In a 3-part series, [part 1, part 2, part 3] Jeff Kaye adds to our picture of the development of the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program by taking a closer look at the other shareholders of Mitchell Jessen, and Associates. As has been previously noted by Kaye, all of them had long connections with the SERE program and with JPRA [Joint Personnel Recovery Agency], the SERE parent agency.
Kaye cites a JPRA sources as stating that Mitchell and Jesses were not the prime actors in the initiator of the program. Rather, this source suggests, stakeholders Roger Aldrich, one of the pioneers of the SERE program, played a critical role.
Kaye also extends backwards the involvement of former American Psychological Association President Joseph Matarazzo:
David Ayers, head of Tate, Inc., was the other MJA shareholder, along with Joseph Matarazzo, yet another former president [in addition to Martin Seligman: SS] of the American Psychological Association who crossed Mitchell and Jessen’s path. Matarazzo, who Jane Mayer recently reported worked for the CIA, had been hired by Mitchell and Jessen years earlier, in 1996, along with other prominent U.S. psychologists — Charles Speilberger, Richard Lazarus, and Albert Bandura – for an internal review of SERE training procedures, according to a SERE internal document.
It is amazing how many senior psychologists seem to have been at least tangentially connected with the developers of the CIA’s torture program. And, of course, we should remember that the APA itself had Mitchell and Jessen as participants in a joint CIA-APA-Rand conference on the Science of Deception at which, accordingly to the conference description, several enhanced interrogation techniques were discussed. Someday we will understand why these and, no doubt, other prominent psychologists were so close to the SERE program and to Mitchell, Jessesn, and the other creators of the CIA torture program.
August 17th, 2009
Waylon Lewis, at Huffington Post, disagrees with the call for boycotting Whole Foods. Go there and read it. Also disagreeing is reader Katherie, who sent this response [reprinted with permission]:
I read your Op-Ed news piece and while you have strong views and disagree with Mr. Mackey’s viewpoint about health care and the cost of food in Whole Foods stores, speaking as an ordinary citizen living in an agricultural district where I can grow food in the back yard if needed, city dwellers don’t usually have that option and are, instead, dangerously dependent on outside sources for food, including all the food sold in city supermarkets. Regarding health care, though, in the spirit of a fair and balanced approach, I would suggest checking out the employee health care insurance practices at, say, Kroger’s supermarkets.
Specifically, I would urge more investigation prior to any boycott of one of the few remaining food stores that still offers wholesome alternatives to industrial ‘food’. I would further suggest seeing two new documentaries about the food supply titled, “Food, Inc.” and “Fresh” along with reading this article titled, “No Bar Code” at
I would urge you–and all citizens–to do homework on the food supply along with the legislation referenced below in this email which has already passed in the House. To this end, I have included a number of websites that offer much more in-depth information about the food we eat and feed children. (Through Farm Bills, big business has been supplying ‘food’ for school lunch programs also.) A message from the Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association regarding the legislation is also included. Strong, hugely-financed lobbies in Washington are hardly limited to health insurance.
Beyond the 1500 Indian farmers who committed suicide as a consequence of the practices of Monsanto and other multinational agribusiness interests, preliminaries about some ‘ethics’ and practices of agribusiness food suppliers, include these. Click on each company to read more about it:
To read what the Union of Concerned Scientists has said about industrial agriculture,
To read this particular legislation for yourself, go to thomas.loc.gov (no www), enter the bill number, click search. For info. about the referenced National Animal Identification System [NAIS] which affects all livestock, horse, sheep, poultry and llama owners–see
www.nonais.org.
Mr. Mackey’s approach to health care solutions might not appeal to you–or me, either– although I would urge serious reflection about the context of the food supply and supermarket vendors, including this:
While you disagree with Mr. Mackey’s health care views, it is my hope that you would at least consider the importance of the availability of wholesome food, food diversity and food choice.
Sincerely,
Katherine
August 17th, 2009