. In gripping detail, acclaimed New Yorker writer and bestselling author, Jane Mayer, relates the impact of these decisions-U.S.-held prisoners, some of them completely innocent, were subjected to treatment more reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition than the twenty-first century. The Dark Side is a dramatic, riveting, and definitive narrative account of how the United States made terrible decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the world- decisions that not only violated the Constitution to which White House officials took an oath to uphold, but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda. history, and obliterate Constitutional protections that define the very essence of the American experiment.
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The radical decisions about how to combat terrorists and strengthen national security were made in a state of utter chaos and fear, but the key players, Vice President Dick Cheney and his powerful, secretive adviser David Addington, used the crisis to further a long held agenda to enhance Presidential powers to a degree never known in U.S.

The radical decisions about how to combat terrorists and strengthen national security were made in a state of utter chaos and fear, but the key players, Vice President Dick Cheney and his powerful, secretive adviser David Addington, used the crisis to further a lo In the days immediately following September 11th, the most powerful people in the country were panic-stricken. In the days immediately following September 11th, the most powerful people in the country were panic-stricken.
