Larry C. James

I have to say, this book wasn't exactly what I expected. From reading the book jacket and the beginning of the book, readers are led to expect that the book will be a look into Abu Ghraib, the events/oversights that allowed for the events at Abu Ghraib to unfold the way they did, and the strategies of the army psychologist who was sent to bring things back into order. I believe this is why the book is receiving such mixed reviews--this is only a portion of what the book is about. While I was engaged in the full read, I didn't get what I expected, as I suspect is the case for many readers.

More than being an account of the aspects I've listed above, this is the memoir of an army psychologist who found a new place within the army, and then had to continue changing in response to events out of his control, from dealing with ill-equipped interrogators at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, to dealing with a new form of PTSD and soldiers returning from Iraq. This is not a psychological examination of events and issues around a detention center so much as it is the memoir of one man who happened to be the one called in when that center needed to be "fixed".

As a result, I learned much more about the author than I expected, some of which was helpful to the course of the book and some of which wasn't, and not as much about the details, psychological and otherwise, of what went on in Abu Ghraib. In the end, I did learn quite a bit....but not what I expected.

Also, the book became somewhat repetitive toward the end; while I understand the need James felt to include some of the last chapters, I also have to say that they're simply unnecessary for someone who's already journeyed through the book; I NEVER skim books unless I'm looking for a specific piece of information, but I was sorely tempted to do so in this case.

In the end, I have mixed feelings about this book. Simply, the marketing was off--if you buy this book with the expectation of what the dust jacket tells you to expect, you'll be disappointed or frustrated, or at least find yourself confused as to how you've gotten where you are. If, however, you're looking for the story of a man who is caught between being a doctor and a soldier, and who is forced to reconcile his work and his self with horrors of war, then you won't be disappointed. The dialogue does come off as stilted at points, but for the most part the book is engaging and driven--it's just not necessarily what you're expecting to read. Thus, I'm giving this book four stars based not on what I expected or on what the book presents itself as, but for what it is, a memoir of growth and self-understanding in line with psychology and military practices.… (altro)

Dr. Larry James served as the Chief of the Department of Psychology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for five years. After the publicity and outcry over the mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and in Abu Ghraib, Colonel James was sent to both places “to dissect this catastrophe, fix it, and prevent it from being repeated.” In 2003, he became Chief Psychologist for the Joint Intelligence Group at GTMO, Cuba, and in 2004 he was appointed as Director, Behavioral Science Unit, Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center at Abu Ghraib, Iraq. He tells his story, or a bit of it, in this book.

Dr. James regrets the behavior of the young and inexperienced U.S. soldiers, although he never really says what they did, beyond what we have been able to read in the papers. He testifies to the egregiousness of living conditions in the prisons, especially in Iraq, and delineates some factors to which he attributes the slide into regrettable behavior by the soldier/interrogators:

1. lack of supervision – the bases were so awful that no officers stayed on site and rarely even came over to supervise, especially after dark
2. young soldiers, recently just reservists, had no training on how to conduct interrogations
3. soldiers were frustrated, scared, and in Abu Ghraib, constantly threatened by mortar attacks, all of which affected their dispositions and composure
4. the soldiers themselves needed mental health assistance from the stress and isolation, and rotten conditions of their deployment, but none was available at first. And most importantly,
5. no clearcut directions were posted that exactly set forth permissible and nonpermissible behaviors.

Dr. James does talk a bit about how he convinced soldiers that establishing a rapport with a prisoner would be more efficacious in gathering intelligence than abusive behavior. But in the examples he gave, the relationship-building was preceded by abusive behavior. Would the kindness have worked on its own? He doesn’t address that issue.

He wonders extensively about whether some of the detainees (especially the young kids in GTMO) were psychotic, but we never get any follow-up on his musings.

A very large portion of the tape was devoted to defensive, self-serving lectures on (a) how bad it was before he got to the scene; (b) how much difference he personally made; and (c) how innocent he was of facilitating any torture. A brief search on the Internet reveals that his need to defend his honor is not without justification, but a little bit of defensiveness and “I had to straighten out my superiors” goes a long way.

(A U.S. Senate report on torture in military detention centers released on April 21, 2009 confirms the intimate involvement of health professionals in designing, supervising and implementing the Army and the CIA’s “enhanced” interrogation program. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel memos, released April 16, 2009, reveals that medical professionals had served as “safety officers” during waterboarding and other interrogation sessions. You can read more about these accusations in In These Times )

I was hoping to get more substance from this book, but that was probably unrealistic. I suspect, for reasons of national security, confidentiality agreements, and career protection, there won’t be much forthcoming for many years.… (altro)

Fixing Hell by Col. (Ret.) Dr. Larry C. James, Ph.D. is a nonfiction book about how one army psychologist takes on the task of cleaning up after public relations nightmares at detention centers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Abu Ghraib, Iraq.

Dr. James is sent to reform these prison/detention centers after scandals break out regarding the treatment of prisoners and detainees. After conducting research and reviewing the Stanford Prison Experiment, which details how otherwise "good" people can commit atrocities in a prison system, Dr. James heads to Cuba.

He outlines some ground rules before he gets to Guantanamo Bay. One of the main rules he sets forth is that leaders must be seen and present. James walks throughout the complex at different hours of the day, even at 2 a.m. He finds that some of the guards on duty in the wee hours are asleep at their posts, while others claim to have never seen a colonel or other military leaders.

Dr. James leaves Guantanamo only to be sent shortly thereafter to Abu Ghraib following the highly public denigration of Iraqi prisoners at the detention center. Soldiers at the prison disrobed prisoners, posed them naked in a human pyramid, and shot photos of the incidents, which were later plastered all over the news. As a psychologist, Dr. James was sent to the detention center to clean up the facility and establish protocols to prevent further incidents.

The audio of this book was well read and engaging. It certainly kept our attention during our early morning commutes, and it was intriguing to get an insider's look at the military's psychology department and protocols. My husband enjoyed the details about how Dr. James remedied the problems at Abu Ghraib and the insight those details provided about the actual facts of the situation.

However, the last chapters of the book slowed down the flow of the book for us. Dr. James offers a great deal of explanation about how the media played up the Abu Ghraib incidents and printed misinformation that maligned the reputations of fellow psychologists and himself. While we understood his need to set the record straight, the information was unnecessary given the timeline he issued throughout the book. Any reports placing him or his colleagues at the detention centers during the scandalous incidents could easily be dismissed.

With that being said, anyone interested in military or war history will enjoy this insider's look at the Iraq War, Abu Ghraib, and the military's psychology unit.… (altro)