• 7/2, Glenn Greenwald, Salon, The Still-Growing NPR “Torture” Controversy
• 7/2, Shahid Buttar, Huffington Post, Torturing the Rule of Law
• 7/2, Charlie Savage, New York Times, To Critics, New Policy on Terror Looks Old
• 7/2, Daphne Eviatar, Washington Independent, Debate Intensifies Over Preventive Detention
• 7/2, Benjamin Weiser, New York Times, Secret CIA Jails at Issue in Terror Case
• 7/2, Chris Good, The Atlantic, Court Battle: Should Harsh Interrogations Be Allowed?
• 7/1, Andy Worthington, Huffington Post, Release of the “Holy Grail” of Torture Reports Delayed Again

• 7/1, Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent, Fight Brews Between Civil Liberties Groups and Obama
• 7/1, Jason Leopold, TruthOut, John Yoo, Donald Rumsfeld, and the Systematic Torture of Prisoners
• 7/1, David Swanson, After Downing Street, Veterans Call for Release of Detainee Abuse Photos
• 7/1, Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent, Another Delay in the CIA Inspector General Torture Report
• 6/30, Bob Herbert, New York Times, How Long is Long Enough
• 6/30, Glenn Greenwald, Salon, The Suppressed Fact: Deaths by US Torture
• 6/30, Thomas R. Eddlem, New American, Obama Will Soon Propose Indefinite Detention Without Trial
• 6/30, Daphne Eviatar, Washington Independent, ACLU to Argue Against Use of Evidence Obtained Through Torture in Federal Court

On June 18, 2009, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued an open letter to its members, attempting to address growing concern and animosity over the APA’s role in designing, aiding, and legitimizing acts of torture carried out during interrogations under the Bush administration. This letter, penned by the APA’s board of directors, marks the first recognition by the APA that members engaged in torture, despite reports outlining the role psychologists played in the application of abusive interrogation techniques as far back as 2005.

However, many people felt that the APA failed to take responsibility for the full range of psychologist involvement in the exceedingly harsh, degrading, and humiliating treatment suffered by detainees. Furthermore, the APA letter refused to acknowledge the damaging ways in which the organization colluded with military officials in drafting revised ethical standards, permitting organization members to engage in activities which amounted to torture.

In order to address this abdication of responsibility by the APA, and to ensure the enforcement of the highest ethical standards in the future, a coalition of psychologist and physician groups, religious groups, and human rights organizations (including the Bill of Rights Defense Committee) yesterday released an open letter in response to the APA’s board of directors.

The letter commends actions the APA has already taken, yet decries the association’s failure to fully address the legal, ethical, and organizational implications of having been complicit in torture. The coalition letter calls for, among other things, investigations into, and accountability for, psychologists’ participation in torture, as well as a strong, public, and binding affirmation of the APA’s opposition to service in US detention facilities abroad.

The coalition letter is an attempt by concerned health care and human rights organizations to convince the APA to take responsibility for the role it played in the torture of detainees, and to take substantive steps that would prevent such systematic abuses from occurring again.

More resources:

• The APA board’s letter
• The coalition response
• A brief video detailing the role of the APA and psychologists in the abuse of prisoners of the so-called “war on terror”
• A detailed look at the history of psychology, torture, and the CIA

• 6/29, Bob Edgar, Huffington Post, Free Bernie Madoff
• 6/29, David Swanson, After Downing Street, Cheney’s Top Torture Lawyers Now Work for Obama
• 6/29, Mary Zeiss Stange, USA Today, Witch Hunts and Torture
• 6/29, Lisa Magarrell and Anh-Thu Nguyen, ACLU, Accountability for Torture - More About Courage Than Consensus
• 6/29, Jason Leopold, Public Record, Obama Vows to End Torture, But His Pledge Doesn’t Apply to the Bush Administration
• 6/29, Editorial, Washington Post, Fixing Abuses of State Secrets
• 6/29, David de Sola, CNN, Disbarment of Lawyers Involved in Interrogation Policies Sought

In an op-ed published on Huffington Post, Bill of Rights Defense Committee Executive Director Shahid Buttar argues that the failure to investigate and prosecute those government officials who sanctioned (and in some cases still champion) acts of torture undermine and threaten the very rule of law our country is founded on.

By Shahid Buttar

Sixty years ago, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson left Washington to pursue what he later called “the most important, enduring, and constructive work of [his] life”: prosecuting international war crimes committed during WWII. Justice Jackson helped usher in a new international regime that promised to help deter human rights abuses.

Unfortunately, Jackson’s achievements have proven less enduring than he hoped. Our nation continues to undermine international law by sweeping torture under the rug, with serious implications going forward.

The Nuremberg Trials established a timeless principle: individuals are criminally liable for violating fundamental human rights, even if their governments authorized those violations. Some laws, Nuremberg held, transcend those of any nation.

We have fallen a long way in such a short time.

Continue reading “Torturing the Rule of Law”

This article is also available at the Augusta Free Press.