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<h2><font size=4><b>
<a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/03/25/james/index.html">
Top Bush-era GITMO and Abu Ghraib psychologist is WH's newest
appointment</a></b></font></h2><font size=3>By
<a href="http://www.salon.com/author/glenn_greenwald/index.html">Glenn
Greenwald</a><br>
<a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/index.html?story=/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/index.html?story=/<br>
<br>
<br>
</a>One of the <a href="http://kspope.com/interrogation/index.php">most
intense scandals the field of psychology has faced over the last
decade</a> is the involvement of several of its members in enabling
Bush's worldwide torture regime. Numerous health professionals worked for
the U.S. government to help understand how best to mentally degrade and
break down detainees.
<a href="http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/blog/2010/02/17/larry-james-protsted-at-wright-state-u/">
At the center of that controversy</a> was -- and is -- Dr. Larry James.
James, a retired Army colonel, was the Chief Psychologist at Guantanamo
in 2003, at the height of the abuses at that camp, and then served in the
same position at Abu Ghraib during 2004. <br><br>
Today, Dr. James circulated an excited email announcing, "with great
pride," that he has now been selected to serve on the "White
House Task Force entitled Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The
Military Family." In his new position, he will be meeting at
the White House with Michelle Obama and other White House officials on
Tuesday.<br><br>
For his work at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, Dr. James was the subject of
two formal ethics complaints in the two states where he is licensed to
practice: Louisiana and Ohio. Those
<a href="http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/hrp/documents/Larry_James_6492.pdf">
complaints</a> -- 50 pages long and full of detailed and well-documented
allegations -- were filed by the International Human Rights Clinic of
Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program, on behalf of veterans, mental
health professionals and others. The complaints detailed how James
"was the senior psychologist of the Guantánamo BSCT, a small but
influential group of mental health professionals <b>whose job it was to
advise on and participate in the interrogations, and to help create an
environment designed to break down prisoners</b>."
Specifically:<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>During his tenure at the prison, boys and men were threatened with
rape and death for themselves and their family members; sexually,
culturally, and religiously humiliated; forced naked; deprived of sleep;
subjected to sensory deprivation, over-stimulation, and extreme
isolation; short-shackled into stress positions for hours; and physically
assaulted. The evidence indicates that abuse of this kind was systemic,
that BSCT health professionals played an integral role in its planning
and practice. . . .<br><br>
</dl><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/1029091">Writing in 2009</a>, Law
Professor Bill Quigley and Deborah Popowski, a Fellow at the Harvard Law
School Human Rights Program, described James' role in this particularly
notorious incident:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>In 2003, Louisiana psychologist and retired Col. Larry James watched
behind a one-way mirror in a US prison camp while an interrogator and
three prison guards wrestled a screaming, near-naked man on the
floor.<br><br>
<dd>The prisoner had been forced into pink women's panties, lipstick and
a wig; the men then pinned the prisoner to the floor in an effort
"to outfit him with the matching pink nightgown." As he
recounts in his memoir, "Fixing Hell," Dr. James initially
chose not to respond. He "opened [his] thermos, poured a cup of
coffee, and watched the episode play out, hoping it would take a better
turn and not wanting to interfere without good reason ..."<br><br>
<dd>Although he claims to eventually find "good reason" to
intervene, the Army colonel never reported the incident or even so much
as reprimanded men who had engaged in activities that constituted war
crimes.<br><br>
</dl>James treated numerous detainees who were abused, degraded, and
tortured, yet never took any steps to stop or even report these
incidents. Last year, Steven Reisner -- senior faculty member and
supervisor at the International Trauma Studies Program, who also teaches
at New York University Medical School and Columbia University --
<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/8/military_psychologists_face_complaints_with_licensing">
told
</a>
<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/8/military_psychologists_face_complaints_with_licensing">
Democracy Now</a></i>: "there is a lot of evidence that has been
made public showing that the torture programs in the CIA and at
Guantánamo, the Department of Defense, were created and overseen by
health professionals, particularly psychologists" and that
psychologists were at these facilities "to use their professional
expertise to break down the detainees." James, argued Dr. Reisner,
was directly implicated because:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>Larry James was the chief BSCT starting in January 2003. And when you
read the standard operating procedures for mental health, for how to --
behavior protocols for detainees during the time that Larry James was the
chief psychologist, you find institutionalized abuse and torture --
isolation for thirty days at a time with absolutely no contact,
prohibition of the International Committee of the Red Cross to see these
detainees, no access even to religious articles, to the Qur’an, unless
they cooperate with interrogations, not to mention frequent
interrogation.<br><br>
</dl>For his part, Dr. James claims he attempted to protect the detainees
under his care from abuse and psychological injury. Meanwhile, the
Louisiana psychology board refused to review the merits of the complaint
against James on the grounds that the alleged acts were too old (outside
the statute of limitations), while the Ohio board issued a
<a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/03/25/james/2011.01.26_Response_from_OSBP.pdf">
three-sentence, cursory letter</a> which decreed, without any explanation
whatsoever, that "it has been determined that we are unable to
proceed to formal action in this matter." So while the charges
against him have not been formally sustained by either board, neither
have they been evaluated or rejected by any apparent consideration of the
merits. Judicial review of the Ohio board's decision is still possible (a
Louisiana federal court ruled it lacked jurisdiction to review the
board's Statute of Limitations findings).<br><br>
Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, James should not be deemed
guilty in the absence of a formal adjudication. But the White
House's conduct in selecting him is nonetheless baffling, at best.
Of all the psychologists to choose from, why would they possibly choose
to honor and elevate the former chief psychologist of Guantanamo and Abu
Ghraib at the height of the Bush abuses? More disturbing still,
among those most damaged by detainee abuse are the service members forced
to participate in it; why would the White House possibly want to put on a
task force about the health of military families someone, such as Dr.
James, who at the very least is directly associated with policies that so
profoundly harmed numerous members of the military and their
families?<br><br>
This isn't exactly a powerful Task Force, but what this appointment does
is have the White House --
<a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/09/08/obama">
yet</a>
<a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2009/04/obama-adminis-1.html">
again</a> -- signal that it does not really take very seriously the Bush
torture regime. On appearance grounds alone, the Obama
administration should not be embracing and legitimizing the Bush-era
Chief Psychologist of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Is there really
nobody in the White House who was able to come to that realization on
their own, or is this part of some twisted "reaching out"
effort to show that they view bygones as bygones when it comes to the war
crimes our leaders committed and whom the Obama administration continues
to protect? Whatever the explanation, the symbolism here is as ugly as
the mindset underlying it.<br><br>
UPDATE</u></b>: Here is the full text of the email sent by Dr. James, as
provided to me yesterday by Harvard Law School’s Human Rights
Program:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>Message from Dean James for the SOPP Community:<br><br>
<dd>Hello Everyone,<br><br>
<dd>It is with great pride and pleasure that I write to the SOPP
community and say that I have been appointed by the First Lady to a White
House Task Force entitled Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The
Military Family.<br><br>
<dd>The first meeting will be at the White House next Tuesday (the 29th)
and will be hosted by Mrs. Obama and her staff. Indeed, I feel honored
and privileged to represent the SOPP, WSU and the APA in this important
endeavor.<br><br>
<dd>Next week I will provide a follow-up e-mail to provide more
information.<br><br>
<dd>All the best,<br><br>
<dd>Larry C. James, Ph.D., ABPP<br>
<dd>Dean & Professor<br>
<dd>School of Professional Psychology<br>
<dd>Wright State University<br>
<dd>3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy<br>
<dd>Dayton, Ohio 45435-001<br>
<dd>Phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx<br><br>
</dl>
<a href="http://harvardhumanrights.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/former-guantanamo-psychologist-named-to-white-house-task-force-on-enhancing-the-psychological-well-being-of-the-military-family/">
On its own website</a>, HLS’s Human Rights Program reported that James
sent this email "to colleagues and students of Wright State
University, where Dr. James serves as Dean of the School of Professional
Psychology.”<br><br>
The White House, however, now tells a much different story. In an email
to me from the First Lady’s Communications Director, the White House
claims:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>Several members of the White House staff are convening a meeting with
multiple mental health professionals on Tuesday to discuss issues
pertaining to the wellness of military families. SAMHSA and the American
Psychological Association have both been asked to attend. We understand
that Dr. James is involved with these groups and may have been indirectly
invited to attend this meeting</b>.<br><br>
</dl>She claims, however, that he now will not be at that meeting, and
further states that "Dr. James has not been appointed to serve in
any capacity with the White House."<br><br>
There’s obviously quite a discrepancy between the claims in the James
email as provided by HLS' Human Rights Project and the White House’s
claims. Calls to Dr. James regarding this matter have not been returned,
but if I speak with him, I’ll post his response to the White House's
denials<br><br>
<br><br>
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