Lawsuit Accuses Psychologist of Ignoring Guantanamo Torture
Friday 30 October 2009 by: William Fisher, t r u t h o u t |
Report
(Photo Illustration: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted From: electron, glog
and dcmaster / flickr)
The state board responsible for licensing - and disciplining -
psychologists
in Louisiana is "fighting awfully hard to turn a blind eye to serious
allegations
of abuse" brought against one of its members, who is being accused of
complicity
in beatings, religious and sexual humiliation, rape threats and painful body
positions during his service as a senior adviser on interrogations for the US
military in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.
That is the view expressed to Truthout by Deborah Popowski, cooperating
attorney
with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), part of the legal team
representing
Dr. Trudy Bond, an Ohio-based psychologist, who is suing the Louisiana State
Board of Examiners of Psychologists to compel it to investigate the behavior
of Louisiana psychologist and retired US Army Col. Dr. Larry C. James, a
former
high-ranking adviser on interrogations for the US military in Guantanamo Bay
and Abu Ghraib.
"We wish the Board would devote its resources to investigating unethical
conduct instead. Everyone, including the people of Louisiana, would be better
served," she told Truthout.
The chairperson of the Board, Dr. Jillandra Rovaris, who also chairs the
complaints
committee, did not respond to telephone calls or emails from Truthout,
seeking
comment and clarification.
Popowski says that, according to his own statements, Dr. James played an
influential
role in both the policy and day-to-day operations of interrogations and
detention
at the prison camps. She claims that publicly available information shows
that
"while Dr. James was at Guantanamo, abuse in interrogations was widespread,
and cruel and inhuman treatment was official policy."
In February 2008, Dr. Bond filed a complaint against Dr. James before the
Board,
the agency that issued and now regulates his psychology license. Dr. Bond
alleged
that Dr. James breached professional ethics by violating psychologists'
duties
to do no harm, to protect confidential information and to obtain informed
consent,
and she called on the Board to investigate whether action should be taken
against
Dr. James.
Dr. Bond's lawyers contend that the Board summarily refused to investigate
her complaint, claiming that the statute of limitations had run, despite what
they say is conclusive information to the contrary. Dr. Bond then filed suit
against the Board in Louisiana's 19th Judicial District Court, which, in July
2009, dismissed her case without looking at the merits. Now, in a brief
before
the First Circuit Court in Baton Rouge, Dr. Bond argues that the District
Court
should have reviewed the Board's "clearly wrong legal decision."
Said Dr. Bond, "The five psychologists on the Louisiana Board were given
plenty of credible evidence, but they chose not to investigate the head
intelligence
psychologist of prison camps notorious for their use of psychological
torture.
I don't think Louisiana lawmakers intended to give five fellow professionals
total, unchecked power to make arbitrary decisions that deeply affect the
public
welfare."
Dr. Bond told Truthout, "I began reading of the role of psychologists
at detention sites such as Guantanamo and was horrified when the American
Psychological
Association, by way of the infamous PENS report in 2005, determined that the
actions of the BSCT psychologists were ethical."
She added, "In his biographical statement for the PENS report, Larry James
stated that he was the 'Chief Psychologist for the Joint Intelligence Group
at GTMO, Cuba' starting in January 2003. When the Camp Delta Standard
Operating
Procedure Manual (dated February, 2003 and implemented March 27, 2003) was
released
in November of 2007 and included behavioral management of prisoners that
violated
our psychological ethics codes, that same ethics code required that I report
such violations to the licensing board to be investigated. My complaint to
the
Louisiana Board of Psychologists was dated 2/29/08."
Allegations of abuse during Dr. James's January to May 2003 deployment include
beatings, religious and sexual humiliation, rape threats and painful body
positions.
Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, who is still imprisoned in Guantanamo, is one
of the prisoners who has alleged brutal treatment in the spring of 2003, when
he was only 16 years old.
Khadr was captured by American forces at the age of 15 following a four-hour
firefight with militants in the village of Ayub Kheyl, Afghanistan. He has
spent
seven years in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, charged with war crimes
and
providing support to terrorism after allegedly throwing a grenade that killed
a US soldier.
A Canadian citizen born in Toronto, he is the youngest prisoner held in the
Guantanamo Bay detention camp by the United States and has been frequently
referred
to as a child soldier. In April 2009, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that
the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms made it obligatory for the
government to immediately demand Khadr's return. After a hearing before the
Court of Appeals produced the same result, the government announced they
would
argue their case before the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court is
expected
to hear the case next month.
Dr. James was also stationed in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in 2004 and returned
to Guantanamo in 2007. In 2008, he was named dean of the School of
Professional
Psychology at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
The CCR says that, as chief psychologist of the Joint Intelligence Group and
a senior member of the Behavioral Science Consultation Team (BSCT) at
Guantanamo,
Dr. James had access to the confidential medical records of people he was
charged
with exploiting for intelligence.
It adds that, according to former Guantanamo interrogators, BSCTs used
information
from patients' records to help interrogators increase the patients'
psychological
duress, including by exploiting their fears. The very purpose of these mental
health professional teams, the interrogators said, was to help "break"
the prisoners. Dr. James denies that claim, but an extensive government paper
trail supports the interrogators' accounts, the organization contends.
The so-called "Biscuit Teams" have sparked controversy ever since
their existence became public. The actions taken by team members have called
into question the appropriate behavior for physicians, psychologists, and
other
health care professionals who are team members.
The take by the Center for Constitutional Rights is, "Despite their universally
recognized duty to do no harm, doctors and psychologists have played a key
role
in the United States government's policy of torture in its overseas prisons.
Some have crafted and justified torture tactics, inflicted pain, overseen
abuse
and enabled and covered up cruel treatment."
The group adds, "Freedom of Information Act litigation and a US Senate
Armed Services Committee (SASC) inquiry into the treatment of detainees have
yielded, shed light on, the specific role of military intelligence
psychologists
and psychiatrists at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. The names
and licensing information of several individuals who may have been involved
in prisoner abuse are publicly known. Yet, when presented with credible
information
that licensees within their jurisdiction may have committed gross breaches of
ethics, state licensing boards have refused to take action. To date, not one
health professional has been held accountable for their role in torture."
Dr. Stephen Soldz, a psychoanalyst, psychologist, public health researcher
and faculty member at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis is among
numerous professionals who have weighed in on the Bond suit.
He has written, "Former Army Col. Larry James, now Dean of the School
of Professional Psychology at Wright State University in Ohio, was Chief
Psychologist
with the Joint Intelligence Group and a member of the Behavioral Science
Consultation
Team [BSCT] at Guantanamo from January till May, 2003. Official documents and
press and detainee accounts raise serious questions as to whether Dr. James
aided, participated in, or looked away from the numerous human rights abuses
occurring at Guantanamo during that time."
He continues, "Psychologist Trudy Bond has filed ethics complaints against
James with the American Psychological Association and the Louisiana Board of
Psychology. Both have declined to investigate, as has every health
professional
association or state licensing board with which complaints of Guantanamo or
other detainee abuse have been raised or filed. The ethics officials of the
health professions appear to be taking a 'see no evil, hear no evil,
investigate
no evil' approach, making a mockery of the concept of professional ethics.
While
the American Psychological Association and other professional associations
have
issued pious statements against torture and detainee abuse, the clearly do
not
see pursuing accountability for those health professionals who aided Bush
administration
abuses as part of their responsibility."
