Correction: A quick internet search reveals that roughly 110,000-120,000 Japanese Americans were interred by the United States during WWII (not millions as I stated earlier). Perhaps two thirds of those were American citizens.
Tortured Logic
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"Torture" is defined in the Military Commissions Act of 2006 as "an act specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering upon another person within his custody or physical control for the purpose of obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation, coercion, or any reason based on discrimination of any kind." According to The Washington Post, methods of torture that have been used by the CIA include waterboarding (mock drowning), exposure to extreme cold (including induced hypothermia), stress positions, extreme sensory deprivation and sensory overload, violent shaking, striking, sexual humiliation, prolonged isolation, prolonged sleep deprivation, threats of harm to individuals and to their family and friends, among others.
The Third Geneva Convention states, "No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind." The issue of dual loyalty--the need for military doctors to follow orders and also to be bound by principles of medical ethics--was clearly dealt with in this and other international treaties, including the Nuremberg tribunals in which "orders are orders" was not a valid defense by military personnel against war crimes.
According to several sources, including a recent report, "Leave No Marks," by Physicians for Human Rights and Human Rights First, increasing evidence indicates that physicians and other health professionals, including psychologists, have been involved in torturing detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan. These activities range from participating in torture, watching it behind one-way mirrors, patching wounds, treating collapsed prisoners, turning over medical records to interrogators, and covering up and even falsifying deaths due to torture so they appeared to be from natural causes. Dr. David Auch, commander of the medical unit that staffed Abu Ghraib during the time of the abuses made notorious by soldiers' photographs, said military intelligence personnel told his medics and physician assistants not to discuss deaths that occurred in detention.
Psychologists may advise interrogators on how best to exploit fears and weaknesses in those that they are torturing. I was disappointed that the American Psychological Association (APA) did not pass a proposed moratorium earlier this year banning psychologists from being involved in coercive interrogations. According to Dr. Miles, "[The APA] very specifically stated that physicians or psychologists could work in secret prisons with an option of leaving if they wanted, but not with an obligation to call attention to the abuses within secret prisons."
As Douglas Johnson said during a recent interview, "I think it's important to understand that in today's world there are more health-care professionals involved in the design and structuring of torture than there are those who are involved in providing care for survivors of torture around the world."
If we're not careful, we become that which we most fear. When we torture people, even if we win the battle, we've already lost the war for hearts and minds. Especially our own.
© 2007
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