7 Comments so far

1. rob.price March 6th, 2007 2:02 pm

   Psychological torture is what the US likes most to employ. This is a known fact now. There is no more reason of doubt. Below, Professor McCoy outlines 50 years of US torture.

   Torture Worldwide and the CIA: A UW-Madison Professor’s Book Tells 50-Year Tale of Pyschological Torture Techniques Devised by U.S. Agency
   January 24, 2006
   Wisconsin State Journal
   Link for U Wisconsin

   We now take a look at what lies behind the shocking images of torture at Abu Ghraib prison by turning to the history of the CIA and torture techniques. Professor Alfred McCoy talks about his book “A Question of Torture”, a startling expose of the CIA development of psychological torture from the Cold War to Abu Ghraib. CIA mercenaries attempted to assassinate McCoy more than 30 years ago. [includes rush transcript]

   AMY GOODMAN: Well, as a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, you have not stopped looking at the C.I.A., and now you’ve written this new book. It’s called A Question of Torture: C.I.A. Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror. Give us a history lesson.

   ALFRED McCOY: Well, if you look at the most famous of photographs from Abu Ghraib, of the Iraqi standing on the box, arms extended with a hood over his head and the fake electrical wires from his arms, okay? In that photograph you can see the entire 50-year history of C.I.A. torture. It’s very simple. He’s hooded for sensory disorientation, and his arms are extended for self-inflicted pain. And those are the two very simple fundamental C.I.A. techniques, developed at enormous cost.

   From 1950 to 1962, the C.I.A. ran a massive research project, a veritable Manhattan Project of the mind, spending over $1 billion a year to crack the code of human consciousness, from both mass persuasion and the use of coercion in individual interrogation. And what they discovered — they tried LSD, they tried mescaline, they tried all kinds of drugs, they tried electroshock, truth serum, sodium pentathol. None of it worked….

   AMY GOODMAN: Describe it.

   ALFRED McCOY: Oh, it’s very simple. Dr. Donald O. Hebb of McGill University, a brilliant psychologist, had a contract from the Canadian Defense Research Board, which was a partner with the C.I.A. in this research, and he found that he could induce a state of psychosis in an individual within 48 hours. It didn’t take electroshock, truth serum, beating or pain. All he did was had student volunteers sit in a cubicle with goggles, gloves and headphones, earmuffs, so that they were cut off from their senses, and within 48 hours, denied sensory stimulation, they would suffer, first hallucinations, then ultimately breakdown. ….

   DemocracyNow!

   Book listed over at Amazon

   Rather than manage overt prison facilities (as seen post 9.11), McCoy suspects the US/CIA/DOD will just revert to being underground. Low and behold, former CIA Gates, a subtler operator becomes DOD SECDEF!

2. BigNoseKate March 6th, 2007 3:11 pm

   (In response to questions about the study, government officials said U.S. interrogators followed national and international laws on treatment of detainees.)

   We have been shown, in no uncertain terms that the U.S. has violated national and international laws on the treatment of detainees, and is not only unremorseful about it, but openly crows it intends to continue. The officials in question may rest assured that there will be ample room for them at the Hague, along with their “boss(es).”

   (”It would not be appropriate for the Department of Justice to speculate about whether a particular hypothetical act might constitute torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” Erik Ablin, a spokesman there, said in a statement.)

   The Department of (In)Justice has no credibility. There is no need to speculate about “hypothetical acts,” but there must be an accounting for past and ongoing actual acts.

   For those of us that grew up during Watergate, politically speaking, one of the most difficult things to do, is to forgive our parents for allowing the government to sweep those “high crimes and misdeamenors” under the rug. Obviously, no healing has taken place. The wounds have only festered and rotted to the point, we may very well have to march the entire body of the current members of our Executive, Legislative and Judiciary off to the I.C.C. to save the body politic. There are more than a few of us, fully prepared to do just that. All of the members of the AIPAC, Neo-Con, House of Saud, Zionist alliance should be planning on spending the rest of their lives sleeping with one eye open, because there is no statute of limitations on crimes against humanity.

   BNK

3. rtdrury March 6th, 2007 3:59 pm

   The US government promotes or tolerates the use of psychology to torture prisoners of war (Guantanamo), intimidate populations under invasion/occupation (Shock & Awe), build public support for hostile policies (Iraq War), and create market demands for hostile production (gas-guzzlers, cigarettes, junk food, drugs, etc).

4. Nana March 7th, 2007 1:48 am

   Quote: “The finding supports suggestions by other experts that people trained to endure torture, such as insurgents or prisoners of war, suffer the least long-term damage.”

   This makes a huge erroneous assumption (in addition to the continuing error of calling the Iraqi Resistance ‘insurgents’ - they’re not insurgents) the assumption is that they’re trained to resist torture. They are not. Most of them are ordinary people fighting back after seeing their families, livelihoods, neighbourhoods and their entire country destroyed by invading forces.

   http://www.merriam-webster.com/

   insurgents
   One entry found for insurgent.
   Main Entry: 1in·sur·gent
   Pronunciation: -j&nt
   Function: noun
   Etymology: Latin insurgent-, insurgens, present participle of insurgere to rise up, from in- + surgere to rise — more at SURGE

   1 : a person who revolts against civil authority or an established government; especially : a rebel not recognized as a belligerent

   2 : one who acts contrary to the policies and decisions of one’s own political party

   The above does NOT in any way apply to Iraqis in Iraq.

   resistance
   5 entries found for resistance.

   Main Entry: re·sis·tance
   Pronunciation: ri-’zis-t&n(t)s
   Function: noun
   1 a : an act or instance of resisting : OPPOSITION b : a means of resisting
   2 : the ability to resist; especially : the inherent capacity of a living being to resist untoward circumstances (as disease, malnutrition, or toxic agents)
   3 : an opposing or retarding force
   4 a : the opposition offered by a body or substance to the passage through it of a steady electric current b : a source of resistance

   5 Resistance: often capitalized : an underground organization of a conquered or nearly conquered country engaging in sabotage and secret operations against occupation forces and collaborators

5. indijo March 7th, 2007 12:50 pm

   Odd that PSYOPS wasn’t mentioned in this article, as it is a special branch of the US military that specializes in psychological torture.

   I have experience with psychological torture and I know how bad it is. I could write a book on the evils of psychological torture, but it wouldn’t make any difference. PSYOPS is the preferred method of torture by the US military because it is much harder to prove abuse in a court of law, after the fact.

   Think about it, for a minute. How does one prove pscyhological torture? How does one prove physical torture? Physical torture is easy to prove, because it leaves obvious physical marks, scars, deformities, etc…

   But psychological torture leaves no physical marks, only invisible scars, inside the head. Psychological damage done by PSYOPS can be very destructive to a human’s life. It can drive humans to alcohol and drug abuse, and addiction, seeking relief from anxiety disorders and depression (all symptoms of PTSD) and we all know how damaging such problems can have on a human’s life. It can even lead to suicide.

   What irks me is I don’t think the sadists behind PSYOPS care one bit at all about the adverse effects of their paid professions. In fact, I’m inclined to think that they look at the upside of those effects by investing in alcohol and pharmaceuticals. Yes, isn’t American capitalism wonderful!

   Vampires and vultures profiting off other people’s misery and pains. War profiteers are vultures. PSYOPS profiteers are vampires.

   Nick Z.

6. Nana March 7th, 2007 7:15 pm

   Sadly Nick, this just confirms the following - (and I’m so sorry you know from experience how bad it is).

   During the Nuremberg trials, a U.S. Army Psychiatrist, Capt. Gilbert, routinely interviewed and built relationships with the Nazi war criminals. At the conclusion of the trail he discovered they all had a single common dominator.

   He stated,
   “Evil is a lack of empathy, a total incapacity to feel with their fellow man.”

   My prayer is that all those responsible for these horrors awaken tomorrow with full empathic awareness of the consequences of their actions.

7. bnkysenukowy December 10th, 2007 2:50 am

   titvesacowiwa…

   expiwurisata…

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