Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Healers or Interrogators: Psychology and the United States Torture Regime

2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10481880802297624

1940-9222

Stephen Soldz,

Global Peace and Security Dynamics

Abstract United States abuses at Guantánamo and other detention centers, including the CIA's "Black Sites," have a long history. In the Cold War period, the CIA pursued an extensive research program on "coercive interrogations," which became codified in torture manuals used to train Latin American military leaders who utilized torture against their populations. Also during the Cold War, the U.S. military developed the Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE) program to train U.S. military personnel in resisting torture. When the U.S. government turned to torture after 9/11, they turned to SERE psychologists to develop their interrogations strategies. This occurred, first at the CIA secret Black Sites, and then at Guantánamo and elsewhere. Psychologists helped develop, implement, and standardize U.S. torture techniques. The American Psychological Association (APA), rather than oppose this use of psychologists, provided cover for U.S. interrogation abuses. They formed a task force on Psychological Ethics and National Security—stacked with a majority of members from the military-intelligence establishment, several with possible involvement in abusive interrogations. This task force supported psychologist participation in detainee interrogations. Various APA antitorture statements since then have not changed APA's pro-participation stance. As a result, a movement of psychologists arose to oppose these APA policies. Notes This paper is an updated version of a talk delivered at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California conference, UNFREE ASSOCIATION: The Politics and Psychology of Torture in a Time of Terror, March 17, 2007. 1The most detailed documentation of specific U.S. tactics is from the interrogation log of Mohammed al-Qahtani over many months in late 2002 to January 2003 at Guantánamo (CitationMiles, 2007). BSCT psychologist Major John Leso was present during this interrogation (CitationBloche & Marks, 2005). During al-Qahtani's interrogation he was subjected to extreme cold to the point where his heart slowed and he was hospitalized (he was then warmed up and again subjected to extreme cold), he was injected with several bags of saline solution while being strapped to a table until he urinated on himself, and he was forced to bark like a dog; we are not told what was done to him to get him to bark. He required cardiac monitoring after 60 days in a cell flooded with artificial light, being questioned for 48 out of 54 days for 20 hours at a time. He was briefly hospitalized and immediately returned for continued interrogation (CitationMiles, 2007). FBI agents described the effects upon al-Qahtani: In September or October of 2002 FBI agents observed that a canine was used in an aggressive manner to intimidate detainee __ after he had been subjected to intense isolation for over three months. During that time period, __ was totally isolated (with the exception of occasional interrogations) in a cell that was always flooded with light. By late November, the detainee was evidencing behavior consistent with extreme psychological trauma (talking to non-existent people, reporting hearing voices, crouching in the corner of a cell covered with a sheet for hours on end) (CitationHarrington, 2004, p. 2). Despite these reports, the U.S. government insists that al-Qahtani was treated "humanely," as are, it claims, all the Guantánamo detainees. And along similar lines, the APA leadership has repeatedly claimed that BSCT psychologists participate in interrogations to prevent abuse, to ensure "that these processes are safe and ethical for all participants" (CitationAPA, 2005d, p. 1), despite published reports that Major Leso, an APA member, was involved in these interrogations. There have been at least three ethics complaints filed against Major Leso, dating back to August 2006. As of this writing, 23 months after that complaint, and more than 42 months after Time magazine posted the interrogation log of Mr. al-Qahtani, no action has been taken on these complaints or this documented record of a psychologist participating in overt torture. APA has also not publicly reported taking any steps whatsoever to investigate the repeated claims that BSCT psychologists were in Guantánamo to teach torture techniques, not to prevent their use. In July 2005, the New Yorker's Jane Mayer quoted Baher Azmy, an attorney for one of the Guantánamo detainees whose client reported physical brutality, sexual humiliation, and being injected with debilitating drugs: "These psychological gambits are obviously not isolated events. They're prevalent and systematic. They're tried, measured, and charted. These are ways to humiliate and disorient the detainees. The whole place appears to be one giant human experiment." (CitationMayer, 2005, para. 12). 2It should be noted that the APA claims that these names were not technically secret. They were provided to APA Council and were posted on the Peace Psychology Division Web site. In fact, if one knew which sequence of eight links to click, they could even be obtained starting from the APA Web site. However, APA refused to provide the names to either reporters or members when requested. And the PENS listserv makes clear that the intent was to keep them secret. On the listserv an APA official was praised for his skill in deflecting requests for the PENS membership at the 2005 APA Convention (CitationArrigo, 2006). 3The following descriptions appeared in the Task Force's official biographical statements: Colonel Morgan Banks "is currently the Command Psychologist and Chief of the Psychological Applications Directorate of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). … He is the senior Army Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) Psychologist, responsible for the training and oversight of all Army SERE Psychologists, who include those involved in SERE training. … He provides technical support and consultation to all Army psychologists providing interrogation support, and his office currently provides the only Army training for psychologists in repatriation planning and execution, interrogation support, and behavioral profiling." (para. 4). (APA, 2005a) Robert A. Fein "is currently a consultant to the Directorate for Behavioral Sciences of the Department of Defense Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), the DOD Criminal Investigative Task Force (CITF), and the U.S. Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center. He also serves as a member of the Intelligence Science Board." (para. 7) Colonel Larry C. James: "In 2003, he was the Chief Psychologist for the Joint Intelligence Group at GTMO, Cuba, and in 2004 he was the Director, Behavioral Science Unit, Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center at Abu Ghraib, Iraq. Col. James was assigned to Iraq to develop legal and ethical policies consistent with the Geneva Convention Guidelines and the APA Ethics Code in response to the abuse scandal." (para. 15) Captain Bryce E. Lefever "was assigned to the Navy's Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE) School from 1990 to 1993. He served with Navy Special Forces from 1998 to 2003 and was deployed as the Joint Special Forces Task Force psychologist to Afghanistan in 2002, where he lectured to interrogators and was consulted on various interrogation techniques. Capt. Lefever has been deployed to many parts of the world during his career including Haiti, Panama, Israel, Afghanistan, Italy, Bahrain, Crete, Puerto Rico, Iceland, Antarctica, and Spain where he has lectured on Brainwashing: The Method of Forceful Interrogation… ." (para. 16) R. Scott Shumate "has worked for the federal government in highly classified positions that have required him to travel extensively and live overseas. He has performed many of his duties under highly stressful and difficult circumstances. In May of 2003, Dr. Shumate accepted a senior position in the Department of Defense as the Director of Behavioral Science for the Counterintelligence Field Activity. … DOD/CIFA is responsible for support to offensive and defensive counterintelligence (CI) efforts. … His team of renowned forensic psychologists are engaged in risk assessments of the Guantánamo Bay Detainees." (para. 20) Also on the PENS taskforce was Michael Gelles. Dr. Gelles was the chief psychologist for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Dr. Gelles was at Guantánamo in order to develop evidence for potential criminal prosecution of detainees. As he witnessed the treatment of detainees, he was outraged and became a whistleblower (CitationSavage, 2005b). As such, Dr. Gelles is one of the few who acted honorably in this rather sordid tale. It should be remembered, however, that, in his whistleblowing, Dr. Gelles was supported by his chain of command, which was not involved in ordering or winking at any such abuse (CitationMayer, 2006). In any case, it remains debatable whether Dr. Gelles should have been on the PENS task force. First, as an employee of the military, like the other PENS members from the military and intelligence services, his career could be directly affected by the outcome of the PENS process. Further, as a psychologist and military interrogator, Dr. Gelles was in no position to seriously consider the view that involvement in interrogations was, in itself, unethical. The task force also included four members not affiliated with the military/intelligence establishment, three voting members and a Chair closely allied with APA leadership. One of the voting members subsequently resigned from the task force (CitationShinn & Woolf, 2006) and two have called for the PENS report to be rescinded (CitationArrigo, Thomas, Rubenstein, Anders, & Goodman, 2007).