US torture doctors could face charges after report alleges post-9/11 'collusion'

[jimells]

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/jul/10/us-torture-doctors-psychologists-apa-prosecution

This is a very personal topic for me, and not just because of the continuing abuse we suffer from the mental health industry. About 15 years ago I audited a course at Colby College that was taught by an economics professor from Columbia (the nation, not the university). As a young man he had been tortured by military officers trained at Uncle Sam's reviled School of Assassins, better known as the "US Army School of the Americas". His crime was to organize poor people in urban slums.

The "APA" in this story is the American Psychological Association. I don't know what role, if any, either "APA" has played in promoting ME as an imaginary illness. Perhaps other folks here have insight on this.

The largest association of psychologists in the United States is on the brink of a crisis, the Guardian has learned, after an independent review revealed that medical professionals lied and covered up their extensive involvement in post-9/11 torture. The revelation, puncturing years of denials, has already led to at least one leadership firing and creates the potential for loss of licenses and even prosecutions.

...it would not be American military or intelligence interrogators themselves under investigation, nor the senior officials who devised torture policy in the Bush administration, but the psychologists who enabled them.

Human rights-minded psychologists railed for years that the APA had created an environment that was conducive to medical professionals effectively participating in torture.

Yet the organization withstood all public criticism, until New York Times reporter James Risen revealed, based in part on a hoard of emails from a deceased behavioral-science researcher named Scott Gerwehr, the behind-the-scenes ties between psychologists from the APA and their influential counterparts within the CIA and the Pentagon.

There are already nearly a thousand comments on the Guardian's website. While a majority of Americans still think torture is just fine as long as they are not on the receiving end, it's clear that many people around the world believe that Western civilization would be a good idea.

 

[Snowdrop]

There are already nearly a thousand comments on the Guardian's website. While a majority of Americans still think torture is just fine as long as they are not on the receiving end, it's clear that many people around the world believe that Western civilization would be a good idea.

I'm having trouble reconciling the two comments you make regarding the Guardian article.
Americans think torture is. . . OK I understand what you're saying there but "it's clear that many people around the world believe that Western civ. . . I'm not understanding what that means in the context of the preceding comment.

Also, for a really thorough expose on CIA killing squads in South America there is Naomi Klein's book 'The Shock Doctrine'. I no longer remember if she talks about the APA involvement but she may well, the book is long and well documented/detailed.

 

[jimells]

I'm having trouble reconciling the two comments you make regarding the Guardian article.
Americans think torture is. . . OK I understand what you're saying there but "it's clear that many people around the world believe that Western civ. . . I'm not understanding what that means in the context of the preceding comment.

Sorry for the confusion. It's a reference to an anecdote about Mahatma Gandhi. The story is that a reporter asked him, "What do you think of Western civilization?" His response was, "I think it would be a good idea."

 

[Snowdrop]

Ahhh, OK now I get it!

 

[ahmo]

I watched Oliver Stone's series on US military history last year, one of the viewing *pleasures* lying around with coffee enemas gave me time for. Really eye-opening. Made me aware of how little I understand about the US, despite having grown up in Cali. hope this is not considered political.

 

[jimells]

Made me aware of how little I understand about the US, despite having grown up in Cali.

It is amazing how few Americans understand their own history. The information has always been available, but it does require that one actively seek it out. Everybody's heard of Mark Twain and Helen Keller, right? But few folks know that they actively opposed US imperialism a hundred years ago.

The repression of the US labor union movement was particularly brutal, with many working stiffs beaten and killed by Pinkertons (private security thugs), police, and National Guard. But this history is studiously ignored and never discussed.

Understanding labor history and the social institutions involved helps me to see how abuse of the ME population fits right into the "big picture". In other words, what has happened to us is simply "business as usual".

When atrocities are finally officially admitted, the attitude is, "Well, that happened a long time ago, so it doesn't matter any more. It's too late to prosecute, even though the parties responsible are still alive. Besides, "we" didn't know any better back then."