Interrogators Cite Doctors' Aid at Guantánamo

[cal04]

Military doctors at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have aided interrogators in conducting and refining coercive interrogations of detainees, including providing advice on how to increase stress levels and exploit fears, according to new, detailed accounts given by former interrogators.

The accounts, in interviews with The New York Times, come as mental health professionals are debating whether the doctors - psychiatrists and psychologists at the prison camp - have violated professional ethics codes. The Pentagon and mental health professionals have been examining the ethical issues involved.

The former interrogators said the military doctors' role was to advise them and their fellow interrogators on ways of increasing psychological duress on detainees, sometimes by exploiting their fears, in the hopes of making them more cooperative and willing to provide information. In one example, interrogators were told that a detainee's medical files showed he had a severe phobia of the dark and suggested ways in which that could be manipulated to induce him to cooperate.

In addition, the authors of an article published by The New England Journal of Medicine this week said that their interviews with doctors who helped devise and supervise the interrogation regimen at Guantánamo showed that the program was explicitly designed to increase fear and distress among detainees as a means to obtaining intelligence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/politics/24gitmo.html?hp&ex=1119585600&en=0bb87618febc3438&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. "First, do no harm"

Isn't that still part of the oath doctors take?

Or, like the Geneva Convention, does this oath not apply to suspected terrorists?

[Jack Rabbit]

2. I guess the Hippocratic Oath is quaint

!!

[ovidsen]

11. It's the Hypocritic Oath...

at least with these "doctors".

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. Haven't you heard? Everything's different after 911.

[othermeans]

13. Isn't that FRIST do no harm? n/t

[mike_c]

3. Amerikan Mengeles....

Fascism knows no boundries.

[ernstbass]

12. You took the words out of my mouth

Mr Durbin - you need to apologize for apologizing!!

[Spazito]

5. Geez, even the fact that the American Psychological Assn..

is even debating whether their members participation in this criminal behavior is 'ethical' or not is disgusting, imo.

"Dr. Behnke emphasized that the codes did not necessarily allow participation by psychologists in such roles, but rather that the issue had not been dealt with directly before.

"A question has arisen that we in the profession have to address and that is where we are now: is it ethical or is it not ethical?" he said."

[bobbieinok]

10. doesn't #9 below contradict this view that 'there are no guidelines'????

I thought the Milgrim experiments and the Stanford prison guards' experiments years ago and the reaction to them had made it clear that such behavior on the part of psychologists is completely unacceptable

[Newsjock]

6. In the reality-based world

... this story alone would be enough to bring down a government.

Instead, it will merit barely a yawn tomorrow morning, perhaps 15 seconds in the morning roundup on 'Good Morning America.'

I'm speechless, in a way that rarely happens anymore.

[MisterP]

8. with President Stallion Yanker in charge, anything is possible

and PROBABLE!

[KansDem]

22. "perhaps 15 seconds in the morning roundup on 'Good Morning America.'"

I haven't seen GMA for awhile but I can imagine it would go something like this:

Tiffany: ...and news from out of the Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, doctors are advising interrogators on torture techniques. What do you say to that, Bif?
Bif: Well, if they are giving advice, I wonder if it's free?
Tiffany: Haha, Bif. Probably not. Not if the doctors are anything like the doctor I met at last weekend's cocktail party for the DC chapter of the Society for Investigative Journalists. I had a question about implants and he told me to make an appointment!
Bif: Well, Tif, if it's info you want about implants, maybe I can help? I've got a "feel" for them, you know! (winks at Tif)
Tiffany: Hold on, Bif. I still remember you at the Investigative Journalists cocktail party the time before last!
Bif: Hahaha, Tif, didn't think you'd remember. Now, the latest on Michael Jackson...

Sound about right?

[Solly Mack]

7. Gulag

War criminals

oh, and...the Nazis did use psychological warfare against people. And they didn't learn how to do it from brick-layers...

[bobbieinok]

9. doctors' participation in Nazi concentration camps caused international

fury when it became fully known after the war

US guidelines for human research were largely written in the light of German medical practitioners' betrayals in WWII

this was all standard and accepted US policy pre 12-12-00 and pre 9-11

[Frederik]

14. Interrogators Cite Doctors' Aid at Guantánamo Prison Camp

"WASHINGTON, June 23 - Military doctors at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have aided interrogators in conducting and refining coercive interrogations of detainees, including providing advice on how to increase stress levels and exploit fears, according to new, detailed accounts given by former interrogators."

"Pentagon officials said in interviews that the practices at Guantánamo violated no ethics guidelines, and they disputed the conclusions of the medical journal's article, which was posted on the journal's Web site on Wednesday.

"Several ethics experts outside the military said there were serious questions involving the conduct of the doctors, especially those in units known as Behavioral Science Consultation Teams, BSCT, colloquially referred to as "biscuit" teams, which advise interrogators.

"Their purpose was to help us break them," one former interrogator told The Times earlier this year.

The interrogator said in a more recent interview that a biscuit team doctor, having read the medical file of a detainee, suggested that the inmate's longing for his mother could be exploited to persuade him to cooperate."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/politics/24gitmo.html?ex=1120190400&en=5fe59bdc7964d4a8&ei=5070&emc=eta1

[NVMojo]

15. Despicable!

[CBGLuthier]

16. Oh well, fuck the hippocratic oath I guess

From clause 4 of the modern interpretation;

To never deliberately do harm to anyone for anyone else's interest. Physician organizations in the U.S. and most other countries have strongly denounced physician participation in legal executions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath

[stopbush]

17. US Military MD's Advised Interrogators On How To Effectively Torture!

Interrogators Cite Doctors' Aid at Guantánamo Prison Camp

By NEIL A. LEWIS
Published: June 24, 2005

WASHINGTON, June 23 - Military doctors at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have aided interrogators in conducting and refining coercive interrogations of detainees, including providing advice on how to increase stress levels and exploit fears, according to new, detailed accounts given by former interrogators.

The accounts, in interviews with The New York Times, come as mental health professionals are debating whether psychiatrists and psychologists at the prison camp have violated professional ethics codes. The Pentagon and mental health professionals have been examining the ethical issues involved.

http://nytimes.com/2005/06/24/politics/24gitmo.html?hp&ex=1119672000&en=17f38087d71bd912&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Sorry if this is a dupe. I searched and didn't see it anywhere.

On edit: Changed Rx to MD on advice from my doctor...

[leveymg]

18. I think they mean MDs, although I'm sure Rx's (pharmacists) are

useful in interrogations, as well.

[Gothmog]

19. Do no harm does not apply to these doctors

The central or primary code of ethics for doctors is suppose to be do no harm. That rule does not apply to these doctors.

[stopbush]

20. I'd say they were like Mengele, but I don't want to get Durbined.

[cdb]

21. First do no harm...

These assholes are treasonous to the code of ethics, yhe hyppocratic oath. After drinking the Kool aid, anything goes, I guess...