A Place Outside the Law: Forgotten Voices from Guantanamo

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First-hand testimonies from Guantanamo Bay detainees, family members, personnel and journalists, uncovering the human story behind life there Law scholar and "Witness to Guantanamo" founder Peter Jan Honigsberg uncovers a haunting portrait of life at Guantanamo Bay detention center, using 158 interviews he conducted across 20 countries with former detainees and their families, prison guards, interrogators, interpreters, chaplains, medical personnel, lawyers, and high-ranking military officials. Since the September 11th attacks, approximately 780 men of Arab descent have been detained at Guantanamo Bay as part of America's ill-fated War on Terror. Forty-one prisoners remained. Many of them have been tortured, and they will likely die there without receiving a trial. Through the stories Honigsberg captures, he introduces readers to an unforgettable cast of characters. There is Ayub Muhammed, who was kidnapped and sold to the American military as a "Taliban operative" at the age of sixteen. Brandon Neely, a prison guard who processed the first group of suspected operatives to arrive in Cuba. Matt Diaz, a Navy whistleblower who covertly released the names of 500 detainees by sending them in a greeting card to a lawyer in New York. Carol Rosenberg, a journalist who has committed the past ten years of her career to documenting life at Guantanamo. And many, many more, including Damien Corsetti, an interrogator who came to be known as the "King of Torture." In startling, aching prose, Straying from Honor shines a light on these untold stories, and through them, provides a powerful testament to the consequences of unchecked state power.

Reviews

A well-documented, hard-hitting, necessary expos.
Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

Eviscerating, powerful, and monumentally important, A Place Outside the Law must not be ignored.
Booklist, Starred Review

What sets Honigsbergs portrait apart is his focus on the lasting effects of isolation and controversial legal process on all involved . . . A sobering book for audiences interested in law and current affairs.
Library Journal

Compelling, human stories [that] paint a rich and complex picture of a deeply controversial chapter in Americas history.
Jennifer M. Granholm, former governor of Michigan

[An] extraordinary effort in bearing witness to Guantnamo and recording the stories for years to come.
Brigadier General (Ret.) Stephen N. Xenakis, MD

Powerful and poignant . . . Whatever one thinks of the complex and convoluted legal battles that Guantnamo has provoked and continues to engender, Honigsbergs book is a powerful reminder of the very real individuals who have been, and many of whom remain, caught in the balanceand its a reminder to all of us that, as the Guantnamo detention program approaches the age of majority, we cant just close our eyes and hope it, and the forty men still held there, will simply go away.
Stephen Vladeck, A. Dalton Cross Professor in Law, University of Texas School of Law

The next generation will look back with open-mouthed shame at Guantnamo as a symbol of the United States disregard for the human suffering of others and for our own values. And when they do, they will have this bookand the hundreds of voices that Peter so carefully and sensitively capturesto bear witness and demand justice.
Hope Metcalf, lecturer, Yale Law School

A Place Outside the Law . . . conveys the torture message with a fierceness and presence unlike any other. The reader hears the plaintive, tormented voices of both sides of the cruelties, tortured and tortureror, as Nietzsche wrote, when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.
Lawrence Wilkerson, colonel, US Army (retired), and former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell

A Place Outside the Law stands out as one of the only books that has endeavored to paint a complete picture of the tragedy through showing a more comprehensive picture of the infrastructure that was built and supported by negative discourses and a faux legal system . . . . Anyone looking for a book that truly bears witness to the horrors of Guantnamo should read this one.
Dr. Maha Hilal, codirector of Justice for Muslims Collective and expert on institutionalized Islamophobia in the war on terror

A Place Outside the Law documents a dark time in Americas history and serves as an important reminder that the Constitution cannot be set aside for reasons of expediency. Ultimately, if America is to be an example and a force for good in the world, we must recognize that GITMO was a mistake and should never be repeated.
Major General Mike Lehnert, USMC (ret.), former Joint Task Force Guantnamo commander

A Place Outside the Law makes an indispensable contribution to accountability for the multiple transgressions of the rule of law that the United States has committedand continues to commitin the Global War on Terror. From ignoring the presumption of innocence, to outrageous behavior against defense lawyers, from disappearance and prolonged arbitrary detention to physical and psychological torture, this shameful page of US history still demands truth and justice. Peter Jan Honigsbergs book adds human voices and touching stories to show us why we need to insist on the US governments obligation to investigate, reveal the truth, and prosecute and punish the perpetrators, especially those bearing the greatest responsibility for these crimes. This book brings us closer to that inevitable hour of reckoning.
Juan Mendez, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture

This is the definitive account of what happened at Guantnamo in all of its chilling and horrifying detail. What makes this book unique and compelling is that it is the story of what it does to peoples lives to create a place outside the law. Through his countless interviews, Professor Honigsberg describes the impact of Guantnamo on those who have been part of it: soldiers, medical personnel, lawyers, interrogators, torturers, detainees. It is the story of what happens when a country abandons the rule of law.
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law

Author Bio

Peter Jan Honigsberg is a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law and the founder and director of the Witness to Guantanamo Project. His research and teaching focuses on the rule of law and human rights violations that occurred in the detention center in Guantanamo, the study of terrorism, and other post-9/11 issues. He is the author of two books--Our Nation Unhinged- The Human Consequences of the War on Terror and Crossing Border Street- A Civil Rights Memoir. Honigsberg lives in Berkeley, CA.