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Torture and Democracy
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Review
"Winner of the 2009 Lemkin Award, Institute for the Study of Genocide""Winner of the 2008 Best Book, Human Rights Section of the American Political Science Association""Rejali's approach is to track the different behaviors, trends and traditions in torture throughout history to see who influenced whom and what they did...Rejali, a leading expert on government interrogation techniques, reaches key conclusions. First, monitoring by human rights groups doesn't stop torture, it simply causes torturers to resort to techniques that don't scar...Second, most contemporary torture traditions were passed on like crafts from teacher to apprentice...Third, Rejali writes, a person being tortured is likely to say whatever he thinks his captors want to hear, making it one of the poorest methods of gathering reliable information."---Laurel Maury, Los Angeles Times"Torture and Democracy immediately lays claim to be the most compendious and the most rigorous treatment of the subject yet written. Saul Bellow used to say that we are constantly looking for the book it is necessary to read next. On torture, this is it...Torture and Democracy is the anatomy of sneaky. Rejali regales us with tales of every technique of torture known to man...Rejali's analysis of efficacy is exemplary: at once prudent and trenchant, historically alert and morally sentient."---Alex Danchev, Times Higher Education"[A] magisterial study of torture and how it has developed as a social and moral issue with a focus on developments through the last century."---Scott Horton, Harper's Magazine"An exhaustive study of...'clean tortures,' or tortures that leave no permanent scars. Electrotorture, water tortures, stress and duress positions, beating, noise, drugs and forced exercises all make an appearance. The book is a towering achievement, a serious work of social science on an urgent topic that is too frequently surrounded by assumption and myth. It should be read and disseminated widely...The book is devoted to exploding one myth in particular: that clean tortures can casually and reliably be traced to the ancients, or, failing that, to the Nazis. Rejali's provocative thesis is that most clean tortures were actually born in democracies, especially imperial Britain and France."---Michael O'Donnell, San Francisco Chronicle"Torture and Democracy is a much-needed attempt to put our discussions on a firmer historical and conceptual footing while showing us the realities of what torture is and what it does. Based on a decade of research and approximately 2,000 sources in 14 languages, Torture and Democracy is really several books in one. It is a methodical history of what Rejali calls 'clean' or 'stealth' torture (torture that leaves no marks) in the 20th century; a sociological examination of torture's relationship to democracies; a psychological exploration of torture's impact on societies and individuals; a practical consideration of torture's effectiveness; a philosophical musing on the ethics of torture and interrogation in general; an exhaustive cataloguing of tortures used throughout the ages; and what Rejali calls 'a reliable sourcebook' for those who speak out against torture anywhere."---Michael McGregor, The Oregonian"[Creates] what essentially amounts to an epidemiology of torture. Just as scientists were able to show how HIV traveled around the world by mapping the locatino and date of each outbreak of AIDS, Rejali similarly documents the global transmission of major torture techniquest by drawing up a chronology of their occurrence . . . Rejali's accomplishment--and it's a considerable one--is to lay out this vast amount of information to demonstrate patterns few had noticed before."---Brian Zabcik, American Lawyer"Documenting modern torture techniques, [Torture and Democracy] is both horrifying and compelling. The consequences of torture are always unpredictable and Rejali argues that torture fails when it's needed most--in last-minute, ticking bomb scenarios."---Karen J. Greenberg, Financial Times"Dozens of books about torture have been published over the last five years. But none compare to Torture and Democracy for its richly detailed comparative analysis, and its synthesis of historical, psychological, medical, forensic, sociological, and political information to explain what torture is, what it does to victims and perpetrators, and why and how it spreads. . . . Rejali has earned the right to speak authoritatively about the most important question of all: Does torture work? His answer, like his book, is profound, complex, and supported by a wealth of empirical detail."---Lisa Hajjar, Arab Studies Journal
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From the Inside Flap
"Darius Rejali has written a superb genealogy of modern torture. Meticulously researched and filled with surprising insights, Rejalis indictment derives its power from thoughtful analysis and deep historical grounding. It is the best book on the subject that I have encountered. No one should debate the merits of torture without having read it."--Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch"Darius Rejali has given the world an extraordinary work of scholarship and personal passion that no one wants to hear about but that everyone must learn about. Torture and Democracy exposes the core issues facing every nation whose deepest values of human dignity are defiled by its state-sanctioned 'violence workers.' Beyond platitudes, this pioneering expert descends into the torture dungeons around the world to reveal the strategies and tactics secretly used to break human will to resist. A vital book for anyone wanting to understand the whys and hows of torture being practiced today by our own government."--Philip Zimbardo, author of The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil"Monumental. Definitive. Devastating."--Sidney Blumenthal"Torture and Democracy brings the fact of torture straight home to democratic societies--societies that are the most reluctant to acknowledge the presence of torture in their midst. Darius Rejali's theme is the appeal of stealth forms of torture in democracies, but he also illuminates the culture of disinformation, self-deluding euphemisms, and outright mythology that accompanies these kinds of torture. Rejali's research has been truly formidable. He has read more widely in more disciplines than any analyst of torture that I know of."--Edward Peters, author of Torture"This is a timely and extraordinarily important book, an unprecedented study of torture and its technologies, and of the relationship between torture and types of political systems. The research that went into this book is beyond impressive; it is thorough beyond belief. Torture and Democracy will become a reference for anyone who wants to understand torture. Darius Rejali is to be congratulated."--Martha Huggins, Tulane University"Torture and Democracy is a provocative, state-of-the-art consideration of what Rejali calls 'stealth' or 'clean' torture. He makes a powerful case that democracies tend to be laboratories for these forms of torture and that one of the unintended consequences of democratization is that torture, rather than being eliminated, becomes harder to identify and document."--Austin Sarat, Amherst College
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Product details
Hardcover: 880 pages
Publisher: Princeton University Press; First Edition (1st printing) edition (December 2, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0691114226
ISBN-13: 978-0691114224
Product Dimensions:
6.5 x 2 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
Average Customer Review:
3.7 out of 5 stars
10 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1,479,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
This book has made for one of the longest and most difficult reads I've ever gone through, but Darius Rejali has really pulled off an incredible feat here. The sheer amount of research on display is very impressive. Throughout the course of the book, he details the origins of specific torture methods, why they exist, and what types of governments use them today (if at all). It helps put modern-day events like the Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo scandals in proper historical context and explains why it is that democracies like America now use torture methods that leave no physical marks. (In short, in democracies, human rights organizations and laws against torture have driven interrogators to use methods less prone to leaving evidence behind while totalitarian governments use physical scarring to terrify their targets.)The book also delves into the question of whether or not torture, examining several military conflicts from which reports emerged stating that torturing had produced useful intelligence. What is revealed, however, when the numbers are broken down, is that the number of innocent people tortured in order to find the one person on whom torture did work, is ridiculously high in every instance.For anyone interested in studying this awful subject and attempting to make sense of how we got where we are today in regards to it, this book is an essential read.
This book is by far the most complete and comprehensive source available on torture and issues related to torture. Rejali's scholarship is impeccable and Torture and Democracy is a must have for anyone who wishes to understand the history, causes and meanings of torture.
I bought this book in order to be able to shoot down any argument about why torture should be used, I wasn't disappointed. Though, it is not an easy read, so make sure to give the book the attention and breaks it deserves in order to digest all the information presented. It is dense but well worth the read.
Why are so many people, including high ranking people who should know better, so convinced that torture "works," and that it provides reliable intelligence? Do they have supporting data to back up this assertion, or is it just a gut feeling? Well, now we are just a little closer to tossing this bizarre view point to the trash heap of history. Darius Rejali, in his painstakingly researched book "Torture and Democracy," has investigated the records of numerous countries that conducted torture throughout the 20th century, including France during the Algerian uprising and the Germans during WWII. He has convincingly shown, with actual data and analysis, that torture is ineffective for intelligence gathering simply because it produces an avalanche of disinformation, making it almost impossible to separate any real intelligence from false leads.It is clear to me that Rejali did not begin his project fifteen years ago (prior to 9/11, BTW) with any preconceived notions that he then set out to prove. As he explains, he was actually trying to find out why so many countries, including democracies (though generally in secret), resort to the tactic. His initial thought was that maybe there is something to it, since so many countries repeatedly make use of the approach as an intelligence gathering tool. It was only after conducting years of exhaustive research, thoroughly catalogued in the book, that he realized that the countries who resort to the tactic do so out of ignorance and because they fail to think through what they are doing. And it turns out that many countries, even the Nazis in Germany, eventually figure out that the approach is counter-productive, and eventually revert back to more "traditional" police methods to gather intelligence. This was the case with the French in Algeria, who did not begin to meet with success in the city of Algiers until AFTER they abandoned torture as a policy.The bulk of the book consists of Rejali cataloguing the use of torture in dozens of countries around the world, including an explanation of the techniques and an explanation of which methods are used in which countries. At first, it makes for compelling reading, but the sheer exhaustiveness of the research, which Rejali had to present to make his case, is pretty depressing, and in truth, it's not necessary to read it all before you say - okay, okay, I get it, I get it, it doesn't work....For those who want to take a shortcut, the chapters toward the end of the book comprise the majority of Rejali's analysis, and it is possible to skim or skip the middle chapters since the evidence against torture is provided in such relentless and eventually nauseating detail. In other words, one could save a lot of time, if they accept the initial premise that torture is an ineffective tactic, by simply going straight to the two penultimate chapters toward the end - "What the Apologists Say" (which blows big holes in the so-called "Battle of Algiers argument"),and "Why Governments Don't Learn."I am convinced that the book should be required reading for all people in this country, both private and public citizens, who remain convinced that torture is an effective intelligence gathering tool. It should also serve as an antidote to those who have watched too many episodes of "24" and thus believe the "ticking time bomb" scenario is actually realistic.For my part, it is depressing that no one takes the time to think this through, and that a book like this is even necessary to convince people that torture is a bad idea. The truth is that, like myself, Rejali appears to be a utilitarian, who would condone the use of torture if it could actually be shown that it is an effective means to gather intelligence in a dire situation. However - it most definitely is not. As Rejali shows again and again, the fundamental fallacy of the "torture is effective" argument is that it presumes magical telepathic powers. How does one know with certainty that the suspect we have caught really does know anything about the ticking time bomb, or where the next terrorist strike will occur, or where the kidnapped little girl is located? We may suspect that he does, but what if it turns out that we're wrong? Undoubtedly he'll start "singing" something if we torture him - but now we'll waste vital time chasing false leads if it turns out he is the wrong guy. Here's a scenario to illustrate the point further. In Iraq a bomb goes off. People gather. US troops arrive. People scatter, including what appears to be a group of ten or so young men. They actually have nothing to do with each other, they just happened to have congregated on one side of the site together. The US authorities manage to grab five of them. Turns out that someone with magic telepathic powers would know that one of the five actually was a bad guy involved with the bombing. But our intrepid torturers don't know this. They start torturing all five of the men. All five subsequently start "singing" information. In the case of four of them, it is by definition all gibberish because they really were innocent bystanders who just ran when the US showed up. Now they most certainly will provide bits and pieces of rumors and stories they've heard around town that sounds like it might have some meaning because they're naming real people and places (of course they would - they're from there) but ultimately none of it has any utility. The one "bad guy" sings too. Half of what he says is gibberish - but some of it is actually real intelligence. (This, BTW - was the problem the French ran into in Algiers, which we have been facing in Baghdad and Afghanistan.) So I challenge all people who believe "torture works" to answer this one simple question: In the above scenario, how on earth are you going to differentiate the 10% real intelligence from the 90% that is gibberish? What magic powers are you going to use to do so? Until we develop mind-reading powers, we cannot be sure whether the person we are torturing even knows anything useful, but then, if we had those kind of powers, we wouldn't have to torture him in the first place - we could just read his mind.If only the real world worked as simply and neatly as it does in the fictional universe of "24."
A depressing although valuable book that shows how "clean" torture techniques--those that don't leave visible scars or physically incapacitate the victim--have been the hallmark of torturers in the military and police forces in democratic nations.Rejali documents the use of psychological torture, waterboarding and other clean methods by France, the UK, the United States and other non-totalitarian/non-authoritarian nations. In the western European countries it started with interrogations in colonies--the UK against the Mau Mau in Kenya and the insurgents in Malaysia during the "emergency" and the French in Vietnam and Algeria. Many of the oligarchs of Latin America took their methods from France.This is almost a reference book of "clean" torture history and usage with chapters the cover how attitudes and procedures evolved in local practice--cattle prods in Argentina, hooding and sleep deprivation in Northern Ireland, drugs in areas controlled by the United States. With chapters on complicit doctors, apologists for torture and evolving refinement of use of electricity, water and fear it is a grim but important book.The ray of light that shines through is the efficacy of local, national and international monitoring by the press, the judiciary and non-government organizations in staying the hand of torturers. Put simply, they can't afford to be exposed and caught which is why the stealth techniques have become characteristic of torture in open societies.
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