Salon: The CIA's torture teachers

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/06/21/cia_sere/?source=rss

The CIA's torture teachers

Psychologists helped the CIA exploit a secret military program to develop brutal interrogation tactics -- likely with the approval of the Bush White House.

By Mark Benjamin


June 21, 2007 | WASHINGTON -- There is growing evidence of high-level coordination between the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. military in developing abusive interrogation techniques used on terrorist suspects. After the Sept. 11 attacks, both turned to a small cadre of psychologists linked to the military's secretive Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape program to "reverse-engineer" techniques originally designed to train U.S. soldiers to resist torture if captured, by exposing them to brutal treatment. The military's use of SERE training for interrogations in the war on terror was revealed in detail in a recently declassified report. But the CIA's use of such tactics -- working in close coordination with the military -- until now has remained largely unknown.

According to congressional sources and mental healthcare professionals knowledgeable about the secret program who spoke with Salon, two CIA-employed psychologists, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, were at the center of the program, which likely violated the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners. The two are currently under investigation: Salon has learned that Daniel Dell'Orto, the principal deputy general counsel at the Department of Defense, sent a "document preservation" order on May 15 to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other top Pentagon officials forbidding the destruction of any document mentioning Mitchell and Jessen or their psychological consulting firm, Mitchell, Jessen and Associates, based in Spokane, Wash. Dell'Orto's order was in response to a May 1 request from Sen. Carl Levin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who is investigating the abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody.

Mitchell and Jessen have worked as contractors for the CIA since 9/11. Both were previously affiliated with the military's SERE program, which at its main school at Fort Bragg puts elite special operations forces through brutal mock interrogations, from sensory deprivation to simulated drowning.

A previously classified report by the Defense Department's inspector general, made public last month, revealed in vivid detail how the military -- in flat contradiction to previous denials -- used SERE as a basis for interrogating suspected al-Qaida prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, and later in Iraq and Afghanistan. Moreover, the involvement of the CIA, which was secretly granted broad authority by President Bush days after 9/11 to target terrorists worldwide, suggests that both the military and the spy agency were following a policy approved by senior Bush administration officials.

more...

[SpiralHawk]

1. republicons = perverted souls

Republicons are so sick, so evil, so lacking in honor

Why do republicons HATE all that is good, fair, truthful, and noble?

[midnight]

3. I'm taking a guess on this, but I would say because it's not

profitable, and that seems to be their mantra. "Money trumps peace".

[midnight]

2. I'm not certain, but psychologists are not big money makers.

It does seem certain that money was a big motivator of these two mental health care workers. I can't imagine that those with the conviction to go into health care could be so abusive.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Too bad Dr. Mengele wasn't around to help the humanitarians at CIA.

The outfit should have been shut down and many of it's employees put on trial for murder, assassination, torture, long ago.

[aikoaiko]

APA is explicitly against psychologists aiding in torture but....

...I'm sure the debate will be whether or not the act can reasonably be defined as torture.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.apa.org/releases/notorture.html

AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION REAFFIRMS UNEQUIVOCAL POSITION AGAINST TORTURE AND ABUSE: APA Council of Representatives Underscores Duty of Psychologists to Stop Incidents of Torture As Well As Report Violations

New Orleans - The Council of Representatives of the American Psychological Association (APA) has approved a resolution reaffirming the organization's absolute opposition to all forms of torture and abuse, regardless of the circumstance. The resolution furthermore affirmed United Nations human rights documents and conventions as the basis for APA policy.

The Association unequivocally condemns any involvement by psychologists in torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This APA policy applies to all psychologists in all settings.

The resolution, approved on August 9, 2006, further underscored the duty of all psychologists to intervene to stop acts of torture or abuse as well as the ethical obligation of all psychologists to report such behavior to appropriate authorities.

"Our intention is to empower and encourage members to do everything they can to prevent violations of basic human rights - at Guantanamo Bay or anywhere else they may occur," said Gerald P. Koocher, PhD, President of the American Psychological Association. "It is not enough for us to express outrage or to codify acceptable practices. As psychologists, we must use every means at our disposal to prevent abuse and other forms of cruel or degrading treatment.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. The people who participated in this are to psychology what Jeffrey Dahmer is to nutriioton.

[derby378]

5. Hell, Ft. Benning has been doing this for decades...

It's known as WHISC, formerly School of the Americas. Their techniques were field-tested in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, etc.

[Solly Mack]

7. I'd rant and rave - and I do quite frequently ....

how much more shit has to come out before something is done to stop all this?

The thing, this has come out before (about SERE)



look at this part...make a note of how it's presented

"both turned to a small cadre of psychologists linked to the military's secretive Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape program to "reverse-engineer" techniques originally designed to train U.S. soldiers to resist torture if captured, by exposing them to brutal treatment"

Read this
http://www.ccmep.org/2005_articles/civil%20liberties/012305_lat.htm

Note this

"The last thing you'd want to do is publicly disclose how you interrogate people, because it would allow them to prepare their people to resist interrogations," Yoo said.

Now read this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/washington/08legal.html?ei=5070&en=ffa7de6bc41d9659&ex=1182571200&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1182438313-1Ng+LbNN1u2EbnySxEUzYQ

and note this:

Mr. Bush said

“I cannot describe the specific methods used — I think you understand why,” he said. “If I did, it would help the terrorists learn how to resist questioning, and to keep information from us that we need to prevent new attacks on our country. But I can say the procedures were tough, and they were safe and lawful and necessary.”

Get the picture?