by Jeremy Brecher, Jill Cutler, Brendan Smith
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
As Americans undergo an agonizing reappraisal of the war in Iraq and its relationship to the war on terror, strong evidence has arisen that America's war crimes are normative rather than exceptional infractions by a few low-ranking individuals, as commonly portrayed. This excellent anthology includes interviews, FBI documents, legal briefs, and statements by soldiers turned resisters, all offering a chilling look at how the war was begun and is currently operating. Part 1 examines the evidence pointing to war crimes committed by the U.S., from the perspective of international law, in its tactics of preemptive strike and violations of humanitarian law designed to protect combatants and civilians. Other sections explore who is accountable for the torture and other illegal acts performed in the course of the war as well as the role of resisters and objectors. Finally, this work examines the failure of our established institutional structure to restrain the administration's war crimes. This is a timely collection for readers interested in the threat of our war on terror as presently being fought at home and abroad. Vernon Ford
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Book Description
A riveting documentary anthology that examines a deeply disturbing question: Is the United States guilty of war crimes in Iraq?
Until recently, the possibility that the United States was responsible for war crimes seemed unthinkable to most Americans. But as previously suppressed information has started to emerge—photographs from Abu Ghraib; accounts of U.S. attacks on Iraqi hospitals, mosques, and residential neighborhoods; secret government reports defending unilateral aggression—Americans have begun an agonizing reappraisal of the Iraq war and the way in which their government has conducted it.
Drawing on a wide range of documents—from the protocols of the Geneva Convention to FBI e-mails about prisoners held in Guantánamo Bay to executive-branch papers justifying the circumvention of international law—In the Name of Democracy examines the legality of the Iraq war and the occupation that followed. Included in this powerful investigation are eyewitness accounts, victim testimonials, statements by soldiers turned resisters and whistle-blowers, interviews with intelligence insiders, and contributions by Mark Danner and Seymour Hersh.
The result is a controversial, chilling anthology that explores the culpability of officials as well as the responsibilities of ordinary citizens, and for the first time squarely confronts the matter of American impunity.
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