DU in meltdown as Obama picks Gitmo/Abu Ghraib Psychologist to WH Task Force

[Soul Crusher]

Greenwald: Top Bush-Era Gitmo & Abu Ghraib Psychologist Is WH's Newest Appointment 
 Edited on Fri Mar-25-11 07:07 PM by Hissyspit
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/...


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x741377


FRIDAY, MAR 25, 2011 17:26 ET

Top Bush-era GITMO and Abu Ghraib psychologist is WH's newest appointment
By Glenn Greenwald

One of the most intense scandals the field of psychology has faced over the last decade is the involvement of several of its members in enabling Bush's worldwide torture regime.  Numerous health professionals worked for the U.S. government to help understand how best to mentally degrade and break down detainees. At the center of that controversy was -- and is -- Dr. Larry James.  James, a retired Army colonel, was the Chief Psychologist at Guantanamo in 2003, at the height of the abuses at that camp, and then served in the same position at Abu Ghraib during 2004. 

Today, Dr. James circulated an excited email announcing, "with great pride," that he has now been selected to serve on the "White House Task Force entitled Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The Military Family."  In his new position, he will be meeting at the White House with Michelle Obama and other White House officials on Tuesday.

For his work at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, Dr. James was the subject of two formal ethics complaints in the two states where he is licensed to practice: Louisiana and Ohio.  Those complaints -- 50 pages long and full of detailed and well-documented allegations -- were filed by the International Human Rights Clinic of Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program, on behalf of veterans, mental health professionals and others.  The complaints detailed how James "was the senior psychologist of the Guantánamo BSCT, a small but influential group of mental health professionals whose job it was to advise on and participate in the interrogations, and to help create an environment designed to break down prisoners."  Specifically:

During his tenure at the prison, boys and men were threatened with rape and death for themselves and their family members; sexually, culturally, and religiously humiliated; forced naked; deprived of sleep; subjected to sensory deprivation, over-stimulation, and extreme isolation; short-shackled into stress positions for hours; and physically assaulted. The evidence indicates that abuse of this kind was systemic, that BSCT health professionals played an integral role in its planning and practice. . . .

MORE

[Soul Crusher]

Comments at DU are what you would expect of me.    lol.   

[Soul Crusher]

Michelle Obama's staff is already backtracking.  ha ha ha ha

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http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/...


The White House, however, now tells a much different story. In an email to me from the First Lady’s Communications Director, the White House claims:

Several members of the White House staff are convening a meeting with multiple mental health professionals on Tuesday to discuss issues pertaining to the wellness of military families. SAMHSA and the American Psychological Association have both been asked to attend. We understand that Dr. James is involved with these groups and may have been indirectly invited to attend this meeting.

She claims, however, that he now will not be at that meeting, and further states that "Dr. James has not been appointed to serve in any capacity with the White House."

There’s obviously quite a discrepancy between the claims in the James email as provided by HLS' Human Rights Project and the White House’s claims. Calls to Dr. James regarding this matter have not been returned, but if I speak with him, I’ll post his response to the White House's denials.

[240 is Back]

who gives a shit what far-left bloggers think?