Comments on: How APA Made a Pact with DoD & CIA over Torture Interrogations http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/ Firedoglake weblog Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:03:27 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: MADavis95 http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889996 MADavis95 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:35:11 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889996 <p>Small correction to a great article and discussion, Jeff. I wish I had, but I didn’t join Trudy in submitting a complaint about Leso. With Stephen’s info that Leso is licensed in Idaho, it now makes sense why the NYS licensing board demurred and said it couldn’t review the complaint. I don’t know if Trudy submitted a complaint to the Idaho state licensing board. But equally intriguing is the question of whether Banks is licensed and if so where. As I understand his infamous guidance to the PENS Task Force, psychologists who assist detainee interrogations have to be clinical or counseling psychologists who maintain their state licenses in good standing. That would include him presumably.</p> Small correction to a great article and discussion, Jeff. I wish I had, but I didn’t join Trudy in submitting a complaint about Leso. With Stephen’s info that Leso is licensed in Idaho, it now makes sense why the NYS licensing board demurred and said it couldn’t review the complaint. I don’t know if Trudy submitted a complaint to the Idaho state licensing board. But equally intriguing is the question of whether Banks is licensed and if so where. As I understand his infamous guidance to the PENS Task Force, psychologists who assist detainee interrogations have to be clinical or counseling psychologists who maintain their state licenses in good standing. That would include him presumably.

]]> By: ssoldz http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889689 ssoldz Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:07:49 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889689 <p>Leso is licensed in Idaho.</p> Leso is licensed in Idaho.

]]> By: cinnamonape http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889605 cinnamonape Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:22:23 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889605 <p>One more aspect of interest is that the reports that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s sons (aged 7 and 9 years old) had been seized and brought to the USA to use as a means to compel their father to talk, was that the CIA “informant” told the reporter that “They are just little children so we are not mistreating them…in fact we have child psychologists on hand to assist.”</p> <p>Child Psychologists would not, I think, be readily available inside the agency (unless the agency has them to counsel children of agents).</p> One more aspect of interest is that the reports that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s sons (aged 7 and 9 years old) had been seized and brought to the USA to use as a means to compel their father to talk, was that the CIA “informant” told the reporter that “They are just little children so we are not mistreating them…in fact we have child psychologists on hand to assist.”

Child Psychologists would not, I think, be readily available inside the agency (unless the agency has them to counsel children of agents).

]]> By: Jeff Kaye http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889583 Jeff Kaye Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:20:03 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889583 <p>Dru,</p> <p>I know that Mitchell and Jessen are not APA members (APA is adamant that everyone know this). I don’t know if they are licensed psychologists, and if they were, where. Jessen is reportedly still living in Spokane, where SERE has a presence at Fairchild Air Force Base. Mitchell is said to be living in Florida. Their company is still in business.</p> <p>One person we do have info on is Major John Franklin Leso, the BSCT psychologist present at the interrogation/torture of Detainee 063, Al Qahtaini. He was also present at the 10/2/02 Gitmo meeting for which SASC produced <a href="http://www.americantorture.com/2009/02/minutes-from-torturers-meeting-at.html" rel="nofollow">minutes</a>, and discussed their own version of a torture program, the one ultimately signed off on by Rumsfeld. </p> <p>Leso was licensed a psychologist by the state of New York and retains license number 013492 until July, 2009. Psychologists Trudy Bond and Martha Davis filed ethics complaints against him with APA in July 2007. To date, no known action has occurred.</p> Dru,

I know that Mitchell and Jessen are not APA members (APA is adamant that everyone know this). I don’t know if they are licensed psychologists, and if they were, where. Jessen is reportedly still living in Spokane, where SERE has a presence at Fairchild Air Force Base. Mitchell is said to be living in Florida. Their company is still in business.

One person we do have info on is Major John Franklin Leso, the BSCT psychologist present at the interrogation/torture of Detainee 063, Al Qahtaini. He was also present at the 10/2/02 Gitmo meeting for which SASC produced minutes, and discussed their own version of a torture program, the one ultimately signed off on by Rumsfeld.

Leso was licensed a psychologist by the state of New York and retains license number 013492 until July, 2009. Psychologists Trudy Bond and Martha Davis filed ethics complaints against him with APA in July 2007. To date, no known action has occurred.

]]> By: JTMinIA http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889465 JTMinIA Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:34:49 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889465 <p>There are many academic, basic-science psychologists who, while aghast when they hear these things, remain in the APA because they need to be members to be on the editorial boards of APA’s journals (now or in the future).</p> <p>Thanks for giving me another piece that I can send them to read.</p> <p>(I, too, quit about a year ago. But I don’t take much credit for this; the best journals for my work aren’t APA, so it was easy.)</p> There are many academic, basic-science psychologists who, while aghast when they hear these things, remain in the APA because they need to be members to be on the editorial boards of APA’s journals (now or in the future).

Thanks for giving me another piece that I can send them to read.

(I, too, quit about a year ago. But I don’t take much credit for this; the best journals for my work aren’t APA, so it was easy.)

]]> By: Jeff Kaye http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889421 Jeff Kaye Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:04:35 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889421 <p>16 - There are many compassionate psychologists and doctors… they just don’t tend to be in the bureaucracy of the APA… or working for military/CIA interrogators.</p> <p>19 — Yes, the cult of empirical quantitative research is a grasping after a simulacrum of science. Sometimes it is science, sometimes it’s just BS.</p> 16 – There are many compassionate psychologists and doctors… they just don’t tend to be in the bureaucracy of the APA… or working for military/CIA interrogators.

19 — Yes, the cult of empirical quantitative research is a grasping after a simulacrum of science. Sometimes it is science, sometimes it’s just BS.

]]> By: TheLurkingMod http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889418 TheLurkingMod Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:02:22 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889418 <p>Eli is upstairs!<br /><a href="http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/oh-my-d-arlen/" rel="nofollow">Oh, My D-Arlen.</a></p> Eli is upstairs!
Oh, My D-Arlen.

]]> By: Dru http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889417 Dru Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:00:47 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889417 <p>Wow, so much more information. Thank you very much for sharing your expert knowledge. Do you by any chance know where Mitchell and Jessen are licensed? Thanks again.</p> Wow, so much more information. Thank you very much for sharing your expert knowledge. Do you by any chance know where Mitchell and Jessen are licensed? Thanks again.

]]> By: emerson http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889416 emerson Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:55:56 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889416 <p>I remember watching Dr. Arrigo’s account of a task force meeting on Democracy Now. She was incredulous that note-taking had been outlawed by the dod reps, and who wouldn’t be? </p> <p>We need to create an atmosphere where the real heroes, the whistle-blowers, not only feel safe enough to come forward, but also where criminals in government garb are subject to the rule of law. Cuz they sure as hell feel no restraints, legal or physical, in this atmosphere.</p> I remember watching Dr. Arrigo’s account of a task force meeting on Democracy Now. She was incredulous that note-taking had been outlawed by the dod reps, and who wouldn’t be?

We need to create an atmosphere where the real heroes, the whistle-blowers, not only feel safe enough to come forward, but also where criminals in government garb are subject to the rule of law. Cuz they sure as hell feel no restraints, legal or physical, in this atmosphere.

]]> By: earlofhuntingdon http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889415 earlofhuntingdon Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:49:05 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/28/how-apa-made-a-pact-with-dod-cia-over-torture-interrogations/#comment-1889415 <p>It would be great if you had thoughts to share on whether psychiatrists and other medical professionals were similarly co-opted and corrupted.</p> It would be great if you had thoughts to share on whether psychiatrists and other medical professionals were similarly co-opted and corrupted.

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