Hearts of darkness : torturing children in the war on terror / Henry A. Giroux.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword / Chris Hedges -- 1. The War on Terror and the Culture of Cruelty -- 2. Torture and the Politics of Historical Amnesia -- 3. What is New About Torture? -- 4. The Disappearing Body -- 5. The Unthinkable: Torturing Children -- 6. Bush's Legacy and Obama's Challenge.

The United States embarked on a war on terror that defended torture as a matter of official policy and furthered an already emergent culture of cruelty. As torture became normalized in the Bush era, it not only corrupted American ideals and political culture, it also passed over to the dark side in sanctioning the unimaginable and unspeakable: the torture of children. The book documents cases of child torture by American military personnel, several of which are little known to Americans from the media. Although the rise of the torture state has been a subject of intense controversy, this is the first book to examine how state violence under the auspices of the war on terror infected not only political discourse but also a cultural consciousness that enabled the systemic abuse of children. Giroux raises serious challenges the Obama administration must address in light of this shameful period in American history if it wants to reverse such policies and make a claim for restoring democratic culture. But this challenge is not only one for the upper reaches of government. He also raises questions about the collusion of the media, educators, the criminal justice system and other groups and institutions that have allowed the conditions to emerge that have made the unspeakable act of torturing children a matter of state policy--and what can be done to avoid such acts from ever being repeated.