Torturing Democracy

As much indictment as analysis, Sherry Jones' documentary Torturing Democracy contends that the torture of terror suspects in U.S. custody during the Bush administration was far from being the work of a few “bad apples,” but rather that the harsh techniques were mandated at the highest levels of government. The key decision was to adopt methods outlined in a secret military training program called SERE (originally designed to train U.S. troops to withstand or resist abusive tactics by enemy interrogators), thereby turning techniques meant to protect our own troops from torture into an accepted tool for interrogating prisoners. The culprits were officials from Bush and Cheney on down—including Justice Department lawyer John Yoo, who famously authored opinions that justified the new policy. Featuring archival footage and documents, and dramatic recreations, the film also offers insightful testimony from government insiders such as Alberto Mora, the former general counsel of the U.S. Navy; Major General Thomas Romig, Judge Advocate of the U.S. Army; Air Force Interrogator Col. Steven Kleinman; military prosecutor Col. Stuart Couch; Pentagon lawyer Richard Shiffrin; Justice Department advisor Martin Lederman; former SERE trainer Malcolm Nance; and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, as well as former detainees like Moazzam Begg, Shafiq Rasul, and Bisher Al-Rawi, whose descriptions of their ordeals are hair raising. Torturing Democracy may cover some familiar ground, but it also adds important new evidence to a still-fierce debate, while also advancing a cogent argument that high officials should be held accountable for embracing and advancing the use of torture in blatant disregard of fundamental democratic principles. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)