Giving up the Ghost: Detainees, Doctors and Torture

[G_j]

Giving up the Ghost: Detainees, Doctors and Torture
March 15, 2008

JURIST Special Guest Columnist and British human and medical rights activist Dr. David Nicholl, a neurologist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK, says that Amnesty International's new report into the rendition and torture of one-time "ghost detainee" Khaled al-Maqtari by the CIA highlights yet again the complicity of doctors in the US detention and rendition process....

How does a torturer know a prisoner being ‘waterboarded’ is not so close to death that they will die before the tap is turned off?

One way is to have a medical professional standing by. The same with beatings, sleep deprivation, starving, extremes of heat and cold, and use of deafening sounds or blinding lights. Enlist the services of a doctor or psychologist and not only can you keep a torture victim alive (if that is your intention), but you can also calibrate their suffering in a way that suits you. And, if things ‘go wrong’, it’s handy to have a doctor who might be prepared to list ‘natural causes’ on a death certificate as documented in Dr Steve Miles' book "Oath Betrayed".

Not exactly ethical behaviour for anyone, never mind someone sworn to tending the sick, but in fact there’s a shameful history of medical collaboration with torture. From medieval cruelty towards the mentally ill centuries ago, to Nazi doctors in WWII and the Dirty War against political opponents in 1970s South America – a good knowledge of pharmacology and physiology helps aid deliberate assaults on the body and mind by torturers interested in administering measured doses of pain and suffering.

Recently there was public shock when a British nurse was convicted of multiple murders. But that was a roundly condemned crime, defended by nobody. Instead, in the USA’s ‘war on terror’, the military and CIA have highly-trained doctors and psychologists working side by side with interrogators and torturers. No one has been punished for these crimes. Here are just a few examples.

In the interrogation log of ’Detainee 063’, the alleged 20th 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Al-Qatani, medics were clearly present throughout his prolonged interrogation. The word ‘doctor’ is mentioned no less than 45 times during November 2002-January 2003 alone. A ‘strap was hung from the ceiling in anticipation of the doctor’s arrival’, states one entry, and ‘medical’ interventions included assessments of the detainee’s level of hydration and pulse rate to ensure that he was ‘physically able to continue’ with interrogation.
..more...

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2008/03/giving-up-ghost-detainees-doctors-and.php

[enough]

1. Jurist is an excellent site. Thanks for posting this.

Here's the correct link.

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2008/03/giving-up-ghost-detainees-doctors-and.php

[G_j]

2. thanks

didn't notice the link was broken,
it's fixed now.
Yes, it is an excellent site. This article is very disturbing.

[G_j]

3. --

[defendandprotect]

4. Our medical professions, including physciatrists have been overtaken by

military --- and its cause of making $ thru war and torture --

Does a company care if their electric shock kits are used for legitimate care or torture --- ???

And, it seems CIA was coercing doctors into doing dirty work for them long, long ago!!!

[G_j]

5. way too reminiscent

of the Nazis..

[defendandprotect]

6. Well, that's part of the LSD story, for one --- and part of our dark history....

When we moved Nazis into America and gave them jobs in our government --- many in the CIA --
but also in FBI and other parts of government --- NASA, for one where JFK had disagreement with
Werner Von Braun about the type of fuel to be used in the rockets ---

they've always wanted to use nuclear --- JFK was againt it ---

Loved JFK ---

Thanks, John, wherever you are ---
Hurry back if you can!!!


PS: If you're unfamiliar with this see: Operation Paperclip
JFK evidently became aware of it sometime during his presidency.

Also see: Naomi Klein/Shock Doctrine . . . at your library