George W. Bush: The War On Terror

About this episode

This episode examines the presidency of George W. Bush and the implications of the War on Terror following the September 11 attacks.

In this episode of the Disturbing History presidential series, we cross out of settled history and into living memory to examine the presidency of George W. Bush through the architecture of the War on Terror. Beginning with the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the fear that reshaped American government overnight, we trace how that fear was translated into law, policy, and ultimately a global apparatus of detention, interrogation, surveillance, and war. We walk through the legal scaffolding built inside the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, where attorneys John Yoo and Jay Bybee drafted the August 1, 2002 "torture memos" that redefined torture so narrowly that only pain equivalent to organ failure or death would qualify, and that advanced the unitary executive theory placing the president's wartime authority beyond the reach of Congress and the courts. We examine the opening of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp on January 11, 2002, deliberately sited beyond the expected reach of American courts, and the roughly 780 men held there, the overwhelming majority eventually released without charge.We follow the CIA's enhanced interrogation program from its first subject…

Topics covered

• War on Terror
• George W. Bush
• American government
• torture
• surveillance
• detention
• interrogation

Keywords

• George W. Bush
• War on Terror
• torture memos
• Guantánamo Bay
• CIA
• interrogation
• surveillance
• extraordinary rendition

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CIA

Places: Guantánamo Bay, Thailand, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Afghanistan

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