{"id":252426,"date":"2024-01-22T12:00:45","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T12:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=252426"},"modified":"2024-01-17T08:04:16","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T08:04:16","slug":"guantanamo-an-enduring-stain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/01\/guantanamo-an-enduring-stain\/","title":{"rendered":"Guantanamo: An Enduring Stain"},"content":{"rendered":"

11 Jan 2024<\/em> – The infamous U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay turns 22 today. Its ugly history now spans an entire generation. For those who might not remember, on 11 Jan 2002 General Richard Myers described Guantanamo\u2019s first arrivals as \u201cpeople that would gnaw hydraulic lines in the back of a C-17 to bring it down\u201d and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld chimed in, \u201cTo be in an eight-by-eight cell in beautiful, sunny Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is not inhumane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, 780 Muslim men and boys\u00a0have been detained<\/a>\u00a0there; 30 still remain imprisoned today. And despite the repeated claims from the Bush Administration that only the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d became Guantanamo detainees, we now know that a very high percentage had no connection to terrorism. They were simply rounded up by local forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan and then handed over to U.S. forces in exchange for hefty\u00a0bounty payments<\/a>. In fact, hardly any of those brought to the island prison camp\u2014and subjected to years of abusive treatment and confinement\u2014have ever faced charges or trials.<\/p>\n

By the time Guantanamo opened, four months after the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, there were already clear signs that our government\u2019s new \u201cwar on terror\u201d would be propelled by gloves-off vengeance, with little respect for human rights and open disdain for international law. It\u2019s hardly surprising, then, that Guantanamo detainees were soon subjected to severe isolation, sleep deprivation, forced nudity, sexual and cultural humiliation, hooding, 20-hour interrogations, and other forms of\u00a0degrading mistreatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not so readily anticipated was the fateful and misguided decision by leaders of the American Psychological Association (APA)\u2014the world\u2019s largest organization of psychologists\u2014to quickly\u00a0embrace<\/a>\u00a0the so-called war on terror. They seemingly saw it as an opportunity to heighten the profession\u2019s profile and bring psychologists closer to the center of U.S. national security operations. And soon thereafter, psychologists were on the front lines at\u00a0Guantanamo<\/a>\u00a0and elsewhere, contributing to a systematic plan of detainee abuse and torture\u2014while for years the APA\u2019s leadership\u00a0insisted<\/a>, contrary to evidence, that psychologists helped to keep these operations \u201csafe, legal, ethical, and effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took a decade of dedicated advocacy by so-called \u201cdissident\u201d psychologists (I count myself among them), opposed at every turn by APA leaders, to eventually bring meaningful ethical reforms to the organization. After a careful months-long\u00a0independent review<\/a>, in 2015\u00a0new policies<\/a>\u00a0were approved that now prohibit psychologists\u2019 participation in national security interrogations and also place limits on psychologists at Guantanamo\u2014and at similar sites that violate international human rights law\u2014so that they can only work\u00a0directly on behalf of the detainees or as healthcare providers for military personnel.<\/p>\n

I recount this disturbing history in my recent book\u00a0Doing Harm: How the World\u2019s Largest Psychological Association Lost Its Way in the War on Terror<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(McGill-Queen\u2019s University Press). As I emphasize there, troubling ramifications persist, both for the APA and for Guantanamo. For the APA,\u00a0the organization\u2019s\u00a0leadership has failed to take steps that would demonstrate an unyielding commitment to do-no-harm ethics and firm opposition to the ethically fraught weaponization of the profession. Consider two examples.<\/p>\n

First<\/strong>, the APA has\u00a0refused<\/a>\u00a0to offer an official apology to the hundreds of prisoners who suffered grievous harm at Guantanamo (and elsewhere) while APA leaders\u00a0chose to\u00a0cast doubt<\/a>\u00a0on credible reports implicating psychologists\u00a0in their abuse. That apology is long overdue.\u00a0Just as importantly, the APA apparently has also\u00a0rejected<\/a>\u00a0recommendations that it make regular financial\u00a0contributions to non-profit organizations focused on providing much-needed support to torture survivors and their families.<\/p>\n

Second<\/strong>, influential operational military psychologists\u2014with support from the Department of Defense, defense contractors, and some APA leaders\u2014continue to deny or distort the record of abuse at Guantanamo and the APA\u2019s own deeply flawed responses to it. Nevertheless, the APA recently endorsed a set of\u00a0ill-defined<\/a>\u00a0professional practice\u00a0guidelines<\/a>\u00a0that are likely to\u00a0expand\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0roles available to these psychologists in the national security arena\u2014even if those activities are\u00a0designed<\/a>\u00a0to dispense with informed consent, to inflict harm, and to avoid monitoring by outside ethics boards.<\/p>\n

As for Guantanamo, the prison camp remains open. It lingers as a present-day stain, one that represents the moral abyss into which this country fell. Indeed, after visiting Guantanamo just last year, the United Nations special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that current conditions there amount to \u201congoing cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment\u201d and may also \u201cmeet the legal threshold for torture.\u201d\u00a0Meanwhile, trials for the alleged plotters of the 9\/11 attacks, and justice for 9\/11 families, remain indefinitely\u00a0on hold<\/a>, contaminated by evidence obtained through torture.<\/p>\n

And so then here we are now, 22 years later. Sadly, there is so much we still need to learn.<\/p>\n

*************<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong><\/p>\n

For readers interested in more thoroughly investigating the tragic history of Guantanamo and the broader \u201cwar on terror,\u201d I humbly offer two recommendations.<\/p>\n

The first is the Interactive Timeline\u00a0\u201cTorture, Psychology, and the War on Terror\u201d<\/a>\u00a0that I created with\u00a0Coalition for an Ethical Psychology colleagues. It includes many key events, with hyperlinks, from 9\/11\/2001 to the present day.<\/p>\n

The second recommendation is the following list of outstanding books and films. When I was writing\u00a0Doing Harm<\/em>, I found all of the resources below (and many others as well) to be tremendously valuable.<\/p>\n

Books:<\/strong><\/p>\n

*Spencer Ackerman,\u00a0Reign of Terror: How the 9\/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Viking, 2021)<\/p>\n

*Mansoor\u00a0Adayfi,\u00a0Don\u2019t Forget Us Here:\u00a0Lost and Found at Guantanamo<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Hachette Books, 2021)<\/p>\n

*Moazzam Begg,\u00a0Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guant\u00e1namo, Bagram, and Kandahar<\/em>\u00a0(New York: New Press, 2007)<\/p>\n

*Mark Fallon,\u00a0Unjustifiable Means: The Inside Story of How the CIA, Pentagon, and US Government Conspired to Torture<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Regan Arts, 2017)<\/p>\n

*Karen Greenberg,\u00a0The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo\u2019s First 100 Days\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Oxford University Press, 2009)<\/p>\n

*Lisa Hajjar,\u00a0The War in Court: Inside the Long Fight Against Torture\u00a0<\/em>(Oakland, CA: University of California Press)<\/p>\n

*David Hicks,\u00a0Guantanamo: My Journey\u00a0<\/em>(North Sydney: Random House Australia, 2010)<\/p>\n

*Jane\u00a0Mayer,\u00a0The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals<\/em>(New York: Doubleday, 2008)<\/p>\n

*Steven H. Miles,\u00a0Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity, and the War on Terror\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Random House, 2006)<\/p>\n

*Joshua E.S. Phillips,\u00a0None of Us Were Like This Before: American Soldiers and Torture\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Verso, 2010)<\/p>\n

*Philippe\u00a0Sands,\u00a0Torture Team:\u00a0Rumsfeld\u2019s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)<\/p>\n

*Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy,\u00a0The Forever Prisoner\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2022)<\/p>\n

*Larry Siems,\u00a0The Torture Report: What the Documents Say About America\u2019s Post-9\/11 Torture Program<\/em>\u00a0(New York: OR Books, 2011)<\/p>\n

*Mohamedou Ould Slahi,\u00a0Guantanamo Diary (Restored Edition).\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Back Bay Books, 2017)<\/p>\n

*Clive Stafford Smith,\u00a0Eight O\u2019Clock Ferry to the Windward Side\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Nation Books, 2007)<\/p>\n

*Andy Worthington,\u00a0The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of 774 Detainees in America\u2019s Illegal Prison\u00a0<\/em>(London: Pluto Press, 2007)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Films:<\/strong><\/p>\n

*The Torture Question<\/em>\u00a0(2005), directed by Michael Kirk<\/p>\n

*Taxi to the Dark Side<\/em>\u00a0(2007), directed by Alex Gibney<\/p>\n

*Ghosts of Abu Ghraib\u00a0<\/em>(2007), directed by Rory Kennedy<\/p>\n

*Torturing Democracy\u00a0<\/em>(2008), produced by Washington Media Associates<\/p>\n

*Doctors of the Dark Side\u00a0<\/em>(2013), directed by Martha Davis<\/p>\n

*Expert Witness:\u00a0Health Professionals on the Frontline Against Torture\u00a0<\/em>(2016),\u00a0directed by\u00a0Martha Davis<\/p>\n

*The Report\u00a0<\/em>(2019), directed by Scott Z. Burns<\/p>\n

*Eminent Monsters\u00a0<\/em>(2020), directed by Stephen Bennett<\/p>\n

*The Mauritanian\u00a0<\/em>(2021), directed by Kevin Macdonald<\/p>\n

*The Forever Prisoner\u00a0<\/em>(2021), directed by Alex Gibney<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

_______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Roy Eidelson is a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network<\/em><\/a> and was a member of the American Psychological Association for over 25 years, prior to his resignation. He is a clinical psychologist and the president of <\/em>Eidelson Consulting<\/em><\/a>, where he studies, writes about, and consults on the role of psychological issues in political, organizational, and group conflict settings. He is a past president of <\/em>Psychologists for Social Responsibility<\/em><\/a>, former executive director of the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict, and a member of the <\/em>Coalition for an Ethical Psychology<\/em><\/a>. Roy is the author of <\/em>Political Mind Games: How the 1% Manipulate Our Understanding of What\u2019s Happening, What\u2019s Right, and What\u2019s Possible<\/a> and can be reached at <\/em>reidelson@eidelsonconsulting.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

11 Jan 2024 – The infamous U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay turns 22 today. Then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld chimed in, \u201cTo be in an eight-by-eight cell in beautiful, sunny Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is not inhumane.\u201d\u00a0Since then, 780 Muslim men and boys\u00a0have been detained\u00a0there; 30 still remain imprisoned today. The article also includes a list of books and films that I found very valuable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":110813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[530,1810,1464,112,572,70,2686,492],"class_list":["post-252426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","tag-cuba","tag-enhanced-interrogation","tag-guantanamo","tag-pentagon","tag-torture","tag-usa","tag-war-of-terror","tag-war-on-terror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252426"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252430,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252426\/revisions\/252430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}