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

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

1. Panic -- 2. Blame -- 3. The Warning -- 4. Men of Zeal -- 5. Detainee 001 -- 6. Outsourcing Torture -- 7. Inside the Black Sites -- 8. The Experiment -- 9. The Memo -- 10. A Deadly Interrogation -- 11. Blowback -- 12. Cover-up.

"In the days immediately following September 11, the most powerful people in the country were panic-stricken. The radical decisions about how to combat terrorists and strengthen national security were made in a state of utter chaos and fear, but the key players, Vice President Dick 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." "The Dark Side is a dramatic, riveting, and definitive narrative account of how the United States made terrible decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the world - decisions that not only violated the Constitution, which White House officials took an oath to uphold, but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda. In gripping detail, acclaimed New Yorker writer and bestselling author Jane Mayer relates the impact of these decisions - U.S.-held prisoners, some of them completely innocent, were subjected to treatment more reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition than the twenty-first century." "In all cases, 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. The Dark Side chronicles one of the most disturbing chapters in American history, one that will serve as the lasting legacy of the George W. Bush presidency."--BOOK JACKET.