"On the 'ethics' of complicity in torture" by J.B.Gerald

22.8.15

on-the-ethics-of-complicity-in torture: APA members and Board have encouraged participation in military interrogation events (ie. torture sessions), not as referees (to draw the line between 'acceptable' practice and what is internationally recognized as the crime of torture) but as cover to permit the crime: if the attending psychologist says the torture won't have lasting psychological effects the torture can be continued without the interrogator risking subsequent prosecution.

This APA mechanism of protecting war crimes was knowingly entered into by the APA leadership, and the Hoffman report among others singles out Dr. Stephen Benke as the mastermind of the arrangement with DOD: "The APA official who led this behind-the-scenes coordination with the DOD officials was the Ethics Director, Stephen Behnke..." (Hoffman report, p. 12).