"Politics of Heroin in SE Asia" author McCoy's new book on CIA torture

Torture worldwide and the CIA
RON SEELY rseely@madison.com

When UW-Madison professor Alfred McCoy first saw the photograph of a hooded Iraqi prisoner from the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, he remembers feeling a sickening shock of recognition ...

What McCoy saw when he looked at the image was a classic demonstration of torture techniques pioneered and taught by the Central Intelligence Agency - something McCoy has run across several times around the world during his research on subjects ranging from drugs to revolution ...

But after Abu Ghraib, McCoy began his own methodical investigation into the connections between the CIA and torture. The result is a book released this month called "A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, From the Cold War to the War on Terror." ...

McCoy's book has been well received, even in some unexpected places. A review on Forbes.com described the book as "scrupulously documented and grippingly told" and "a devastating indictment of inhumane practices that have spread throughout the intelligence system, damaging America's laws, military, and international standing." ...

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=69780&ntpid=1

This also from the article:

But after Abu Ghraib, McCoy began his own methodical investigation into the connections between the CIA and torture. The result is a book released this month called "A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, From the Cold War to the War on Terror."

In it, McCoy draws on more than 30 years of research and sometimes dangerous fieldwork to put the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib into a 50- year historical context. His work implicates the CIA in the use and propagation of psychological torture techniques worldwide.

The book comes at a time when the subjects of torture and the gathering of intelligence are much in the headlines. On Wednesday, the international group Human Rights Watch concluded in its annual report that the Bush administration has a deliberate strategy of abusing terror suspects during interrogations. The group based its conclusion on statements over the last year by senior administration officials.

The White House denied the charges. And last month, Bush signed legislation outlawing torture by U.S. security forces. But critics pointed out that Bush also issued an accompanying "signing statement" in which he said the administration would interpret the new law "in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the president..."

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said afterward that, despite signing the law, Bush had in essence said that "whatever the law of the land might be, whatever Congress might have written, the executive branch has the right to authorize torture without fear of judicial review."

and highly recommend it. I don't think I could read a detailed book on torture.