Synopses & Reviews
Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the United States imprisoned more than seven hundred and fifty men at its naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. These men, ranging from teenage boys to men in their eighties from over forty different countries, were detained for years without charges, trial, and a fair hearing. Without any legal status or protection, they were truly outside the law: imprisoned in secret, denied communication with their families, and subjected to extreme isolation, physical and mental abuse, and, in some instances, torture.
These are the detainees stories, told by their lawyers because the prisoners themselves were silenced. It took habeas counsel more than two years—and a ruling from the United States Supreme Court—to finally gain the right to visit and talk to their clients at Guantánamo. Even then, lawyers were forced to operate under severe restrictions designed to inhibit communication and envelop the prison in secrecy. In time, however, lawyers were able to meet with their clients and bring the truth about Guantánamo to the world.
The Guantánamo Lawyers contains over one hundred personal narratives from attorneys who have represented detainees held at “GTMO” as well as at other overseas prisons, from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan to secret CIA jails or “black sites.” Mark Denbeaux and Jonathan Hafetz—themselves lawyers for detainees—collected stories that cover virtually every facet of Guantánamo, and the litigation it sparked. Together, these moving, powerful voices create a historical record of Guantánamos legal, human, and moral failings, and provide a window into Americas catastrophic effort to create a prison beyond the law.
An online archive, hosted by New York University Libraries, will be available at the time of publication and will contain the complete texts as well as other accounts contributed by Guantánamo lawyers. The documents will be freely available on the Internet for research, teaching, and non-commercial uses, and will be preserved indefinitely as a historical collection.
Review
“Provides an invaluable perspectiveor more accurately, perspectives, since more than one hundred lawyers contributed to the volume. These men and women, all working for nothing, have gained intimate access to those whom the United States sought to keep hidden behind strictly closed doors....The stories these lawyers have been able to tell, adroitly edited by Mark Denbeaux and Jonathan Hafetz, offer a multifaceted portrait of life on the base.&8221;
- New York Review of Books
“A valuable contribution to the record of an unfinished story bound to reverberate for years to come.”
- Kirkus Reviews
“The desperate words, quoted here, of Gitmo detainees on torture grab the heart and do not let go. This compelling book on the American penal colony and its residents is a cautionary tale of overzealous executive wartime power and the awful mess it sometimes leaves behind.”
- Publishers Weekly
“This is a fascinating and revealing behind-the-scenes account of the human stories inside Guantánamo, told candidly by some of Americas best, and most public-spirited, lawyers.”
- Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals
Review
"The most compelling reason to read
is that the legal questions created by Guantanamo have not yet been fully resolved. President Obama's promise to close the prison has so far gone unfulfilled, and John Paul Stevens, who will perhaps be remembered more for his writings on Guantanamo than any other subject, will leave the Court at the end of this term. No matter how the Guantanamo question is resolved, historians will no doubt benefit from Denbeaux and Hafetz's excellent book." "Perhaps the appeal to enlightened national interest was the best strategic means of accelerating the end of Guantánamo; but it necessarily de-emphasized in the public discourse the great cost imposed on the detainees. The many stories told in The Guantánamo Lawyers, which make Guantánamo's human cost much more tangible, go some way towards redressing this." "A new and remarkable book... made up of the written accounts by more than a hundred of the lawyers who provide detailed accounts of their meetings with their clients inside the prison... an informative and telling chronicle of what Guantanamo is really like..." “Provides an invaluable perspective—or more accurately, perspectives, since more than one hundred lawyers contributed to the volume. These men and women, all working for nothing, have gained intimate access to those whom the United States sought to keep hidden behind strictly closed doors….The stories these lawyers have been able to tell, adroitly edited by Mark Denbeaux and Jonathan Hafetz, offer a multifaceted portrait of life on the base.&8221;
“A valuable contribution to the record of an unfinished story bound to reverberate for years to come.”
Review
“Perhaps the appeal to enlightened national interest was the best strategic means of accelerating the end of Guantánamo; but it necessarily de-emphasized in the public discourse the great cost imposed on the detainees. The many stories told in The Guantánamo Lawyers, which make Guantánamos human cost much more tangible, go some way towards redressing this.”-Concurring Opinions,
Review
“A new and remarkable book... made up of the written accounts by more than a hundred of the lawyers who provide detailed accounts of their meetings with their clients inside the prison... an informative and telling chronicle of what Guantanamo is really like...”-The New York Times ,
Review
“Provides an invaluable perspective—or more accurately, perspectives, since more than one hundred lawyers contributed to the volume. These men and women, all working for nothing, have gained intimate access to those whom the United States sought to keep hidden behind strictly closed doors….The stories these lawyers have been able to tell, adroitly edited by Mark Denbeaux and Jonathan Hafetz, offer a multifaceted portrait of life on the base.
-New York Review of Books,
Review
“A valuable contribution to the record of an unfinished story bound to reverberate for years to come.”
-Kirkus Reviews,
Review
“The desperate words, quoted here, of Gitmo detainees on torture grab the heart and do not let go. This compelling book on the American penal colony and its residents is a cautionary tale of overzealous executive wartime power and the awful mess it sometimes leaves behind.”
-Publishers Weekly,
Synopsis
Read free excerpts from the book at http: //www.theguantanamolawyers.com and explore the complete archive of narratives at http: //dlib.nyu.edu/guantanamo
Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the United States imprisoned more than seven hundred and fifty men at its naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These men, ranging from teenage boys to men in their eighties from over forty different countries, were detained for years without charges, trial, and a fair hearing. Without any legal status or protection, they were truly outside the law: imprisoned in secret, denied communication with their families, and subjected to extreme isolation, physical and mental abuse, and, in some instances, torture.
These are the detainees stories, told by their lawyers because the prisoners themselves were silenced. It took habeas counsel more than two years and a ruling from the United States Supreme Court to finally gain the right to visit and talk to their clients at Guantanamo. Even then, lawyers were forced to operate under severe restrictions designed to inhibit communication and envelop the prison in secrecy. In time, however, lawyers were able to meet with their clients and bring the truth about Guantanamo to the world.
The Guantanamo Lawyers contains over one hundred personal narratives from attorneys who have represented detainees held at GTMO as well as at other overseas prisons, from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan to secret CIA jails or black sites. Mark Denbeaux and Jonathan Hafetz themselves lawyers for detainees collected stories that cover virtually every facet of Guantanamo, and the litigation it sparked. Together, these moving, powerful voices create a historical record of Guantanamo s legal, human, and moral failings, and provide a window into America s catastrophic effort to create a prison beyond the law.
An online archive, hosted by New York University Libraries, will be available at the time of publication and will contain the complete texts as well as other accounts contributed by Guantanamo lawyers. The documents will be freely available on the Internet for research, teaching, and non-commercial uses, and will be preserved indefinitely as a historical collection."
Synopsis
The stories of Guant namo detainees, silenced and imprisoned without trial, as told by their lawyers
Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the United States imprisoned more than seven hundred and fifty men at its naval base at Guant namo Bay, Cuba. These men, ranging from teenage boys to men in their eighties from over forty different countries, were detained for years without charges, trial, and a fair hearing. Without any legal status or protection, they were truly outside the law: imprisoned in secret, denied communication with their families, and subjected to extreme isolation, physical and mental abuse, and, in some instances, torture.
These are the detainees' stories, told by their lawyers because the prisoners themselves were silenced. It took habeas counsel more than two years--and a ruling from the United States Supreme Court--to finally gain the right to visit and talk to their clients at Guant namo. Even then, lawyers were forced to operate under severe restrictions designed to inhibit communication and envelop the prison in secrecy. In time, however, lawyers were able to meet with their clients and bring the truth about Guant namo to the world.
The Guant namo Lawyers contains over one hundred personal narratives from attorneys who have represented detainees held at "GTMO" as well as at other overseas prisons, from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan to secret CIA jails or "black sites." Mark Denbeaux and Jonathan Hafetz--themselves lawyers for detainees--collected stories that cover virtually every facet of Guant namo, and the litigation it sparked. Together, these moving, powerful voices create a historical record of Guant namo's legal, human, and moral failings, and provide a window into America's catastrophic effort to create a prison beyond the law.
An online archive, hosted by New York University Libraries, will be available at the time of publication and will contain the complete texts as well as other accounts contributed by Guant namo lawyers. The documents will be freely available on the Internet for research, teaching, and non-commercial uses, and will be preserved indefinitely as a historical collection.
Read free excerpts from the book at http: //www.theguantanamolawyers.com and explore the complete archive of narratives at http: //dlib.nyu.edu/guantanamo
About the Author
Mark Denbeaux is a professor at Seton Hall Law School, where he also directs the Center for Policy and Research. Jonathan Hafetz is Associate Professor at Seton Hall Law School and has litigated numerous landmark habeas corpus detention cases. He also is the co-editor (with Mark Denbeaux) of The Guantánamo Lawyers: Inside a Prison Outside the Law (NYU Press, 2009).