In an interview that aired today on Fox News Sunday, Bush admitted that he personally authorized the torture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Bush: I Personally Authorized Torture | Rights and Liberties | AlterNet

Video of the May 3 Torture and the American Psyche: Blurring the Boundaries Between Healers and Interrogators forum in Brookline MA is now available. This forum featured Stephen Soldz, David Sloan-Rossiter (Boston psychoanalyst and Curriculum Director at the Boston Institute for Psychotherapy & the Massachusetts Institute of Psychoanalysis, Leonard Rubenstein (President of Physicians for Human Rights), and Eric Fair (former interrogator in Iraq).

Psyche, Science, and Society » Video: Torture and American Psyche forum

Stephen Soldz’s recent critique of the APA’s Ethics Director Stephen Behnke’s recent letter to the ACLU.

Stephen Soldz: APA Supports Psychologist Engagement in Interrogations

Stephen Soldz writes about the NY times article that exposes the horrifying conditions at the Guantanamo prison and the continued role of Psychologists there. Will APA act?

Psyche, Science, and Society » Isolation driving Guantanamo detainees insane: Will APA act?

The APA has recently offered its most detailed description of its position on the issue of psychologists and abusive interrogations, in a document placed prominently on the APA Website, entitled “Frequently Asked Questions Regarding APA’s Policies and Positions on the Use of Torture or Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment During Interrogations” (FAQ).We at the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology see the FAQ as a unique opportunity for us to provide, in a single document, a thorough refutation of the APA’s position. Through the following link, you will find an extensively referenced Commentary on the FAQ. 

On January 11, we are calling on everyone opposed to torture and indefinite detention to WEAR ORANGE to symbolize their sadness and disgust with the national shame that is Guantánamo Bay.

Download the CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO Toolkit now to find out how you can organize for January 11 at home, in your office, on campus, in your community, and online.

American Civil Liberties Union : Close Guantánamo

Bernice Lott’s piece from the Providence Journal has been picked up by Common Dreams

By Bernice Lott,
Faculty members of the Psychology Department at the University of Rhode Island, by majority vote, have signed a resolution stating that “direct or indirect participation by psychologists in interrogations of prisoners incarcerated in foreign detention centers that do not afford prisoners internationally recognized due process of law is unethical.”

URI’s resolution is part of a growing grassroots effort to urge the American Psychological Association to move beyond its current position, which allows psychologists working in foreign prisons to assist teams in certain kinds of interrogations.

The association’s failure to rule out all participation has been the subject of protest among some of its members, some of whom are withholding dues while others are resigning. Psychologists at six colleges and universities, URI among them, have passed resolutions in hopes that the APA will reconsider its stance.
[Read more →]

Paul R. Dokecki, a senior community psychologist, joined those deciding that enough is enough.

November 19, 2007

Dr. Sharon Brehm
President, American Psychological Association
Department of Psychology
1101 East 10th Street
Bloomington, IN 47405-7007

Dear Dr. Brehm:

I have been a member of the American Psychological Association since 1962 and am a Fellow of Division 27, but I hereby resign from the organization. In stating my reasons, I can do no better than refer you to the attached copy of the October 7, 2007 letter to you from Marybeth Shinn, Professor of Applied Psychology and Public Policy at New York University, and soon to be my faculty colleague in Vanderbilt’s Department of Human and Organizational Development. I was pleased to have received and commented on earlier drafts of Professor Shinn’s eloquent and thorough argument, and I applaud her candor and courage.

I have been teaching ethics to undergraduate and graduate students for almost 20 years and was always pleased and proud to recommend the APA Code as perhaps the finest professional code of ethics in the world. I was particularly proud because of the role my mentor, Nicholas Hobbs, played in developing the first version of the code in the 1950s. This semester, I was ashamed to have to tell my students about the ethically problematic APA position on interrogation and torture that has been emerging over the last several months.

In sum, the situation has become intolerable, and I submit my resignation with deep sorrow and regret.

Sincerely,

Paul R. Dokecki [ paul.r.dokecki@vanderbilt.edu ]
Professor of Psychology
Dept. of Human and Organizational Development
Peabody College #6 Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37203

Today, Beth Shinn, former President of two APA divisions, resigned from the APA

“because the American Psychological Association continues to condone psychologists’ work in detention centers that violate international law and because of actions by APA’s leadership to discourage dissent from its policies in this matter.”

Beth Shinn resigns from American Psychological Association

There is a new student-driven petition effort on the psychology and involvement in interrogations issue. Like our Eco conferences, it is run by students and largely for students, although open to everyone. So students (and others), please get on there and sign it.