Book Review, "The dark side" Jane Mayer’s gripping analysis of the search for actionable intelligence
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals [Soft cover]
by Jane Mayer
432 pages, $ 15.95
ISBN-13: 978-0307456298
Non-fiction
When nineteen hijackers took possession of four planes and flew planes into American buildings, the world changed forever on September 11, 2001. As the United States mourned its loss, the Commander-in-Chief pledged from an elementary school in Florida, “Terrorism against our nation will not stand. “
In the wake of this tragedy, America’s war on terror began. It is true that those tasked with gathering intelligence to prevent future attacks on the United States faced a sinister task. Suspects were everywhere; the more important question became: how do you get compelling information in a timely manner? Could interrogators go too far when trying to gather information?
Jane Mayer, in a gripping analysis of the dark side of the intelligence business, portrays the Bush administration on a quest to subvert future attacks on the United States. In shocking detail, she characterizes an insatiable drive to make terror suspects speak out. Unfortunately, it is clear that legal maneuvers were carried out to bring US interrogators to the brink of legally torturing individuals to obtain actionable intelligence. Unfortunately, after allowing such atrocities as sensory deprivation and the now infamous water boarding techniques, very little solid intelligence developed.
Interestingly, Mayer shows that the White House was well aware that it was on the brink of legal disaster. Their use of extralegal disputes, through strategically drafted internal memoranda, actually sanctioned forms of torture to extract information from suspects. According to the author, legal determinations of what constituted “pain” or “suffering” came from administration attorneys who were content to grapple with people’s lives in a struggle for political power.
Mayer sees this decline in criminal rights for the sham that it is. The devaluation of any human life is a short way from the ideals on which this country was founded. Perhaps our determination to uncover information through “approved” torture has only alienated future generations of young Arabs and allowed them to dream of unspeakable atrocities that they can perpetuate against our military. More specifically, does the sanction of interrogation by any means possible open the door to limit the freedoms of United States citizens who are peripherally associated with terrorism?
The time will indicate if the members of the previous administration will respond criminally for what happened. Hopefully, the United States has learned that a tortured terrorist will admit to almost anything.
Review by Steven King, MBA, MEd