Misblog

Originally Published August 20, 2007; Updated and Republished August 16, 2008:

Yesterday, the American Psychological Association (APA) limited the role its members can play in terrorists’ interrogations. The APA resolution specifically named prohibited interrogation techniques and placed an affirmative duty on psychologists to report usage of the prohibited techniques.

The APA is following the lead of the American Medical Association (AMA) and American Psychiatric Association (APA) which have passed similar resolutions.

Why has it taken the American Psychological Association so long to take even these baby steps to improve their adherence to an oath of improving the lives of human beings?¹

Web:

• UPDATED 08/16/2008 NYT, Psychologists Clash on Aiding Interrogations.
• WP, APA Rules on Interrogation Abuse

-----notes-----

1. If your doctor, psychiatrist, or psychologist has actively, knowingly, and willing participated in any terrorists or terrorism related interrogations and you have a choice get a different doctor, psychiatrist, or psychologist!

UPDATED 08/16/2008 A psychological professional voluntarily participating in terror or terrorism related interrogations (coercive or non-coercive) lacks sufficient insight into their own psyche to provide insights that would routinely help non-captives figure out their psyche.

UPDATED 08/16/2008 A strong case can be made that persons participating in coercive terror or terrorism related interrogations are themselves mentally ill.

One of the early professionals to complain bitterly about the health profession's participation in torture was Steven H. Miles MD.

He published his complaints in the excellent book entitled Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity, and the War on Terror

Originally Published June 01, 2007; Updated and Republished July 03, 2008:

Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. a Boeing Company subsidiary is alleged to have facilitated the torture of human beings by providing essential flight services and logistic support for our rogue, arrogant, ignorant, incompetent, and ineffective president's illegal CIA torture program.

The complaint alleges:

• In July 2002, Ethiopian citizen Binyam Mohamed, while in CIA custody, was stripped, blindfolded, shackled, dressed in a tracksuit, strapped to the seat of a plane and flown to Morocco where he was secretly detained for 18 months and interrogated and tortured by Moroccan intelligence services.
• In January 2004, Mohamed was once again blindfolded, stripped, and shackled by CIA agents and flown to the secret U.S. detention facility known as the "Dark Prison" in Kabul, Afghanistan where he was again tortured and eventually transferred to another facility and then to the U.S. Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where he still remains.
• In May 2002, Italian citizen Abou Elkassim Britel was handcuffed, blindfolded, stripped, dressed in a diaper, chained, and flown by the CIA from Pakistan to Morocco where he was tortured by Moroccan intelligence agents and where he is now incarcerated.
• In December 2001, Egyptian citizen Ahmed Agiza was chained, shackled, and drugged by the CIA and flown from Sweden to Egypt where he was severely abused and tortured and where he still remains imprisoned.

Shame on Boeing if these allegations prove true!

Link to Misblog's:

• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-29
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-28
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-27
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-26
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-25
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-24
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-20a
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-23
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-22
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-21
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-17a
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-20
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-19
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-18
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-17
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-16
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-15
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-14
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-13
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-12
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-11
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-10
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-9
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-8
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-7
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-6
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-5
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-4
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-3
• 
  Who Will Stop The Torture Update-2
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-1
• Who Will Stop The Torture

Web:

• Updated 07/03/2008 AP, Sweden pays $500,000 to exonerated terror suspect. Sweden takes the lead in compensating a torture victim Muhammed Alzery for their part in his torture—Sweden facilitated our CIA rendition for torture program by secretly and extra-judicially handing over Egyptians Muhammed Alzery and Ahmed Agiza.

  "He [Alzery] was deported from Sweden by the security police under circumstances that were not acceptable,"--Swedish Chancellor of Justice Goran Lambertz--

• ACLU Sues Boeing Subsidiary for Participation in CIA Kidnapping and Torture Flights (5/30/2007)
• Herald Tribune, Boeing subsidiary enabled CIA torture activities

A few bad apples on the Abu Ghraib night shift included Rumsfeld and other top officials, according to newly released documents:

"The newly released documents show that in the summer of 2002, Pentagon officials compiled lists of aggressive techniques, soliciting opinions from the CIA and others, and ultimately implementing the practices [at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib] over opposition from military lawyers who argued that the proposed tactics were probably illegal and could harm U.S. troops."--Washington Post--

Web:

• UPDATED 06/19/2008 Time Mag, Seeking Answers on Detainee Abuse. Lieutenant Colonel Diane Beaver is the military female counterpart to John Yoo.

  Cheney, Rumsfeld, Haynes, and Addington were working at both ends to implement the administration's torture regimen.

• UPDATED 06/18/2008 BBC, US-held terror suspects 'abused' Those familiar with the torture news from the current administration over the last several years will recognizes the following shameful list.

  The list was not developed on the Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo night shift by a few bad apples, it's a zerox from the CIA's KUBARK torture manual¹:

  • Stress positions
  • Beatings and other forms of physical assault
  • Use of extremes of temperature
  • Waterboarding or any other form of simulated drowning
  • Threats of harm to the detainee, his family, or friends
  • Sleep deprivation
  • Sensory bombardment through the use of extreme noise and/or light
  • Violent shaking
  • Religious, cultural, and sexual humiliation including, but not limited to, forced nakedness
  • Prolonged isolation
  • Sensory deprivation, including, but not limited to, hooding and blindfolding
  • Use of psychotropic, mind-altering, or other drugs for the purpose of decreasing resistance or gaining information
  • Mock execution
  • Exploitation of phobias, psychopathology, or physical vulnerability
  • Rape and sexual assault
  • Electric shocks
  • Deprivation of basic necessities and sanitary conditions
• WP, CIA Played Larger Role In Advising Pentagon

Res:

• UPDATED 06/18/2008 Physicians for Human Rights, Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture by US Personnel and Its Impact

  "After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts, and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.--Maj. General Antonio M. Taguba (USA-Ret.), Preface to Report--

  If our nation tries to shield those who authorized abuse and torture from accountability, because "they believed it necessary to protect our nation" we will only compound the damage inflicted on our great nation.

• Senate Armed Services Committee, Hearing on aggressive interrogation techniques: Part I, inquiry into the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody

-----notes-----

1. Many in the administration seeking to mask the torture occurring in our joint military-CIA secret torture and interrogation chambers have characterized the torture as nothing more than SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) training provided to our soldiers.

There is a night and day difference between SERE training and the KUBARK torture inflicted in the joint military-CIA secret torture and interrogation chambers.

One can certainly understand why those authorizing torture would subsequently seek to re-characterize their authorization as defensive resistance training—however untruthful and irrelevant.

Originally published December 18, 2007, Updated and Republished March 28, 2008, Updated and Republished April 11, 2008, Updated and Republished May 06, 2008:

Wow! ... videogate has already reached the level of White House vice presidential and presidential counsel...

"At least four top White House lawyers [Harriet Miers, John Bellinger, Alberto Gonzales and David Addington] took part in discussions with the Central Intelligence Agency between 2003 and 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two operatives from Al Qaeda, according to current and former administration and intelligence officials."--NYT's reporters Mark Mazzetti and Scott Shane--

Web:

• UPDATED 05/05/2008 AP, House panel subpoenas top Cheney aide [David Addington]. John Yoo (aka Mr. Torture), former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith, and former Assistant Attorney General Daniel Levin, and former CIA Director George Tenet (still negotiating terms of testimony) are expected to testify, too.
• UPDATED 04/12/2008 WP, Detainee's Suit Says Abuse Was Videotaped
• UPDATED 04/12/2008 AFP, Pentagon turns up dozens of interrogation videotapes: officials

• UPDATED 04/11/2008 AP, Cheney, Others OK'd Harsh Interrogations Torture

  "...Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality..."--AP--

  Bet Cheney, David Addington, and William Haynes coordinated (explicitly or implicitly) to "use" the “green as grass” and “eager to please” John Yoo (who was a stupid, naive, and willing stooge)¹ to write the torture memo(s)—then pretended they were relying on Yoo's opinion(s)—Ashcroft doing his best to keep his fingerprints off the memo(s).

  If you believe the president didn't know and sanction the torture, I've got some weapons of mass destruction in Iraq for you.

• UPDATED 03/28/2008 NYT, Tapes’ Destruction Hovers Over Detainee Cases
• 2/07/2008 NYT, C.I.A. Destroyed Tapes as Judge Sought Interrogation Data.
• UPDATED 01/27/2008 Jurist, CIA must be held accountable for illegal interrogation and destruction of evidence.
• UPDATED 01/17/2008 NYT, Account of C.I.A. Tapes Is Challenged. It appears tapes were destroyed notwithstanding direction to preserve them.
• UPDATED 01/09/2008 NYT, Ex-C.I.A Aide Won’t Testify on Tapes Without Immunity.
• UPDATED 01/03/2008 NYT, Justice Dept. Sets Criminal Inquiry Into C.I.A. Tapes.
• UPDATED 12/29/2007 NYT, Tapes by C.I.A. Lived and Died to Save Image.

• UPDATED 12/22/2007 WP, CIA Tapes Were Kept From 9/11 Panel, Report Says. The CIA most certainly stonewalled the 911 Commission on information, not just the torture tapes! Additionally the White House was uncooperative and stonewalled the 911 Commission.

  The 911 Commission did not serve the public's interest by capitulating instead of challenging both (although they believed, at the time was in the public's interest to strive for the lowest common denominator so a bipartisan albeit incomplete report could issue). Nice to hear the Commission's executive director speaking candidly, if somewhat late.

• UPDATED 12/21/2007 NYT, Judge Refuses to Order Hearing on C.I.A. Tapes.
• UPDATED 12/21/2007 AP, US Heads to Court Over CIA Videos.
• UPDATED 12/21/2007 NYT, House Panel Subpoenas C.I.A. Official Over Destroyed Tapes. Our criminal, abusive, dangerous, harmful, lying, rogue, arrogant, ignorant, incompetent, and ineffective president will not say whether he ordered the destruction of the videotapes!
• 2/20/2007 NYT, C.I.A. to Cooperate With House on Tapes
• UPDATED 12/19/2007 AP, Congress Challenges Bush Over CIA Tapes
• Bush Lawyers Discussed Fate of C.I.A.Tapes

Blog:

• UPDATED 01/03/2008 WP, Tapegate Probe Will Outlast Bush Presidency. How appropriate that a mob prosecutor is assigned to investigate videogate. He must be granted "special prosecutor" status to ensure his independence.

-----notes-----

1. A recent John Yoo Esquire interview, given after public disclosure of a second torture memo, indicates some realization that trading autonomous thinking, credibility, and integrity for acceptance is usually not a good trade—a realization that comes too late to change his nom de plum, "the guy who wrote the torture memos"

The Intelligence Science Board (under the Defense Intelligence Agency) released, earlier this year, its phase one report euphemistically titled Educing Information: Interrogation Science and Art Foundations for the Future (2M pdf) or as most of us know it torture¹.

Readers (and hopefully there will be many) of the above report will discover there is nothing scientific in it. The report states additional scientific study is needed on the effectiveness of torture (aka educing information).

Pending that PUBLIC additional scientific study we must NOT use or authorize the use of ANY mental or physical pain, coercion, and threats to "educe" information from other human beings.

We must criminally prosecute ALL, including the current president, who use or authorize the use (past, present and future) of mental or physical pain, coercion, and threats to "educe" information from other human beings.

Link to Misblog's:

• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-28
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-27
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-26
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-25
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-24
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-20a
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-23
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-22
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-21
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-17a
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-20
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-19
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-18
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-17
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-16
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-15
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-14
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-13
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-12
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-11
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-10
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-9
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-8
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-7
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-6
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-5
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-4
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-3
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-2
• Who Will Stop The Torture Update-1
• Who Will Stop The Torture

Web: Interrogation Methods Are Criticized

-----notes-----

1. The word torture may eventually generate more euphemisms that the word vagina - wonder why that is?