Tortured: When Good Soldiers Do Bad Things

Myths about torture abound: Waterboarding is the worst we've done. The soldiers were hardened professionals. All Americans now believe that what we did was wrong. Torture is now a thing of the past. Journalist Justine Sharrock's reporting reveals a huge chasm between what has made headlines and what has actually happened. She traveled around the country, talking to the young, low-ranking soldiers that watched our prisoners, documenting what it feels like to torture someone and discovering how many residents of small town America think we should have done a lot more torture.

Tortured goes behind the scenes of America's torture program through the personal stories of four American soldiers who were on the frontlines of the "war on terror," including the Abu Ghraib whistleblower. They reveal how their orders came from the top with assurances that those orders were legal and how their experiences left them emotionally scarred and suffering a profound sense of betrayal by the very government for which they fought.

• Based on the firsthand accounts of young, working-class soldiers who were forced to carry out orders crafted by officers, politicians, and government lawyers who have never answered for their actions
• The Department of Justice may still launch an investigation into torture under Bush—and Sharrock argues it must be done
• Describes how it feels to torture, and how people back home reacted to the soldiers' revelations

If reading Tortured doesn't make you angry, nothing America does to tarnish its reputation as a beacon of fairness and freedom ever will.