About this title: "The Dark Side" is a dramatic, riveting, and definitive narrative account of how the U.S. has made self-destructive decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the world--decisions that have not only violated the Constitution and American values, but have also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda.
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Description: Very Good. Former Library book. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780385526395ISBN:0385526393
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 2008-07-15
ISBN-13:9780385526395ISBN:0385526393
Description: New in Acceptable jacket. Bargain Book! Brand new book with damaged dust jacket. Publisher's inventory dot on bottom edge. We ship 6 days a week, generally within 24 hours; single CDs and DVDs upgraded to 1st class! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Anchor
Date Published: 2009-05-05
ISBN-13:9780307456298ISBN:0307456293
Description: New. Book is Brand New, Gift condition. Free tracking # included! International buyers are welcome. We ship every business day. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 2008-07-15
ISBN-13:9780385526395ISBN:0385526393
Description: New in New jacket. New hardback book with a publisher's inventory dot on bottom edges and light shelf wear on dust jacket. We ship 6 days a week, generally within 24 hours; single CDs and DVDs upgraded to 1st class! read more
Edition: First Edition, First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday, New York
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780385526395ISBN:0385526393
Description: Fine in Very Good jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 392 pp., illus., biblio., index; 25 cm. Tight, clean copy. Stated "First Edition. " Dust jacket, with a small corner crease/back flap, protected in a mylar book cover. "In the days immediately following September 11th, the most powerful people in the country were panic-stricken. The radical decisions about how to combat terrorists and strengthen national security were made in a state of utter chaos and fear, but the key players, Vice President ... read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Anchor Books
Date Published: 2009-05-05
ISBN-13:9780307456298ISBN:0307456293
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780307456298. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Anchor
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780307456298ISBN:0307456293
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 2008-07-15
ISBN-13:9780385526395ISBN:0385526393
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780385526395. read more
Edition: First Edition; Fourth Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780385526395ISBN:0385526393
Description: New in New dust jacket. 9780385526395. New first edition, fourth printing partial cloth hardcover and dust jacket in excellent condition. Protective mylar cover.; 1.7 x 9.5 x 6.5 Inches. read more
"The book was so well done that it made me question some of our tactics used on terrorist detainees. One of the more interesting aspects of this book is that torture/Geneva Convention issues were issue being discussed within the political realm, but more likely than not, it was a power grab for the Executive Branch in which they tried to regain powers they lost after Watergate.
Another thing that was very clearly brought to light is that fact that lots of peopple will do illegal things "for the good of the country"... until it is time for someone to go to jail. Once someone needs to be tried for doing illegal things for the country, no one was responsible and apparently, no one trusts a jury of their peers to justify their motives. This leads me to believe that perhaps their motives were not as pure as they led us to believe.
Either side of the political aisle will benefit from reading this book."
"Not since I read Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine have I clenched my fists while reading. Jane Mayer's vitriolic political investigation is a fitting companion piece to Klein's humanist manifesto, detailing the gruesome policies that were unlawfully created in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Through countless interviews and in-depth character description, Mayer shows how a country's human rights record was irreperably damaged by a paranoid and deceptive government, willing to pay any price for revenge.
Mayer's book contains the typical cast of characters in their all-too-familiar roles. President Bush, though nicknaming himself 'the Decider', is usually far from the facts and is guided only by Dick Cheney's briefings. However, I was introduced to a new lineup of villains, who together with Cheney were responsible for America's bloodlust in the chaotic years that followed September 11.
The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is depicted in The Dark Side as having near unrestricted powers. One imagines that laws are created by Congress as long as they adhere to the Constitution. The OLC, however, has the power to change the meaning, context or purpose of any law or section of the Constitution to meet a particular agenda. Mayer shows how quite often, these reinterpretations, usually executed by David Addington or John Yoo, were so questionable or lacking in substantiating precedent, that they would be done in secret, bypassing the necessary chain of approval and handed straight to Bush. This is how the White House, in short, approved torture as legal.
This loathsome process that sought to not only undermine Congressional order and authority but also the Geneva Conventions is only half of Mayer's book. The remaining half tells the harrowing accounts of detainees in black sites, including Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, focusing on both the brutal methods employed and the issues - moral and legal - faced by the perpetrators.
At one point, Mayer quotes a source as saying that the years after 9/11 were a "battle for America's soul", an idea which is reflected in the various organizations that had to compromise, sacrifice or even reject their values. The CIA under the command of Cheney and his legal counsel, decided they were above the law and that the American legal process was too slow to uncover information fast enough; SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape), a government program meant to train soldiers to withstand the stress of foreign labor or torture camps, was soon recruited to teach harsh interrogation tactics; even on-site doctors unequivocally broke their Hippocratic Oath by not servicing their fellow man.
These days, it's very easy to look to George W. Bush and accuse him of war crimes. But Mayer seldom refers to Bush himself in this book. Instead, she locks in on the lesser known players, David Addington, John Yoo, Alberto Gonzales and George Tenet, showing how their wanton disregard for human decency led to legal quagmires, burdensome misinformation, and a soiled presidential legacy."
"I guess I'm getting to be squarely middle-aged; I find these days I'm tearing through non-fiction of a political nature -- books that help me secure my place in these insane times. Mayer's book is dense, detailed, and disturbing. I can't figure out whether this kind of writing is politically partisan ... or if it's just a case of the scary f***king truth being succinctly reported. It was helpful for a scatter-brained reader like myself to hop around a bit from section to section, then circle back for any detail that I thought might be entertaining, but I got through the whole enchilada in record time. The chapter that lays out the history, philosophy, and examples of "extraordinary rendition" is more thrilling than any movie or fiction piece I've taken in lately -- the truth can chill you to the core.
Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that this book confirms Dick Cheney really IS a bad, bad guy. To characterize him as a "sinister" figure would be a gross understatement. It'll make you shake your head."
"Clear, lucid ,reporting, calmly argued. It shows a murderous clan, led by a cowardly Dick Cheney,an incoherent George Bush, and as a pair of the most feckless pair of morons, John Yoo and David Addington (?).Really, what seems to have motivated each and everyone of these rampant fools is unbridled fear, and when that fear had a focus it was the fear of being held accountable for the 9/11 attack. And their chief tactic seems to have been to yell that the bad guys are "over there", and, writing legal briefs,endlessly, AND THEN HIDING THE BRIEFS!From everyone! The entire government! AND THEMSELVES! Truly, this passes satire.Even sadder. As bad and incompetent as this band of yahoos were, worse were scores of American offials,The Military "Leadership",(what a joke.)American 'journalists', (If it wasn't handed out by government most journalists would recognize a story if it was "Dog dead at journalists' feet") Hayden, Rice, Powell,Libby,Ashcroft, Mueller, toadies all. Terrified of blame, accountability, AND DICK CHENEY! All it would have taken is one citizen after another standing up IN PUBLIC, and stating the obvious. This is illegal. This is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. THIS IS IMPEACHABLE. We are not El Queda.The psuedo King HAS NO CLOTHES. All in all, this is the biggest failing of American society since The Civil War.Not greed. MASS COWARDICE. El QUEDA succeeded beond its wildest dreams. They showed the our leaders do not believe in either the American dream, not in America.Nor in Americans. Least of all, in themselves. What a tragedy.And this writer maps it all out in clear."
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