The dark side : the inside story of how the war on terror turned into a war on American ideals / Jane Mayer.

The dark side : the inside story of how the war on terror turned into a war on American ideals / Jane Mayer.

1st ed.

New York : Doubleday, [2008]

©2008

392 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

In the days immediately following September 11th, the most powerful people in the country were panic-stricken. Radical decisions about how to combat terrorists and strengthen national security were made in a state of chaos and fear, but the key players, Vice President Cheney and his powerful, secretive adviser David Addington, used the crisis to further a long-held agenda to enhance presidential powers to a degree never known in U.S. history, and obliterate Constitutional protections that define the very essence of the American experiment. This is a dramatic account of how the United States made terrible decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the world--decisions that not only violated the Constitution, but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda. Whatever the short-term gains, there were incalculable losses in terms of moral standing, our country's place in the world, and its sense of itself.--From publisher description.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 361-369) and index.

STA

KF9430 .M39 2008

English

National Book Award Finalist, Nonfiction, 2008.

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9780385526395