A question of torture

Gut-wrenching succinct history connecting CIA research into psychological torture through an escalating coercive path that we all kind of know (countering-with-terror in Vietnam, training police and counter-guerilla regimes in Iran, Latin America, and the Philippines) to the Bush admin's decision to suspend the Geneva conventions for Afghanistan and Guantanamo detainees (under a fearfully strong desire to enable torture) and more broadly encourage CIA extraordinary rendition and participation in mass interrogation in Iraq. McCoy draws exceedingly clear lines connecting the CIAs evolving techniques of the 60s-80s and those seen clearly in the Abu Ghraib prison photos and in Guantanamo accounts. Finishes by confronting the questions of accuracy, effectiveness, and counter-productiveness of torture more generally, whether applied to the highest-value mastermind or to the seemingly inevitable indiscriminate masses of "bad guys". Tough read throughout.