Customer Reviews

Torture Central: E-mails From Abu Ghraib

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This book was a fantastic read. I have bought many copies for family and friends. It proves that one person can make a difference. I am proud to support our troops knowing that soldiers like Mr. Keller are representing our Country. I have seen and heard several interviews that Mr. Keller has done. He is not trying to profit or exploit anyone in any way. He just wants people to know what happened. Before anyone forms an opinion about the book they should read it first. That is really the only way an intelligent opinion can be made. There is no way you could find this book anything but riveting once you read it. I hope if I am ever placed in a situation where I can stand up and make a difference I will show the courage that Mr. Keller did.

This was a great book. It gave insight to an individual's experiences and how the events changed his life. Highly recommended.

Keller's book details how the Army had ordered soldiers to disregard our own laws set for handling prisoners or detainees. Perhaps the Army's callous disregard for the Geneva Convention is part of the reason so many American soldiers have endured lasting psycological problems. American soldiers know that abuse is wrong so when returning home, have trouble living with the knowledge that they were a part of it. This book shows how he helped not only detainees, but American soldiers by making a stand against the orders at Abu Ghraib. Hopefully Keller has helped US soldiers that have followed him to Iraq by fighting the system and changing the status quo. This book shows that one person can make a difference.

This book is a must read for all Americans. Those who read it get it. Mr. Keller is a true American hero. He went to Iraq as a patriot. He came home as a patriot. He lives today as a patriot. There is no American more proud of his country, and BECAUSE he is so proud of his country he speaks out against what is wrong. He has been called a leftist by others here. He voted for George Bush in 2004. He is supporting John McCain in 2008. He supports the war in Iraq. A leftist, he is not. When he speaks on torture he speaks from the soul. Read the book and judge for yourself.

Images of torture at Abu Ghraib were published around the world in early 2004, and the U.S. government promised that these abuses were no longer occurring. They lied.

A soldier deployed to Iraq over a year later discovers that torture is still routinely taking place, and that it is being ordered by the facility commander.

This is the story of that soldier's struggle to end torture, in his own words and photographs, through e-mails that he sent to his friends and family back home.

Having spent just a very few miserable days at AG in 2003, I ordered this book after seeing the extreme variations in reader reviews. Given that the time frame was 2006 for this author, in terms of torture, I read nothing to justify the catchy title. 2003 through mid 2004 was a different story of course. I must assume that improvements were made at AG by late 2004, because I know for a fact that the Bagram prison in Afghanistan where this prisoner abuse really first got started during 2002 had been turned around by then. This book does contribute a great deal to an understanding of the crushing boredom of the daily work routine and the scandalous living conditions for both prisoners and staff. Since it is a compilation of extemporaneous e-mails, it should not be held to the standard of a normal book on the subject; it holds it own for what it is. Until recently I had thought that the entire country had taken this depressing misadventure to heart, but judging from the recent public statements of GOP presidential hopefuls, I see that little has actually been learned.

Better that we had never gotten involved in Iraq at all. The only folks happy about the outcome are Iranian tyrants, who have already benefitted greatly and who have only just begun.

This is one of the greatest, most powerful, most thought-provoking books I have ever had the privilege to read. It is truly amazing, heart-breaking, inspiring, etc. I could go on and on.

Every American who cares about their country must read this book!!!

I was in Keller's unit in Iraq. I read the book, and mostly everything he wrote about I remember happening. It was very well written. I am going to let my dad read it next and I've recommended it to other soldiers that we deployed with.

As a soldier that served with SGT Keller in Abu Ghraib with the 652nd MP Co. I can personally testify that this book is a collaboration of third party accounts written by Mr. Keller as if they were his first hand experiences. Some of his accounts are his own, but many are those of others that he has made his own.
Many of the stories are embellished for dramatic effect and to add clout to his supposed acts of heroism and services to humanity. This is a shameful tactic of self indulgence and it should be addressed as such. Many of his accounts are blatant violations of standard "OPSEC" procedures and he should be held accountable for those violations considering they happened during his military career.
On page 18 SGT Keller speaks of being involved in a "Fire Fight," and that he valiantly ran towards a "gate" as if to allude to his presence being necessary to the fight. The gate that SGT Keller is speaking of is over half a mile away. He embellishes his actions and speaks of riding towards the "Battle" to aid in it and all the preparation that he did to "aid in the fight". Considering that his book is a collaboration of emails, and that the email he wrote was written "post fire fight". SGT Keller should have written his family the truth of the matter concerning the "fire fight". The truth of the matter is this: the area that we lived in at the time was called "LSA SHADOW" and the "fire fight" was happening out side the 25 foot tall perimeter walls of "Abu Ghraib". The distance from those walls to our location was a little more than 450 meters away. Needless to say the fight was out of reach for SGT Keller. In actuality there was no "fire fight" it was celebratory fire coming from the local village of "Kindari" because the Iraqis had just beaten the Iranians in the Asia Cup. The total amount of time for the "celebratory fire" was less then 3 minutes. The reason that SGT Keller had no "Fear" is because the area of action was so far away that he was in little to no danger during the time of celebratory fire. The reason that no man "took initiative" during the incident was because we were ordered to stay put at our location, because the incident had been labeled a non threat.

There are several other examples like this one in his book, SGT Keller purposely misleads the reader to believe that he was a man of action, and because of his actions change was the result. Most of his writing feeds into the ideal that he was the sole provider of policy change during our tour at Abu Ghraib. This "ideal" is a farce, and it should be taken as such. Many soldiers that were station at Abu Ghraib were aiding factors in the over all change towards the humane treatment of detainees that were in captivity.
While I do not discredit his time spent with me at FOB Abu Ghraib in Iraq, I simply ask SGT Keller that he be a man of integrity and tell the whole story, not just the story that places him on a moral high ground above the rest of us. He does give credit to other soldiers in his written work, but he misleads readers, by giving the perception of his involvement in events that in actuality he had no part of. This does not go unnoticed by those that served with him. I ask that he tell the truth, and not a collaboration of well written half truths, because half of a written truth is still a whole written lie.
I hope that this review is of great service to any of you intrigued by this book.
David T. Sampson, Former Member of 652 MPCo. Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom 2005-2006.

He stopped the torture at Abu Gharib? Give me a break. Please don't support this liar by buying his book. It takes away from the good that the soldiers that were there in 2006 did. Thank God he is no longer "serving" our country.