Torture, national culpability, and literary criticism

By E.J. Graff - June 27, 2008, 3:31PM

... In Which E.J. Acknowledges Her Sense of Inadequacy in Responding to Gourevitch & Morris's Standard Operating Procedure, And Yet Does So Anyway

Given the enormity of what we're discussing, and given the fact that unlike others here I am not steeped in questions about war, torture, policing, and related issues, apparently the only way I can write another book club post is to begin by mocking my inadequacies. I signed up to discuss this book for two reasons: first, my sense of overwhelming shame and responsibility, as an American citizen, for the degeneration of my country into one that stands for torture, indefinite detention, "black sites," "extraordinary rendition," and so on. And two, my sense of profound awe at how Morris and Gourevitch's work have moved me to grief about the way those policies have destroyed not just Iraqis but also American young people.