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Preface: Who I Am xiii
1 Rashid Rauf 1
2 Latin America Division 13
3 Abu Zubaydah 41
4 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 73
5 Taking Prisoners 99
6 Regime Change 123
7 Investigations 153
8 The Tapes 181
9 What We Do 219
10 The CIA Under Obama 245
Afterword 259
Acknowledgments 263
Anonymous
Posted May 1, 2012
Reads like a tom clancy novel except its true! A must read!!!
10 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.CompulsiveReader-VA
Posted May 5, 2012
WOW! This is a real eye opener. I don't think I would be able to put up with one tenth of the horse hooey that those folks who dedicate thier lives to keeping the rest of us safe have to deal with. And i don't mean all the really horrible bad guys they shield us from every day, I mean thier own government and fellow citizens, the ones who should be the most supportive! It is astounding to me that our best and brightest still choose to serve.
7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 2, 2012
Excellent read, Jose Rodriguez is a great patriot.
7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 13, 2012
This book shows just how screwed up our politicians and our political process CAN be!!!!!
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.lgken
Posted August 24, 2012
This book covers much of the same material as The Black Banners by Ali Soufan but from the CIA perspective. This book is best read with the Black Banners. The two books sometimes supplement each other. They sometimes complement each other. They sometimes contradict each other. Together they present a fuller and more accurate account of the war against Al Qaeda. What I found most interesting is the difference in viewpoints about what to do with the terrorists after you stop them. The FBI wants to convict and imprison them. The CIA seems to feel this is not their business. The result is the limbo of Guantanamo prison which is neither a civilian prison nor a POW camp but something of both.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 16, 2012
From Evernote:
Rodriguez book
I really didn't know what to expect from the Rodriguez book as I began to read it. As a special forces officer in Vietnam, I encountered the Vietnamese torturing VC prisoners. They employed "crank up" wired telephones. I suspect the VC thought the electricity would hurt them, but maybe they thought they were at a great risk of being killed. I often tried to intervene, as did my colleagues, but the Vietnamese officers saw no problem. Later, as a military psychologist and a leader in my profession, I found myself clearly believing and advocating for ethical (values, attitudes and beliefs) and moral (behavior) as a foundation of our profession as warriors and Americans that can not be compromised.
"Water boarded" prisoners initially believed their life was at risk. Even if the operators thought it was not - the prisoner experienced the threat to his life - and that constitutes "torture". Rodriguez states otherwise. He addressed the physical act of death and not the psychological fear and expectation of death.
Means can not be justified in terms of outcomes or ends in America. Not if we dream of being who we claim to be and want to be. Ends never justify means. The only way anyone can justify means is to be blind to the secondary and long the effects of our behavior. The actions of Rodriguez and colleagues HAS changed how we are perceived by ourselves as well as the world.
Legal does not equate to ethical or moral. There is a more simple test: is it legal?; is it ethical?; is it the right thing to do and consistent with whom we are? Just imagine all of the governments that have called immoral behavior "legal" out of expediency. "Draw and quarter" was legal. Burning at the stake was legal. Dunking witches was legal. "Legal" is not enough.
But we will always be able to find people who will "protect" us and the Nation with expediency.
Maybe they are heroes to some, but for all the reasons against what Rodriguez administered that he identifies in his book and attempts to argue against, he has led us to the dark side.
Maybe he and his colleagues truly believed they had to do what they did - but they must be willing to accept the consequences.
My first cadet company commander, Nick Rowe, would agree. We must prepare our warriors to resist techniques our enemies would use, but we cannot become them.
My impression upon finishing the book was that it is a report of a person who is unable to see the long term effects of his actions and who has drawn us closer to an America that we do not believe in. I believe that he is sincere in his views, but misguided in the long term harm these actions do to our view of ourselves as Americans. The book is more of a psychological discovery on Rodriguez, the person, than a defense of the interrogation tactics used.
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 3, 2012
Great book but more of an apologia for his CIA career than an expose'.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 30, 2012
Hard Measures shows the reader in detail just what enhanced interrogations are.
It clearly shows that waterboarding is NOT torture. Our own military people are subjected to this. The enemy has long been prepared for this. Loud music and standing for long times .....also not torture.
The book points out that by just killing with drones, we do not get any intelligence to stop future attacks.
This book is for anyone who wants to learn the truth about our government and our military.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 30, 2012
the book sounds factual.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 29, 2012
Very informative. Thank God someone wants to protect this country at all costs.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 13, 2012
This book would be good - only if it were assigned to the fiction section! Distortion of facts and evidence for the purposes of justifying misguided policies and criminal behavior, nothing more.
0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 23, 2012
Very well written book by Jose Rodriguez. After you read this book you have a full understanding of the value of interrogation programs that thwart more terrorist attacks and help make our country safer. You leave with a better understanding of how Courageous CIA Officers really are putting themselves in harm's way to protect our nation. A Must Read!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.ArchangelAV
Posted June 16, 2012
The author brings the reader on a journey as a rookie Agency officer, onwards through various foreign assignments up to his appointment as head of the NCS. The book brings valuable insight into the hard work and dedication that Agency officers do in order to keep our country safe. In the end, the reader will end up having a deep sense of gratitude that we have Mr. Rodriguez and others like him who did their job well, and yet are unable to openly share their successes.
Mr. Rodriguez, thank you very much for your service to our country!
And thank you for writing this book!
Anonymous
Posted June 13, 2012
Rodriquez spends the entire book blaming other people and defending what he had done. I thought it would give some great insight into the CIA and on second thought it may.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 6, 2012
It is a shame to see how honorable members of one of our governments most important organizations are repeatedly dragged over the coals for doing the legal and right thing. To cause a terrorist discomfort in order to save lives (American, European, Middle Eastern or other) is not a crime, it's a necessity. This book was very good at showing how our intelligence service responded after the attacks on 9/11 and the techniques that they used to save lives. Very, very well written insightful book.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 2, 2012
I Also Recommend:
"hard measures" is a great book that gave me a better understanding of 9/11 and the terrorists that attacked us on 9/11. the arthur is one of the top interrogators of many of those that planned and murdered american soldiers and civialians. this book gives the inside story and tells the truth of how information was recieved from murderers. great gift idea for a friend or family member.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 31, 2012
I read after seeing his interview on 60 Minutes. We owe a debt of gratitude for all willing to put themselves in such a position to protect our country...in or out of uniform!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 27, 2012
Very well written
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Posted August 10, 2012
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted May 10, 2012
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Overview
An explosive memoir about the creation and implementation of the controversial Enhanced Interrogation Techniques by the former Chief Operations Officer for the CIA's Counterterrorism Center.