Psyche, Science, and Society

Washington monthly on psychological association abetting torture

The Washington Monthly just came out with an article on the American Psychological Association ’s (APA) protection of the torturers: Collective Unconscionable: How psychologists, the most liberal of professionals, abetted Bush’s torture policy.

Why, then, was the leadership of the APA, an organization representing one of the most liberal professions imaginable, so willing to essentially acquiesce with a conservative administration’s efforts to torture prisoners? The answer is that it fell into a classic Washington trade-group dilemma: It became so enmeshed in the gears of the federal machine that it could be influenced by a determined administration and ended up supporting policies that many of its own members opposed.

While having little new for those of us following this issue closely, the article provides a nice summary of the entire sordid history. It provides a preview of future history books on today’s dark times, which will contain a chapter on those who abetted the torturers in which the the APA will figure prominently.

Valtin at Daily Kos has already blogged about it.

Add comment January 8th, 2007

What was role of al-Sadr in Saddam execution?

Nir Rosen reports claims in the Arabic press that Saddam’s execution was attended by, or even conducted by the Mahdi Army or even by Muqtada al Sadr himself:

Al Jazeera has claimed that an Iraqi official who did not want to be identified has told it that an Iraqi militia (presumably Muqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army) replaced all the security officials responsible for executing Saddam with its own militiamen. Meanwhile the Sunni pro-Baathist website Iraqi Rabita has claimed that one of the masked men who put the noose around Saddam’s neck was in fact Muqtada al Sadr. The website posted photos from the execution film and pointed to the man they suspected was Muqtada. They compared the masked man’s facial hair (what was visible) and his ring, with those of Muqtada. They claimed this was why the onlookers were chanting for Muqtada.

Add comment January 8th, 2007