Books: Torture Policy Rivals 9/11 in U.S. Death Toll

A senior former U.S. military interrogator writes a fascinating account of the troubling torture techniques he saw in Iraq in this Washington Post piece. More details are in his new book, How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq.

In his Post piece, Matthew Alexander (a pseudonym) writes: "I learned in Iraq that the No. 1 reason foreign fighters flocked there to fight were the abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Our policy of torture was directly and swiftly recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq. The large majority of suicide bombings in Iraq are still carried out by these foreigners. They are also involved in most of the attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq.

"It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of our losses and casualties in that country have come at the hands of foreigners who joined the fray because of our program of detainee abuse. The number of U.S. soldiers who have died because of our torture policy will never be definitively known, but it is fair to say that it is close to the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001. How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me - unless you don't count American soldiers as Americans."

TAGS: Iraq, torture, books, investigations, military

Books: Primer On Investigations Uncovers New Archive on Vietnam Massacres

In a new book, The War Behind Me, U.S. journalist Deborah Nelson gives an insightful play-by-play account of her investigation of newly available U.S. Army records on internal investigations into massacres of civilians in the Vietnam War. Useful as history and a primer on investigative techniques from a pro. Here is a review in the Seattle Times.

TAGS: military, investigations, books, Vietnam

The Biz: Fear Not the Internet; Web 2.0 Tools for Journos

It's a tough time for newsrooms, but some journos are using the web to do exciting stuff. Here are some examples: CopyCamp: An Unconference for News Organizations (the idea is to "turn the newsroom into a community center, so news outlets can work with their audience to tackle community issues"), the Carnival of Journalism project, which offers tons of resources and good discussion of the way forward for media (see here for lots of stuff on student journalism), and these interesting discussions at DigiDave.org on linking and social networking for journalists. I've posted these and other links in my "resources" box for "CAR, Web 2.0 and Citizen Journalism" in the right-hand column of this page.

TAGS: Web 2.0, future of journalism, the biz, online journalism