Closed Captioned
Grades 10 - 12, College, Adults
Directed by Marie-Monique Robin
DVD Purchase $280, Rent $90
US Release Date: 2014
Copyright Date: 2010
DVD ISBN: 1-94154-507-6
Subjects
Afghanistan
American Democracy
American Studies
Anthropology
Ethics
Foreign Policy
US
Government
History
Human Rights
Iraq
Law
Military
National Security
Sociology
Torture
Awards and Festivals
Special Jury Prize, Festival des Libertés, Brussels, Belgium
Olivier Quemener-RSF Award, FIGRA Le Touquet, France
(Special Offer)
Examines the George W. Bush administration's systematic use of torture and questions whether key members could be prosecuted for war crimes?
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"Powerful and impressive...a meticulous step by step explanation of how the United States embraced and implemented torture as official policy." Dr. Charles Anthony Smith, Assoc. Prof., Political Science Dept, UC-Irvine |
Exactly how did the world's most powerful democracy construct and implement a dubious legal framework that not only legalized the use of torture but legitimized it to politicians, academics, intellectuals, and media pundits alike? Who exactly was behind this dark and hotly debated chapter in American history?
Internationally acclaimed journalist and filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin set out to investigate the historic events and machinations of key policy leaders that led the U.S. to use systematic torture on a massive scale in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraq in the name of national security and the War on Terror.
Mixing stunning archival footage and on-the-ground detective work, the film includes exclusive interviews with several key players including General Ricardo Sanchez, former commander of the coalition forces in Iraq (who speaks for the first time on camera); Larry Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former Chief of Staff; Matthew Waxman, former advisor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Alberto Mora, former US Navy General Counsel; and Michael Scheuer, chief architect of the CIA's Extraordinary Renditions program.
Web Page: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/tmusso.html
Reviews
"Powerful and impressive...This is a meticulous step by step explanation of how the United States embraced and implemented torture as official policy. Marie-Monique reveals the conflict between the career legal and military personnel on the one hand, and the political members of the Bush administration on the other...The film reveals that, although torture is ineffective and illegal, the Bush administration was committed to torture as a critical element of the rhetoric and framing of the war on terror."