Standard Operating Procedure: A War Story

"Standard Operating Procedure" is the story of the infamous Abu Ghraib photographs of prisoner abuse, as seen through the eyes and told through the voices of the soldiers who took them and appeared in them. It is the story of how those soldiers were at once the instruments and victims of a great injustice. Drawing on more than two hundred hours of Errol Morris' startlingly frank and intimate interviews with the soldier-photographers who gave us what have become iconic images of the Iraq War. 'A compelling meditation on a descent into cruelty' - "Daily Telegraph". 'An extraordinary book ...Although Gourevitch lets the soldiers speak for themselves, his few analytical forays are invaluable' - "Guardian".

About the Author :
Errol Morris has directed documentary films including The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2004. Philip Gourevitch is the author of We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families. He is a staff writer for the New Yorker and editor of the Paris Review.

Review :
aHere, author and journalist Gourevitch and documentary filmmaker Morris have compiled the complete story of Abu Ghraib, from Iraqi prison to prison of occupying American forces, and the crimes its walls concealedaonly some of which were revealed in photographs that hit the global media in 2003. Drawing from Morrisas lengthy interviews with the soldiers who photographed and participated in prisoner abuse, the authors render in clear detail the horror and inhumanity of Abu Ghraib, for prisoner and guard alike: aInexperienced, untrained, under attack, and under orders to do wrong, the low-ranking reservist MPs who implemented the nefarious policy... knew that what they were doing was immoral, and they knew that if it wasn't illegal, it ought to be.a From the squalid conditions to the lack of regulations to the appalling acts that jolted the world, this chronicle of unconscionable behavior, and the political maneuvering that took place in its aftermath, is as much a page-turner as any fictional thriller. Companion to Morrisas documentary film of the same name, this deft piece of reportage will stir readersa anger, at both the actions and the consequences; not only was the torture purposeless (aNobody has even bothered to pretend otherwisea), but ano soldier above the rank of sergeant ever served jail time... [and] Nobody was ever charged with torture, or war crimes, or any violation of the Geneva Conventions.a A thorough, terrifying account of an American-made abedlam, a the latest from Gourevitch is as troubling, and arguably as important, as his 1998 Rwanda investigation "We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families,"a
a"Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
aThis book has to be read.a
a"Newsweek"
aA tightly knit and damning narrativea] one of the most devastating of the many books on Iraq.a
a"New York Times Book Review"
aPhilip Gourevitchas exemplary book will take its toll for years.a
a"The New York Observer"
aFascinating.a
a"The Economist"
aGourevitchas eye for telling detail evokes the best of "The New Yorker" traditionaCapote's "In Cold Blood," Hersey's "Hiroshimaa] Standard Operating Procedure" is essential reading for our time.a
a"The Tennessean"
aAs much a page-turner as any fictional thrillera] A thorough, terrifying account of an American-made abedlam, a the latest from Gourevitch is as troubling, and arguably as important, as his 1998 Rwanda investigation "We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families,"a
a"Publishers Weekly"
a[A] gut wrenching morality checka
aNPRas "Talk of the Nation"
aAdmirablea] remarkable powera
aMichiko Kakutani, "The New York Times"
aA compelling storya] [Gourevitch] is a master of looking more closely, which means both more sympathetically and more criticallya] Gourevitchas account takes us outside the frame, giving us the chance to understand the dynamic of the unit in which violence and romance were S.O.Pa] The book shows how lawlessness became the law.a
a"The Los Angeles Times"
aRemarkable.a
a"The Denver Post"
aGourevitcha]brings to this study of the Abu Ghraib scandal the same graceful balancing of reportage and insight that marked his extraordinary book on the Rwandan genocide, "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families"a] the shocks arrive throughlanguage alone.a
a"Time Out NY"