Psyche, Science, and Society

My audio — Radio interviews and talks

My Radio Interviews (Partial collection) and other Audio

My August 27, 2007 interview on WBAI’s Wakeup Call show about the role of psychologists in US torture is available for download here.

I, together with Steven Reisner, was interviewed on August 17, 2007, on Democracy Now! Dissident Members Challenge American Psychological Association on Role in CIA Interrogation, Torture.

June 28, 2007 Talk Nation Radio Special on Torture I was interviewed by Dori Smith on Talk Nation Radio for June 28, 2007 Special on torture (Part I of II): Ending Torture and Restoring Detainee Rights with Prof. Stephen Soldz and Laurie Hasbrook.

In this part one of a two part special we look at the progress being made by activists working to stop torture. Members of a growing group within the APA, American Psychological Association, discuss their ongoing efforts to get their organization to fully renounce torture and bring about an end to the involvement of psychologists in US Military interrogations.

As they gear up for the APA’s annual meeting August 10-13 in New Orleans where a crucial debate on this issue will take place, Professor Soldz outlines some of the new information that is coming out about the role of psychologists in USM and CIA interrogations. He his research into the history of US torture. What are the implications? Have detainees in the so-called ‘war on terror’ been subjected to forcible injections of drugs? Are research studies going on and are reports being written about how various drugs work?

May 30, 2007 interview on NPR’s To the Point on torture and Interrogations

This is a brief interview on NPR’s To the Point May 30, 2007. It is available here.

Interview on South African CII radio

On Wednesday, April 18, 2007 I was interviewed on South African satellite radio station CII on their “Out of Africa” show about US torture and the involvements of psychologists in it. You can listen to this interview here. The interview is after the news. [Note: The file is 9 mg, so it can take a while to download with a slow connection.]

Interview on Talk Nation Radio on psychologists, interrogations, and the American Psychological Association

I was interviewed by Dori Smith on Talk Nation Radio for their March 15, 2007 broadcast. Description:

Does the fact that some psychologists are working at places like Guantanamo impact patients who might lose trust in therapy in general? And what impact is the presence of psychologists at interrogations having?

Psychologist, author, and peace activist, Stephen Soldz, has taken a strong stand against torture and he is presently working to get the American Psychological Association or APA to create stricter guidelines on torture. He is withholding his membership dues, and is helping to coordinate a petition drive to urge the APA to enact a moratorium on member participation in US Military interrogations.

You can read or listen to it here.

July 6, 2005 interview on Talk Nation Radio [WHUS] with Dori Smith on the Psychodynamics of Torture at Abu Ghraib. A transcript is also available as: Psychoanalyst Stephen Soldz on Torture at Abu Ghraib.

Interview on Oregon radio station KBOO about: Security, Terror, and the Support for War [Windows Media]

My February, 2005 talk for Psychoanalysts for Peace and Justice: Security, Terror, and the Psychodynamics of Empire. [Read here.]

April 21st, 2007

Listen to my interview on South African CII radio

On Wednesday, April 18, I was interviewed on South African satellite radio station CII on their “Out of Africa” show about US torture and the involvements of psychologists in it. You can listen to this interview here. The interview is after the news. [Note: The file is 9 mg, so it can take a while to download with a slow connection.]

April 21st, 2007

LA Times on Posada

A terrorist walks

Luis Posada Carriles has boasted of bombing Havana hotels, yet American justice lets him go free.

April 20, 2007

WITH A MISGUIDED decision upholding bail for Cuban-born terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has done more than free a frail old man facing unremarkable immigration charges. It has exposed Washington to legitimate charges of hypocrisy in the war on terror.

By allowing Posada to go free before his May 11 trial, the court has released a known flight risk who previously escaped from a Venezuelan prison, a man who has boasted of helping set off deadly bombs in Havana hotels 10 years ago and the alleged mastermind of a 1976 bombing of a Cuban airplane that killed 73 people. Posada’s employees confessed to the attack, and declassified FBI and CIA documents have shown that he attended planning sessions.

In other words, Posada is the Zacarias Moussaoui of Havana and Caracas. Moussaoui is serving a life sentence without parole in a federal prison in Colorado for conspiracy in the 9/11 attacks; Posada is free to live in Miami.

Posada, a 79-year-old Bay of Pigs veteran who served time in Panama for plotting to kill Fidel Castro, has never been charged with crimes of terrorism in U.S. courts. Instead, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement nabbed him for lying to immigration authorities after he sneaked in the country in March 2005 and held a news conference announcing his triumphant return. Both Customs and the Justice Department lobbied to keep Posada behind bars, but U.S. law enforcement has never shown a strong interest in trying him for more serious crimes. In turn, Posada’s lawyer has preemptively warned that if charged, his client would likely reveal extensive collaboration with the CIA.

The United States keeps 385 suspected terrorists imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, many in isolation and all without U.S. norms of due process. Yet Posada, a confessed terrorist, is sent home with an ankle bracelet.

The United States has not been able to persuade any of seven allied nations to accept Posada. A federal judge has ruled that he can’t be extradited to Cuba or Venezuela because he might be tortured. The best solution would have been for the court to refuse bail until trial while the State Department keeps searching for a third-party country that would agree to try him on terrorism charges.

Instead, Castro receives a propaganda victory gift, the White House has its moral authority undermined and the victims of Carriles’ alleged crimes see justice delayed once more.

The U.S. government has done many odd things in 46 years of a largely failed Cuba policy, but letting a notorious terrorist walk stands among the most perverse yet.

Of course, it is hard to understand how this White House could have “ts moral authority undermined.” Moral authority isn’t usually measured in negative numbers. And isn’t the concern of the United States government, perhaps the only country to legalize torture, that Posada would be tortured in Venezuela just lovely?

April 21st, 2007