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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/soldz09082009.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/soldz09082009.html<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">September 8,
2009<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>The Case of Col.
Larry James <br><br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
Psychologist Accused of War Crimes Opposes Investigations
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By STEPHEN
SOLDZ <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">A</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>s a conflict has arisen as to whether the
nation should seek accountability for torture and other human rights
abuses during the so-called "War on Terror," the public and
media have largely ignored the spectacle of those, like Richard
Cheney and John Yoo, who are likely targets of human rights abuse
investigations. Potential investigations are denounced as political
attacks that will gravely damage the country's security. The media have
largely ignored the self-serving nature of these denunciations.
<br><br>
The latest human rights abuse target to join the anti-accountability
chorus is former Guantanamo intelligence psychologist Col. Larry James
(retired), about whom
<a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Guantanamo_document_confirms_psychological_torture">
questions have been raised</a> regarding
<a href="http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001724">
unethical</a> or even illegal
<a href="http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/rights-groups-call-canada-investigate-guantanamo-psychologist-possible-tortu">
participation in war crimes</a>. In a press release from Wright State
University, where he is now Dean of the School of Professional
Psychology, James –– has
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS206356+01-Sep-2009+PRN20090901">
come out against</a> Attorney General Holder's limited criminal
investigation of CIA torture:<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>"To reopen cases that were adjudicated as legal may be harmful
to the mission and morale of the intelligence community," said Col.
(Ret.) Larry James, now the Dean of the School of Professional Psychology
at Wright State University. "That said, I agree with President
Obama's statement several months ago to 'turn the page' and move on with
regard to the interrogation of detainees of the Global War on
Terrorism."<br><br>
</dl>James said the outcome of appointing the special prosecutor could
have negative repercussions on the intelligence-gathering
function.<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>"Being an interrogator is a stressful, challenging and dangerous
job," he said. "If there is new evidence that suggests crimes
have been committed, then it would make sense to move forward with an
investigation. However, since at the time of the interrogations they were
deemed legal and acceptable by that sitting administration, I do not
believe the investigation is warranted or necessary. I advise the
president to be supportive of our current mission and be very careful as
he moves forward in this sensitive area."<br><br>
</dl>James has previously made clear his belief that intelligence
professionals should close their eyes to possible abuses outside of their
immediate sphere of action. Thus, when asked by an Associated Press
reporter to comment on reports of a secret Camp 7 at Guantanamo,
<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7288144,00.html">
James replied</a>:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>"I learned a long, long time ago, if I'm going to be successful
in the intel community, I'm meticulously _ in a very, very dedicated way
_ going to stay in my lane…. So if I don't have a specific need to know
about something, I don't want to know about it. I don't ask about
it." <br><br>
</dl>Like so many others arguing against torture investigations, James
may have reason to desire a shut down of torture inquiries. Last month,
the Canadian Centre for International Justice and the Center for
Constitutional Rights appealed to the Canadian government
<a href="http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/rights-groups-call-canada-investigate-guantanamo-psychologist-possible-tortu">
for a criminal investigation</a> of James for potential involvement in
war crimes:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>"Allegations of abuse during Dr. James’ January to May 2003
deployment include beatings, religious and sexual humiliation, rape
threats and painful body positions. Canadian citizen Omar Khadr is one of
the prisoners who has alleged brutal treatment in the spring of 2003 when
he was only 16 years old.<br><br>
<dd>"Based on this information, the CCIJ and CCR called on the
Canadian government to investigate whether action should be taken against
Dr. James or other attendees of the APA Convention who may have been
involved in abuse of detainees."<br><br>
</dl>The two human rights organizations outlined the evidence justifying
a criminal investigation in a
<a href="http://ccrjustice.org/files/09.08.06_bond%20backgrounder%20FINAL.pdf">
background document</a> they presented to the Canadian government. At
that time, James was in Toronto for the annual meeting of the American
Psychological Association [APA], where he became President of the APA
Division of Military Psychology Among the serious concerns regarding
James's behavior warranting investigation are that he consulted to
interrogators at Guantanamo while isolation was part of the
<a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Guantanamo_document_confirms_psychological_torture">
standard operating procedure</a> to make new detainees dependent on their
interrogators. <br><br>
James, however, has repeatedly claimed credit for ending all abuses at
Guantanamo, and later, at Abu Ghraib. Thus, his sanitized memoir
detailing these claims is entitled Fixing Hell</i>. Similarly, James
<a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/propublica/assets/docs/pens_listserv.pdf">
told a task force</a> convened by the American Psychological Association
in 2005 that he and other psychologists ended abuses at detention
facilities:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>"I am very proud of the fact, it was psychologists who fixed the
problems and not caused it. This is a factual statement! </i></b>the fact
of the matter is that since Jan 2003, where ever we have had
psychologists no abuses have been reported." [Emphasis in
original.]<br><br>
</dl>James has an idiosyncratic definition of "abuse." He
claims at times
<a href="http://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/wire/wire/WirePDF/v8/Issue48v8.pdf%20">
never to have witnessed</a>
<a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/164497">abuses at Guantanamo</a>,
where he was deployed as a member of the Chief Psychologist of the Joint
Intelligence Group and BSCT #1 [Behavioral Science Consultation Team] in
2003 and 2007:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>“When I walk through the camps, I can’t tell you that I have stumbled
across a lot of things that are wrong. During my time here, I am proud to
say that I have not seen a guard or interrogator abuse anyone in any
shape or form,” said James. “These young men and women go out of their
way well beyond the call of duty to make sure that detainees are treated
safely and humanely at all times.”<br><br>
</dl>James's account, of course, differs from that of every
<a href="http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F30910FF3A5A0C738FDDA80994DC404482">
independent</a>
<a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/259/story/40334.html">source</a> that
<a href="http://ccrjustice.org/learn-more/reports/current-conditions-confinement-guantanamo">
has</a>
<a href="http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engAMR510512007">
examined</a> <a href="http://brokenlives.info/?page_id=69">Guantanamo</a>
and found persistent abuses continuing up to the present. [Even in his
own account of his deployment at Guantanamo in his self-justifying
"memoir," James reports witnessing several instances of abuse -
abuses which, however, he apparently failed to report to his
commanders.]<br><br>
In his memoir James claims to have had special responsibility for
juveniles detained at Guantanamo. Yet, during his deployment there, young
Mohammed Jawad [evidently between 12 and 16 when incarcerated there] was
subjected to the mandatory four weeks isolation
<a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR51/091/2008/en/ed9d7f13-691e-11dd-8e5e-43ea85d15a69/amr510912008eng.html">
upon his arrival</a> in February 2003. Later that year Jawad was
subjected to further isolation and other abuse on the recommendation of a
BSCT psychologist; James declined to condemn this abuse to a Newsweek</i>
reporter, implying that there were
<a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/164497">extenuating
circumstances</a>. Later, in May 2004, Jawad was also subjected to
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080703004_pf.html">
extended sleep deprivation</a> in the so-called "frequent flyer
program" in which, in the
<a href="http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2009/02/frakt-closing-argument.pdf">
words of his military JAG attorney</a>:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>"Mohammad Jawad’s arms and legs were … shackled in preparation
for the first of 112 moves up and down the hall of L Block, every 3 hours
for the next 14 days."<br><br>
</dl>Also while James was deployed at Guantanamo, adolescent Omar Khadr
reported being used as a
<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/guantanamo/story/461231.html">human
mop</a> "because he had urinated on himself during a bout of
shackled isolation." The claim was investigated by the military,
which has refused to release any information regarding the investigation.
Records released by the Canadian government show that Khadr, like Jawad,
was
<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080709.wkhadr0709/BNStory/Front">
subjected to</a> the "frequent flyer" sleep deprivation program
in 2004. Despite his professed concern for the decent treatment of
juvenile detainees, other than his Newsweek</i> comment, James nowhere
describes his relationship to the Jawad or Khadr cases or comments on the
documented abuse these young boys suffered at Guantanamo during and after
his deployment.<br><br>
Does James believe that no investigation of his actions at Guantanamo is
warranted as his actions there "were deemed legal and acceptable by
that sitting administration"? In other words, was he just following
orders?<br><br>
Due to the secrecy surrounding Guantanamo, we do not know James’s actual
conduct at Guantanamo. With his call to stop investigations of
detainee abuses, James seems to desire that we never know. If he is
innocent of participation in abuses, only an investigation will clear his
name. If, however, he did participate in abuses, no defense that "at
the time of the interrogations they were deemed legal and acceptable by
that sitting administration" should be allowed to obscure the truth,
and no claims of damage to the morale of the intelligence community
should be allowed to impede an investigation and appropriate criminal
and/or professional penalties. <br><br>
Only the full truth can allow the abused detainees, the nation, and the
profession of psychology, to "turn the page and move on." In
the absence of the truth we will be forever looking over our shoulders,
wondering just who did what and what did happen during this sorry chapter
in our nation's recent history. <br><br>
Stephen Soldz</b> is a psychoanalyst, psychologist, public health
researcher, and faculty member at the
<a href="http://www.bgsp.edu/">Boston Graduate School of
Psychoanalysis</a>. He edits the
<a href="http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/blog/">Psyche, Science, and
Society</a> blog. He is a founder of the Coalition for an Ethical
Psychology, one of the organizations working to change American
Psychological Association policy on participation in abusive
interrogations. He is also a Steering Committee member of
<a href="http://psysr.org/">Psychologists for Social Responsibility</a>
[PsySR].<font size=3> </font><font face="Verdana" size=2>He can be
reached at:
<a href="mailto:mailto:ssoldz@bgsp.edu">ssoldz@bgsp.edu</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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