Description: A startling spotlight on the darkest corners of America's "War on Terror," where nothing is quite what it seems.
The Convenient Terrorist is the definitive inside account of the capture, torture, and detention of Abu Zubaydah, the first "high-value target" captured by the CIA after 9/11. But was Abu Zubaydah, who is still being indefinitely held by the United States under shadowy circumstances, the blue-ribbon capture that the Bush White House claimed he was? Authors John Kiriakou, who led the capture of Zubaydah, and Joseph Hickman, who took custody of him at Guantanamo, draw a far more complex and intriguing portrait of the al-Qaeda "mastermind" who became a symbol of torture and the "dark side" of US security. From a one-time American collaborator to a poster boy for waterboarding, Abu Zubaydah became a "convenient terrorist"--a way for US authorities to sell their "War on Terror" to the American people.Brief description: Joseph Hickman spent most of his life in the military, first as a Marine, then as a soldier in both the Army and the National Guard. He has deployed on several military operations throughout the world, sometimes attached to foreign militaries. The recipient of more than twenty commendations and awards, he was awarded the Army Achievement Medal and the Army Commendation Medal while he was stationed with the 629th Military Intelligence Battalion in Guantanamo Bay. He is currently working as freelance journalist covering national security issues, and corporate fraud. He is also an independent researcher, and Senior Research Fellow at Seton Hall Law School's Center for Policy and Research. His revelations about the abuse of prisoners at Gitmo resulted in a National Magazine Award-winning story in Harper's magazine and a 2015 book, Murder at Camp Delta. He has also written for Newsweek, TIME, VICE News, and Al-Jazeera America.
Review Quotes: Praise for John Kiriakou and Joseph Hickman's previous work:
"Kiriakou cracks open the CIA's vault, revealing an unusually human inside account of what goes on inside. A vivid picture of the tradeoffs facing America in the post 9/11 world."?Jane Mayer, staff writer, The New Yorker and author of Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right and The Dark Side: How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals "Doing Time Like a Spy is an unusual and outstanding book: part prison memoir, part CIA tradecraft instruction manual. If you ever wondered how a seasoned CIA case officer operates, or how he might use his covert skills to survive an experience as brutal as prison, this is your book. In fact, it contains so much valuable information and so many insights the Agency ought to issue it to new recruits. But of course, its author is John Kiriakou, who blew the whistle on torture, and if the powers that be were vindictive enough to imprison him for that, it's a safe bet they'll be spiteful enough to try to keep young recruits from reading him. Go around the censors?you'll be glad you did." ?Barry Eisler, Former CIA Officer and bestselling author of The God's Eye View. "The true life story of a US spy on the frontlines of the war on terror, and what that meant for both his personal and professional life. Doing Time Like A Spy is a gripping page turner that reads better than fiction. A great read about the murky world of American espionage."?Peter Bergen, author of Holy War, Inc. and Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden "The Obama Administration and the US Government set out to make an example of John Kiriakou. They succeeded beyond the wildest dreams. John is a shining example of courage, principal, and the America we are struggling to preserve. This guy took a bullet for all of us. We are forever in his debt."?Marc Ash, publisher, Reader Supported News "John Kiriakou has done things the hard way, standing up to federal authority for years. The CIA couldn't silence him when, after fifteen years as an analyst and operations officer, he said the CIA was torturing its prisoners, an act of heroism that cost him two years of his freedom. The Bureau of Prisons couldn't silence him when, wrongly-confined, he exposed waste, fraud, abuse, and illegality in the prison system in a series of blogs that put him under constant threat of solitary confinement. And he did it all without losing his sense of humor. Doing Time Like a Spy is a must read."?Daniel Ellsberg, Whistleblower and author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers "With a touch of humor and more than a bit of irony, Kiriakou sheds light on the sad reality that his CIA training amply prepared him to thrive in a US prison. What should outrage the rest of us is that Kiriakou was in prison at all! In fact, Kiriakou's gentleness is on full display in this book?which makes his circumstances more understandable and outrageous at the same time. And it causes me to ask, "How can we ever call it a 'Justice' system when an act of conscience that exposes US state crimes is punished and not those who authorized the crimes?"?Congresswomen Cynthia McKinney "Sgt. Joe Hickman has written a terrific, riveting, and deeply disturbing book. I am shocked by what he reveals. Governments have always tended to suppress embarrassing facts; as the French general staff explained to investigator Col. Picquart during the Dreyfus Affair: "What importance is the innocence of one Jew compared to the reputation of the French Army?" But like Col. Picquart, Sgt. Hickman is compelled by an inner moral code to pursue truth and justice, regardless of the cost to himself. Our country badly needs such men. The truth always matters."--Thomas Wilner, Counsel of record for Guantanamo detainees before the U.S. Supreme Court in Rasul v. Bush and in Boumediene v. Bush "Disturbing account of abuse and secrecy at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, tied to the deaths of three detainess . . . [Murder at Camp Delta is] a plainly told, unsettling corrective to the many jingoistic accounts of post-9/11 military action."--Kirkus "[A] disturbing account of the mysterious deaths of three Arab prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in 2006.... [Hickman] makes his case with compelling clarity and strength of character."--Publishers Weekly "If the Seton Hall report on Camp Delta was a seed, and Horton's article for Harper's a sapling, then Murder at Camp Delta is the tree in full bloom, its branches reaching into the spooky shadows of the national security apparatus."--Newsweek "Compelling... It's clear from his version of ... that there's still plenty we don't know about Guantanamo, a prison in which horrifying acts were carried out in the name of every American citizen."--San Francisco Chronicle