TORTURE EXAMINED BY HBO'S Taxi to the Dark Side

THIS MONDAY HBO INVESTIGATES AMERICA’S POLICY ON TORTURE WHEN TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE PREMIERES MONDAY SEPTEMBER 29th ON HBO

AMERICA’S SHAME EXAMINED: Watch Trailer

In the period following 9/11, the Bush Administration’s crusade against terrorists took an illegal turn, with the U.S. military embarking on a policy of humiliation and deprivation intended to get political prisoners to talk.  The inhumane tactics used by military prison guards in Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Guantanamo Bay flaunted the Geneva Conventions while killing a number of prisoners—including innocents like Dilawar, a young Afghan taxi driver whose only “crime” was to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A sobering investigation into the reckless abuse of power, Taxi to the Dark Side uses the death of Dilawar, the innocent taxi driver at the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan as a starting point to expose America’s increasingly ruthless policy of detention and interrogation. This disturbing and often brutal film dissects the progression of the Administration’s policy on torture, from the role of key administration figures such as Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, White House legal advisor Alberto Gonzales and others to the soldiers in the field. The documentary incorporates rare and never-before-seen images from inside the Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons, including photos, archival footage, expert commentary and interviews with several soldiers who admit to using unorthodox techniques such as waterboarding, ceiling handcuffing, sexual abuse and more.

Taxi to the Dark Side has earned numerous awards including: 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, 2008 Peabody Award, Best Documentary Screenplay at the 2008 Writers Guild of America Award and Best Documentary at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. 

Don’t miss the story of how America lost its dignity in its zeal to win the War on Terrorism when Taxi to the Dark Side premieres Monday, September 29th at 9 P.M. ET/PT only HBO.