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© REVIEWS A QUESTION OF TORTURE: at Guanténamo Bay, Cuba, and at a number CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War of staging locations in between. to the War on Terror McCoy strikes it home by divulging how by Alfred W. McCoy torture has become a "weapon of choice" Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt & Co. since 9/11, and yet he argues that informa- New York, USA, 2006 , tion obtained by coercion is of little value ISBN 0-525-94968-2 (360pp he) for intelligence purposes. He makes a ratio- day. . nal case for adhering to a proper legal Availability: http://www.henryholt.com approach in this so-called war on terror. It es looks like the US Supreme Court agrees. REMOTE CONTROL: The Battle For Your Mind by Steve Lynch Vortex Publications, Lyons, IL, USA, 2006 ISBN 0-9772175-1-5 (305pp tpb) (US$39.95 + $4 p&h; add 7.75% in IL) Availability: Vortex Publications, PO Box 99, Lyons, IL 60534, USA n this disturbing book, the reality of US mind control technology deployment is confirmed yet again by a victim, the author. Kudos is provided in the foreword by Cheryl Welsh, director of the Mind Justice group that provides support for victims of covert mind control programs and lobbies on the world stage for disarmament of these hank heavens again for Australia's ABC —_ dangerous, supposedly non-lethal weapons. Radio. Tuning in recently, I was Steve Lynch gives a potted history of engrossed by an interview (a monologue, mind control and behaviour modification actually) with veteran commentator Alfred programs conducted by the CIA and other McCoy, author of the seminal book The agencies since the 1940s and refers to Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia. The patents on such technologies that are in the subject was the plight of Australian and public domain, while chiding that the great "almost" British citizen David Hicks, who's _ bulk of these remains classified. This strat- been locked up in Guantanamo (Gitmo) Bay _ egy of classification by the military/intelli- for four years for the alleged crime of fight- _ gence agencies ensures that the public is not ing with the Taliban in Afghanistan in a war _ only none the wiser about these advanced which had not yet been declared by the US. _ technologies but cannot countenance that This is a man whom the Australian, British __ it's possible to manipulate minds in such a and American governments seem intent on way. "Manchurian candidates" are in the dehumanising and leaving to languish in his _ realm of fiction in their world. But not so. island prison; he's their chief scapegoat. Remote Control tells the story of a man In an essay for Australia's The Monthly imprisoned for nigh on 20 years for being Magazine, McCoy took up Hicks's case and _anti-Zionist and whose human rights, partic- considered its implications in terms of an ularly from the early 1990s, were constantly impending Supreme Court ruling—which in _ violated. The prisoner made affidavits to the meantime has declared President George __ the fact that he was the victim of what he Bush's military commissions illegal. He calls a "Brainscan" operation that had him maintains that Hicks has been subjected to subjected to nightmarish audio torture, more days in solitary confinement at the attempted frame-ups by colluding "prison- hands of the CIA and US military than any ers" and experimental drugs. At times he other prisoner in US history. Psyops torture found his mind was being drained of the techniques including isolation and sensory names of people he knew—people who deprivation are now stock in trade, as Hicks — were subsequently rounded up. would attest, but they have a long history. Mind control is a fact of life under the US In his new book, A Question of Torture, military-industrial-intelligence complex McCoy analyses the development and (and that's not even taking into account the spread of interrogation/psychological tor- media). Since 1996, the Mind Justice group ture techniques by the CIA from the Cold has been contacted by over 2,000 alleged War and Vietnam eras to recent times . In victims from around the world. Let's be the last few years, the agency's handiwork thankful that courageous individuals and has been seen at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, groups are taking this threat seriously. A QUESTION OF TORTURE: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror by Alfred W. McCoy Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt & Co., New York, USA, 2006 ISBN 0-525-94968-2 (360pp hc) Availability: http://www.henryholt.com hank heavens again for Australia's ABC Radio. Tuning in recently, I was engrossed by an interview (a monologue, actually) with veteran commentator Alfred McCoy, author of the seminal book The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia. The subject was the plight of Australian and "almost" British citizen David Hicks, who's been locked up in Guantanamo (Gitmo) Bay for four years for the alleged crime of fight- ing with the Taliban in Afghanistan in a war which had not yet been declared by the US. This is a man whom the Australian, British and American governments seem intent on dehumanising and leaving to languish in his island prison; he's their chief scapegoat. In an essay for Australia's The Monthly Magazine, McCoy took up Hicks's case and considered its implications in terms of an impending Supreme Court ruling—which in the meantime has declared President George Bush's military commissions illegal. He maintains that Hicks has been subjected to more days in solitary confinement at the hands of the CIA and US military than any other prisoner in US history. Psyops torture techniques including isolation and sensory deprivation are now stock in trade, as Hicks would attest, but they have a long history. In his new book, A Question of Torture, McCoy analyses the development and spread of interrogation/psychological tor- ture techniques by the CIA from the Cold War and Vietnam eras to recent times . In the last few years, the agency's handiwork has been seen at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, NEXUS = 71 AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2006 www.nexusmagazine.com