In Rebuke Of Bush American Psychological Assoc Resolves To Condemn Torture [View All]

[kpete]

Psychologists to CIA: We condemn torture
In a rebuke of President Bush, the American Psychological Association has resolved to condemn brutal CIA and military interrogations.

By Mark Benjamin


AP Photo/Brennan Linsley

A detainee shields his face as he peers out through the hole that is used to pass food into cells, in the detention compound at Guantanamo, in this Dec. 4, 2006, photo.


Aug. 15, 2007 | WASHINGTON -- The American Psychological Association, the world's largest professional organization of psychologists, is poised to issue a formal condemnation of a raft of notorious interrogation tactics employed by U.S. authorities against detainees during the so-called war on terror, from simulated drowning to sensory deprivation. The move is expected during the APA's annual convention in San Francisco this weekend.

The APA's anti-torture resolution follows a string of revelations in recent months of the key role played by psychologists in the development of brutal interrogation regimes for the CIA and the military. And it comes just weeks after news that the White House may be calling on psychologists once again: On July 20, President Bush signed an executive order restarting a coercive CIA interrogation program at the agency's "black sites." Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell has indicated that psychological techniques will be part of the revamped program, but that the interrogations would be subject to careful medical oversight. That oversight is likely to be performed by psychologists.

more at:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/15/apa_torture/