Michael Otterman

Michael Otterman is a freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker based in New York City and Sydney. He graduated from
Boston University, with a BSc in Journalism, and from the University of Sydney with a MLitt (PACS) where he is a visiting
scholar at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS).[1][2]

Contents
Book
Blog
Publications
Reviews
References
External links

Book
In March 2007, his first book American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond was published by Melbourne
University Publishing (MUP). He toured, promoting the book from June to October 2007.[3][4]

In October 2007, He gave a talk at New York University.[5]

As Dennis Altman wrote in The Age:

Otterman writes as a patriot - one who expects much of his country and is angry when it fails him.[6][7]

Television appearances in 2007 included The Tavis Smiley Show,[8] BBC World News,[9] and JTV, ABC Australia.[10]

Blog
Michael Otterman also ran a blog, American Torture, which was intended to "provide a venue for discussions about America's use
of torture and feature updates about the fate of the over 10,000 'enemy combatants' and 'security detainees' held across the globe
in secret CIA prisons and in places like Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan."[11]

He is currently, as of 2010, working on a forthcoming publication Collateral Carnage: The Human Cost of the War in Iraq,
coauthored with Dr Richard Hil and Dr Paul Wilson.[1]

Publications
Sensory deprivation just another name for torture[12]
Michael Otterman: Why CIA abuse is medieval madness[13]
Hitchens's tortured explanation[14]
Between Iraq and a Hard Place[15]
American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond.[16]
 Michael Otterman, Richard Hil, Paul Wilson, Dahr Jamail (2010), Erasing Iraq: The Human Costs Of Carnage,
ISBN 978-0-7453-2897-3

Reviews
As with most things in life, knowing the problem isn't enough. We also have to understand its origins. That's what
this book does well. Its strength is its methodical presentation of facts, many of them little known, to build a fresh
and informative analysis of the psycho- logy behind President George W. Bush's claim that the United States's
torture techniques are an "alternate set of procedures", vital tools needed "to protect the American people and our
allies". Michael Otterman, an American journalist and documentary filmmaker, begins his history of torture with
the early years of the Cold War when it was believed that communist governments had learned how to control the
mind and turn people into human robots. In 1951, when an American journalist was arrested in Czechoslovakia,
he very quickly "confessed" to hostile activities and was sentenced to 10 years in jail.[17]

Otterman begins his book with the Cold War, and the ways in which it led to new forms of interrogation and
surveillance. American support for successive South Vietnamese governments, another misadventure backed
enthusiastically by Australian conservatives, frequently saw "brutal interrogation". Belief in the sheer evil of its
Communist opponents justified appalling behaviour by the United States and its allies, just as it does today.
Torture is defined as "the infliction of intense pain to body or mind to extract a confession or information, or for
sadistic pleasure". This definition comes from a 1992 US army field manual, and closely adheres to the norms of
international law.[6]

References
1. University of Sydney / Faculty of Arts / Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies / People / Visiting Scholars / Mike
Otterman (http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/peace_conflict/people/mike_otterman.shtml) Retrieved 18 February 2010
2. MacMillan, Pluto press: Michael Otterman (http://us.macmillan.com/author/michaelotterman) Retrieved 18
February 2010
3. "Book tour: Michael Otterman’s ‘American Torture’", Amnesty International, 21 May 2007 (http://www.action.amne
sty.org.au/index.php/news/comments/australia_finds_out_the_truth_about_american_torture/) Archived (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20110706124032/http://www.action.amnesty.org.au/index.php/news/comments/australia_find
s_out_the_truth_about_american_torture/) 6 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
4. "American Torture On Tour", Washington Note, September 15, 2007 (http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archive
s/2007/09/american_tortur/)
5. "NYU's Center for Global Affairs Announces Its October 2007 Events", September 20, 2007 (http://www.nyu.edu/
public.affairs/releases/detail/1731)
6. Dennis Altman (2007-03-03). "How a vice is seen as a virtue" (http://newsstore.theage.com.au/apps/viewDocume
nt.ac?page=1&sy=age&kw=michael+otterman&pb=age&dt=selectRange&dr=entire&so=relevance&sf=text&sf=h
eadline&rc=10&rm=200&sp=nrm&clsPage=1&docID=AGE070303RL68F3MKVUC). The Age.
7. http://www.americantorture.com/the_book.html
8. Tavis Smiley archives: Transcript of interview broadcast on 16 October 2007 (https://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmile
y/archive/200710/20071016_otterman.html) Retrieved 18 February 2010
9. youtube: interview with (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qro-jsnKCA)Jonathan Charles. Retrieved 18
February 2010
10. youtube: Michael Otterman on JTV Australia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyEY-WCqBUY) Retrieved 18
February 2010
11. American Torture: Welcome welcome welcome (http://www.americantorture.com/2007/01/welcome-welcome-wel
come.html#links). Accessed February 14, 2015.
12. "Sensory deprivation just another name for torture" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120202001419/http://www.can
berratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/sensory-deprivation-just-another-name-for-torture/134777.asp
x). The Canberra Times. 5 March 2007. Archived from the original (http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinio
n/editorial/general/sensory-deprivation-just-another-name-for-torture/134777.aspx) on 2 February 2012.
13. "Michael Otterman: Why CIA abuse is medieval madness" (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/micha
el-otterman-why-cia-abuse-is-medieval-madness/story-e6frg6zo-1111113198522). The Australian. March 22,
2007.
14. Otterman, Michael (3 July 2008). "Hitchens's tortured explanation" (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/
2008/jul/03/usa.civilliberties). The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
15. Mike Otterman, Tamara Fenjan (5 February 2008). "Between Iraq and a Hard Place" (http://newmatilda.com/200
8/02/05/between-iraq-and-hard-place). The New Matilda.
16. American Torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and Beyond (https://books.google.com/books?id=wiVqrgS68
NoC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=Michael+Otterman+the+age&source=bl&ots=4JF1QHszge&sig=xlHuu29LMOGCtA
4HqfbbdaO75Us&hl=en&ei=HUZ7S5GzLcyInQfPisCdAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CB
UQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=&f=false). Melbourne University Publishing. 2007. ISBN 978-0-522-85333-9.
17. Warren Reed (April 14, 2007). "American Torture" (http://www.smh.com.au/news/book-reviews/american-torture/2
007/04/13/1175971328985.html). Sydney Morning Herald.

External links
American Torture website (http://www.americantorture.com/)

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This page was last edited on 28 January 2018, at 07:16 (UTC).

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