The United States and Torture

Torture has been a topic of national discussion ever since it was revealed that "enhanced interrogation techniques" had been authorized as part of the war on terror. The United States and Tortureprovides us with a larger lens through which to view America's policy of torture, one that dissects America's long relationship with interrogation and torture, which roots back to the 1950s and has been applied, mostly in secret, to "enemies," ever since. The book opens with a compelling preface by Sister Dianna Ortiz, who describes the unimaginable treatment she endured in Guatemala in 1987 at the hands of the United States, who was supporting that country's dictatorship. Following Ortiz's preface, an interdisciplinary panel of experts offers one of the most comprehensive examinations of torture to date, beginning with the Cold War era and ending with today's debate over accountability for torture.