Author(s): Philippe Sands

Philosophy, Politics & Current Affairs

'May well be the best bit of contemporary investigative journalism you will read! follows a paper trail and nails the truth' - Rod Liddle, "Sunday Times". 'Gripping, furious and very serious indeed' - John le Carre. After 9/11, the Bush administration declared that it would have to work through 'the dark side'. And it did: the Administration turned its back on the rules and on America's commitment to the dignity of every human person. It embraced torture, looking for legal advice that justified cruelty, and making sure that it found it. Voices of dissent - in the military and elsewhere - were pushed aside, as ideology and incompotence led to illegal interrogation techniques encouraged by Jack Bauer in 24. In "Torture Team", Philippe Sands travels around America, tracking down those responsible. In their own words, he shows how war crimes were committed. He opens the door to accountability and justice. 'It was not skulking renegades who emboldened ordinary Americans to strip and leash their captives, to expose them to snarling dogs and to half-drown them. It was suited attorneys' - Sadakat Kadri, "Daily Telegraph". 'How did a state conceived in awe of The Rights of Man make psychopaths of its children? Meticulously, soberly, astonishingly, [Sands] finds the answer' - Rafael Behr, "Observer".