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U.S. Psychologists Face Lawsuit For Designing CIA Torture Program

By Abdul Kuddus
Published on: 05:44 PST, Apr 23, 2016

A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) torture program in Afghanistan is under legal scrutiny following a lawsuit filed by former detainees. Reportedly, two Washington state psychologists are accused of planning the harsh interrogation techniques, which permitted and oversaw methods including waterboarding, forced nudity, and prolonged sleep deprivation.

“This is the first time a federal judge has allowed a civil lawsuit related to the CIA’s alleged torture program to proceed,” the Wall Street Journal reported. According to the Global Herald, “What’s significant is the government is not preventing the case from being discussed on grounds of state secrecy.”

Reportedly, the architects of the CIA torture program, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, designed and personally administered the alleged harsh techniques, which according to plaintiffs violated established norms of international law.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit last October on behalf of former detainees, Suleiman Abdullah Salim, a Tanzanian national, Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, a Libyan, and Gul Rahman, an Afghan national who died in 2002 in CIA detention, allegedly due to hypothermia caused by dehydration and exposure.

Psychologists Mitchell and Jessen’s framework for “enhanced interrogation” torture program experimented on the concept of “learned helplessness,” where the detainees would be forced to completely surrender and be subject to unbearable suffering. The theories behind the CIA-sponsored program were derived from the 1960s experiment on dogs.

Although the three men were held for years and subjected to inhuman CIA torture program, the agency could not accuse them of being al-Qaida supporters, nor charge them with any crimes. The torture techniques left them with serious psychological and physical injuries. Moreover, the U.S. government did not provide them compensation in any form.

After hearing the case, senior federal judge in eastern Washington state Justin L Quackenbush denied a motion to dismiss the case against two contract psychologists, saying he could not dismiss the case.

It is pertinent to note that this is the first time former detainees of the program are hopeful to seek discovery evidence in the case without any opposition by the government. Earlier, the government dismissed every instance of torture accountability lawsuit by invoking state-secrets privileges and national security considerations.

The secrecy surrounding CIA torture program came out in the open after the release of the executive summary of Senate report in 2014. The report admitted that sleep deprivation, waterboarding, and beatings had caused pain on al-Qaida suspects far beyond the legal limits. Reportedly, the CIA paid a company managed by the two former US Air Force psychologists, who suggested waterboarding and mock burial techniques for detainees suspected of being terrorists. The program tortured up to 119 men from 2002 until 2008.

According to Global Research, “The lawsuit seeks damages of up to $75,000 for the three victims, all of whom suffered torture in CIA black sites in Afghanistan.” The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit under the Alien Tort Statute, which permits federal lawsuits for gross human rights violations.

Reportedly, the CIA admits to the use of torture program, including use of waterboarding, which simulates drowning by forcing water into a person’s nose and mouth. Apart from waterboarding, there were instances of abuses that were never disclosed publicly. “These torture programs involved detainees being punched and dragged naked, kept in total isolation and subjected to constant deafening music, sometimes even locking them in coffin-shaped boxes,” according to Al Jazeera.

Following worldwide criticism and protests over the CIA torture program, President Barack Obama banned torture, waterboarding, and other controversial interrogation techniques in 2009.

However, this year Republican presidential aspirant Donald Trump is campaigning on the plank to allow waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics. In December, during an election rally, he said the United States should allow the CIA torture program and monitor the families of terrorism suspects.

[Photo by Maboud Ebrahim Zadeh/AP]

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