Surprisingly gripping. Sands is very good at making a compelling narrative out of the actions of US government lawyers which paved the way for torture in Guantanamo, and arguably, Abu Ghraib. Must read. ( )

Shocking story of how the Bush Administration subverted what Americans believe

I struggled through this book and limped to the end of it, skimming liberally. I had heard an interview with Sands on NPR about this book over the summer & thought it sounded fascinating. Although it is an important book about a serious issue that merits attention, the book really killed me. Even though its based on current events that have been widely covered in the papers, I had such a hard time keeping track of the jumble of actors involved. The book's organizational structure was confusing too - it seemed to jump around in time a bit, and I found myself having to constantly ask myself when in time I was & what had already happened in the storyline. This is the kind of book that requires the reader to put it down often, make sense of things, and take breaks. Unfortunately its also the kind of book where if the reader puts it down for a while, s/he is likely to be completely confused simply trying to remember who everyone is when s/he does pick it back up again.

Ultimately what emerges is a very sad picture of violations of international law, which is the picture that I already had from press articles on the matter, so I don't really know what I gained from reading this book other than a sense of how vast and bizarre the military-legal bureaucracy is. Still, its not as though its a bad book, so I feel badly trashing it. The low rating reflects my disappointment with the book more than the fact that its not a good book, I guess. ( )

Sands provides a strinking direct lineage between Rusmfeld and the torturers at Gunatanamo. Shows the bureaucratic and legal manuvering which allowed for systemic and prolonged torture. ( )