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Title: The Question
ISBN: 0803259603
Author:
Henri Alleg
Publicate Date: 2006-09-01
Publish: 2006-09-01
List Price: $16.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $9.85
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $4.95
Amazon Merchant Price: $12.71
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Beautifully Written, Brutally Honest
The Question is, without doubt, the single best argument against torture under any circumstances. It is a brutally true and personal account of a man caught up under the circumstances beyond his control during the Algerian War of Independence. It was a time when the French, desperate to maintain control over Algeria, had allowed its army to use torture in order to obtain information about its main insurgent enemy, the FLN (Front Liberation Nationale). The author literally puts the reader into his shoes, and one can literally feel the pain of electric shock, the suffocating hell of water boarding, or the miserable mind warping experience of truth drugs.
In wars such as the current GWOT (Global War on Terror) as well as in Algeria, there is always the temptation by politicians to use acts like torture in order to gain an advantage over an insurgent enemy. However, make no mistake. Just as the revelations of torture had undermined the perceived legitimacy of the French cause in Algeria, the same danger also exist in today's struggle in the GWOT.
Regardless of one's opinion on the matter, one must read this simple book in order to gain an understanding of what a torture victim goes through. The book is beautifully written as well as brutally honest. One can easily read it in a day.
Finally, it is important to keep in mind that there is no politics in this book. It is just an account of the hard reality of man's inhumanity against man.
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2: The Question of Torture
If you are interested in what exactly waterboarding is, and the physical and moral impact on victim and torturer, you need to read this book.
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3: AMAZING , THE FRENCH NOT FOR LIBERTE
tHIS IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF EUROPEAN HYPOCRACY, LIBERTE, FRANTERNITE ET EQUALITE. THIS BOOKS REVEALS THAT THE ABOVE SOLOGAN IS FOR ONLY CERTAIN PEOPLE OF THE WORLD,BUT NOT FOR AFRICANS. ONCE, AGAIN THIS BOOK REVEALS THAT NOT ALL FRENCHMEN AGREED WITH THE DE GUALLE GOVERNMENT OFOPRESSION.ADDITIONALLY,IN READING THIS BOOK AND OTHERS OF THIS NATURE,SHOULD REINFORCED THE STOPPING OF TORTURE ADN NOT MATTER WHEN IT HAPPEND THERE SHOULD NOT BE A STATUE OF LIMITATION. PROSECUTION SHOULD MANDATORY AND THOSE GUILTY SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE.
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4: The Question of Torture persists
I read _The Question_ when I was in high school, back in 1958 or 1959. It made a major impression on me, more than most of the books I was reading at the time. The subject is the use of torture in dealing with terrorism and the author did not sugarcoat the subject. He was fairly graphic about the techniques used. The book is short, less than 100 pages, but it gets the point across. What makes the book timely today is the combination of the publication of _The Battle of the Casbah_, two years ago, wherein one of the French Army's practioniners of torture tells his story for the first time and the fact that the United States is now engaged in fighting a war against terrorism. For those who believe that the issue of torture as an element in fighting terrorism has not been surfaced in the past, the fact is that for those who wanted to know, the information was available all along. As we ask ourselves about this interrogation "technique" it is good to go back and review what has been said in the past.
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