Justice Dept Must Investigate APAs Role in U.S. Torture Program |
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Justice Dept Must Investigate APAs Role in U.S. Torture Program |
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https://www.popularresistance.org/justice-dept-must-investigate-apas-role-in
-u-s-torture-program/
Justice Dept Must Investigate APAs Role in U.S. Torture Program
The American Psychological Association asked a former US attorney to
investigate collusion with the Bush administration to promote, support or
facilitate torture. Illustration: The Guardian
The American Psychological Association asked a former US attorney to
investigate collusion with the Bush administration to promote, support or
facilitate torture. Illustration: The Guardian
NEW YORK Physicians for Human Rights today called for a federal criminal
probe into the American Psychological Associations (APA) role in the U.S.
torture program following the
release of a damning new report that confirms the APA colluded with the Bush
administration to enable psychologists to design, implement, and defend a
program of torture. In light of the
542-page independent report first reported by
The New York Times, PHR again called for a full investigation by the U.S.
Department of Justice.
The corruption of a health professional organization at this level is an
extraordinary betrayal of both ethics and the law, and demands an
investigation and appropriate prosecutions, said Donna McKay, PHRs
executive director. Rather than uphold the principle of do no harm, APA
leadership subverted its own ethics policies and sabotaged all efforts at
enforcement.
The APA commissioned an
independent review by David Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor, in
November 2014 after
detailed allegations of complicity emerged in
New York Times reporter James Risens book, Pay Any Price: Greed, Power,
and Endless War. The book documented secret coordination between APA and
U.S. officials to support the spurious legal and ethical justification for
the Bush administrations torture program, which relied on health
professional monitoring of abusive interrogations to claim that they were
safe, effective, and legal.
Hoffmans report, based on extensive interviews and review of internal
emails and documents, found overwhelming evidence of criminal activity by
APA staff and officials, including:
list of 4 items
Colluding with the U.S. Department of Defense, the CIA, and other elements
of the Bush administration to enable psychologists to design, implement, and
defend the post-9/11 torture program;
Allowing military and intelligence personnel to write APA ethics policies
regulating their own conduct to ensure they were covered for their roles
in the torture program;
Engaging in a coordinated campaign to cover up the collusion and blocking
attempts to oppose these policies within the APA; and
Obstructing and manipulating ethics investigations into psychologists
involved in the torture program.
list end
PHR said the new report confirms findings from
a decade of PHR investigations into the illegal and unethical participation
of health professionals in the U.S. torture program. Since 2005, PHR has
campaigned for the reform of APA policies and governance, and has
repeatedly called for a federal investigation into the role of psychologists
and other health professionals in this program.
As mental health professionals, our first obligation must be to our
patients, said Dr. Kerry Sulkowicz, psychiatrist and vice chair of the PHR
board of directors. The APAs collusion with the governments national
security apparatus is one of the greatest scandals in U.S. medical history.
Immediate action must be taken to restore health professional ethics and to
ensure this never happens again.
PHR said that the disturbing new revelations require full investigation by
law enforcement into potential criminal wrongdoing by APA staff and
officials. PHR called for a federal commission into the role that the APA,
individual psychologists, and other health professionals played in the
torture program, with full subpoena powers and the authority to refer
individuals for criminal investigation and prosecution. PHR said that all
APA staff involved in the ethics scandal should have their employment
terminated, that all APA members involved should be banned from governance
positions, and that all those implicated should face state ethics charges.
In addition, PHR
echoed calls for the APA to initiate an independent analysis of the internal
structures and processes that led to collusion, and to adopt policies
prohibiting psychologist involvement in interrogations and other activities
that are inconsistent with the professions do no harm ethic.
- See more at:
http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/press/press-releases/us-justice-departme
nt-must-investigate-american-psychological-associations-role-in-us-torture-p
rogram.html?referrer=http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fphysiciansforh
umanrights.org%2Fpress%2Fpress-releases%2Fus-justice-department-must-investi
gate-american-psychological-associations-role-in-us-torture-program.html&sa=
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Justice Dept Must Investigate APAs Role in U.S. Torture Program |
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