The Dark Side: Jane Mayer on The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned Into A War on American Ideals

Mayer also reveals that the Bush administration ignored warnings from the CIA six years ago that up to a third of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay may have been imprisoned by mistake. The name of Mayer’s book comes from a comment made by Vice President Dick Cheney on “Meet the Press” shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

In her new book “The Dark Side,” Jane Mayer chronicles how the Bush administration crafted its interrogation and detention policies. Mayer writes “As part of the war on terror, for the first time in its history the United States has sanctioned government officials to physically and psychologically torment American-held captives making torture the official law of the land in all but name.”

Jane Mayer joins us in our firehouse studio. She is a staff writer at the New Yorker magazine.

Jane Mayer, author of “The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned Into A War on American Ideals.” She is a staff writer for the New Yorker.

Related Democracy Now! Stories

• The Black Sites: A Rare Look Inside the C.I.A.’s Secret Interrogation Program (8/8/2007)
• The CIA’s Torture Teachers: Psychologists Helped the CIA Exploit a Secret Military Program to Develop Brutal Interrogation Tactics (6/25/2007)