WHAT REVIEWERS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY
"A necessary, important and wholly original book." (Professor Philippe Sands, author East West Street and Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values.)
”John Tsukayama delves into wrenching stories of American service members who inflicted abusive violence on others. Their accounts are collected dispassionately, but their voices still ring through our ears. Tsukayama guides us through their stories as we hear military men and women disassemble what drove them to committing terrible deeds, and how it ultimately undid themselves." (Joshua E. S. Phillips, author of "None of Us Were Like This Before.")
"By Any Means Necessary is an indispensable resource for anyone who seeks to understand how countries that are committed to international law and the protection of human rights can resort to torture…. The testimony of these military personnel reveals how the use of torture by US forces after 9/11 was widespread,tolerated, and encouraged well beyond the supposed limits set by the "official" enhanced interrogation program created and endorsed by the Bush Administration…. The testimony of the military personnel in this book, as revealed through Tsukayama's careful and respectful questioning and discussion, thus provides vitally important insights into the true scope and cost of the US use of torture in Iraq and Afghanistan. Highly recommended." (Professor Jessica Wolfendale, Author of War Crimes: Causes, Excuses and Blame and Torture and the Military Profession)
By Any Means Necessary is a rigorous examination of interrogation, torture, and moral injury in the post-9/11 War on Terror, written by a veteran investigator and scholar of political violence.
Drawing on doctoral research, historical case studies, and firsthand investigative experience, John K. Tsukayama interrogates the belief—widely held in moments of national fear—that extreme measures are justified to prevent catastrophic harm. The book moves beyond slogans and abstractions to examine what actually happens when states authorize coercive interrogation: how decisions are made, how institutions rationalize abuse, and how the costs are borne not only by victims, but by interrogators, intelligence systems, and democratic legitimacy itself.
The heart of the book are the honest and haunting revelations provided by fourteen military and intelligence veterans of the Global War on Terror provided during long-form face to face interviews. The veterans were drawn from personnel who observed, committed, or tried to stop acts of abusive violence by Americans.
Rather than treating torture as an aberration or a morality tale, By Any Means Necessary situates it within a broader framework of political violence, state power, and ethical collapse under pressure. Tsukayama challenges “ticking time bomb” logic, dissects common justifications offered by policymakers, and explores the long-term consequences of abandoning legal and moral constraints in the name of security.
The book is notable for its refusal to caricature. It neither excuses abuse nor dismisses the genuine fear and urgency faced by decision-makers after mass-casualty attacks. Instead, it asks a harder question: what happens to a society—and to the people tasked with defending it—when moral lines are crossed deliberately and systematically?
Written for scholars, practitioners, students, and serious general readers, By Any Means Necessary is both an academic contribution to the study of counterterrorism and a sobering reflection on the human cost of choosing expedience over principle.