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

by Tara McKelvey

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465005462
• ISBN13: 9780465005468
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.7" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

McKelvey gets it about right....

I think I can say this with some authority, as I sit here in Iraq on my third year-long tour, having worked at Guantanamo and having spent a year with detainee operations in Iraq as part of the team that went in to improve conditions at Abu Ghraib in spring of '04. Unfortunately, most people will probably read into her words reinforcement of their own pre-conceived notions, whatever those may be. But I see a fair amount of balance and caution in her words. Bad thing have happened with detainees. Those responsible have and must be held accountable. The system must continue to change for the better. Having said this, the vast majority of troops and leaders doing the job are trustworthy and accomplishing a task that is probably one of the most difficult presented to any of our military members. They have earned my respect. The one thing I would have pushed her to do in preparing for this book -- the thing not reflected -- is spending a month with our troops on the ground so she could present this with a more enlightened perspective of the realities of today's combat, complete with the hows and whys of detaining people. She only scratches the surface of the complexities of this business and only really presents it from one side, using mostly spokesmen (including myself) to fill in the gaps from the military side. This is a book worth reading, with a reflective and unbiased eye.

A necessary and riveting book

Tara McKelvey's account of the abuses at Agu Ghraib, in particular the abuses visited upon women prisoners, fleshes out the accounts we've read in newspapers of this scandal, and gives us personal testimony by some of the women who've been raped, as well as the first interview with Lyndie England, the woman holding the leash in one of the photographs that became infamous. That so many women who were raped and tortured at Abu Ghraib were afraid to come forward because their own families might have killed them if they'd known they were raped is among the many horrors this book reveals. That we have now become a nation whose official policy is to torture is a shame we ought all to confront, and change, and this book is an important document that every American should read.

ugly truths exposed at last

this is the kind of book that is not fun to read but needs to be read by all Americans. If we dont stop the madness that this nation has enetered into over the last 6 years, we are headed for the dustbin of history.

The price we pay. . .

. . .when we elect wanna-be dictators like George Bush and Dick Cheney. This expose simply proves Republicans hate American ideals of compassion, fairness and humanity. They claim to be the party of "Jesus", but then they turn around and torture people in order to gain "intelligence". They claim to be the party of "freedom" but have no problem stepping over our rights. Neo-Cons have no respect for balance of power; rather, they desire a dictatorial, patriarchal daddy-president. "WWJD?": not elect another radical right-wing Republican.

Sent chills down my spine

An amazing account of reprehensible and shameful behavior all in our name. I have voted a straight Republican ticket my whole life and for the first time I am doubting my convictions. McKelvey succeeded in making my cry to read such an utter lack of humanity. The Haditha incident seems to be even worse. I tried to share the book with several GOP colleagues at work, but they became almost hysterical. They said they would not believe the lies and that trusted Rush Limbaugh's account of the incidents more (ie that they were like frat pranks). I don't know what to think any more but I thank the author for such a powerful work.