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Torture, Is it the
Right’s Direction?
How can America recover her moral compass? Perhaps,
this is a start.
Today I received a letter
from the American Psychological Association sent
out to all its members. After six years of
participation by its members, this wise and
prestigious club of mental intelligence is at last
asking us to vote on what amounts to “just say
no to torture.”
The petition resolution
states:
“Whereas
torture is an abhorrent practice in every way
contrary to the APA’s stated mission of
advancing psychology as a science, as a
profession, and as a means of promoting human
welfare.”
Whereas the United
Nations Special Rapporteur on Mental Health and
the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture have
determined that treatment equivalent to torture
has been taking place at the United Naval Base
at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Whereas this torture
took place in the context of interrogations
under the direction and supervision of
Behavioral Science Consultation Teams (BSCTs)
that included psychologists.
Whereas the Council of
Europe has determined that persons held in CIA
black sites are subject to interrogation
techniques that are also equivalent to torture,
and because psychologists helped develop abusive
interrogation techniques used at these
sites.
Whereas the
International Committee of the Red Cross
determined in 2003 that the conditions in the US
detention facility in Guantanamo Bay are
themselves tantamount to torture, and therefore
by their presence psychologists are playing a
role in maintaining these
conditions."
Several years ago I sat in
a quiet airport nibbling on a sandwich out of
boredom that I had bought in Atlanta before I was
bumped up to business class and was luckily served
a nice meal. It was late, my next plane was late
and I wanted my own bed badly. Most of the airport
stores had closed unless you were looking for a
double espresso.
A young man, maybe late
twenties, slept draped uncomfortably over the
armrest designed to force people to sit rather than
rest during their trips. It was a troubled sleep,
his forehead wrinkled and his face pinched in a
scowl even though he was a nice looking guy. His
hair was shaved close on the sides and mowed flat
on the top in the hideous scalped,
just-out-of-prison, style popular with the younger
set. I was staring at him when he startled awake
and our gazes locked. He snorted a little laugh.
“Guess I fell
asleep,” he said apologetically.
“Been traveling
long?” I enquired.
“Too long, about
twenty-four hours I guess.”
I felt like a wimp with
only six hours since I left L. A. I have kids so
without much hesitation I offered him the other
half of my sandwich. He looked at me intensely for
a moment, stretched out a long arm, thanked me
enthusiastically and then began to devour the
turkey baguette. Clearly, he had not eaten in
twenty-four hours either.
“Where have you
been?” I asked”
“Iraq…and other
places”
“Are you a
soldier?”
“I am an
interrogator.”
O. K. here I was faced off
with one of Them. I had been writing letters to
members of congress and senators, writing columns
in newspapers and speaking out to anyone that would
listen to me about our shameful reality. I was
furious with our government that ordered and
endorsed bombing innocent civilians, killing babies
for nonsense reasons, shock and awe-ing small
countries that posed no danger to the powerful USA,
and rather than a fair trial in a court of law
(American) resorting to torturing people until they
lied themselves out of pain (Nazi).
Here I was sitting across
from a perpetrator of my worst visions of brutality
and Neanderthal thinking munching hungrily on my
sandwich like one of my boys. I felt a little
conflicted.
Maybe it was the sharing
of a sandwich, or his fatigue, or the fact that I
have been a psychotherapist for a quarter of a
century, I am not sure why. He stopped eating and
looked at me with that intense stare again but this
time it was strange, like he was somewhere
else.
What he said next made my
blood run cold.
“When you people find
out what we are doing in those places it’s
going to be real bad. It’s real bad.” His
shoulders fell a few inches and his eyes focused on
me again.
For all my bravado and
speaking out, these were paranoid times. I fought
the temptation to look behind me to see if airport
security was listening to this. I was so afraid he
was going to tell me gross details that would stay
locked in my mind forever, details that would make
me a security risk when I was just sitting here
minding my own sandwich. He met my eyes one last
time, a haunted look, unprotected, as if I knew
what he knew. He leaned back in his chair and was
asleep again in a few moments.
Yikes! What just happened!
I heard the announcement of my plane and gathered
my things quickly. How many times has the Bush
administration gone on record saying we do not
torture. Although the kid did not tell me it was
true, that last look between us told me he
tortured. I have seen that expression on abandoned
children, molest victims and PTSD soldiers enough
times to recognize when there is so much damage
that it is unbearable for the human psyche.
I have kept this
conversation between two strangers secret because I
knew that it was a mistake on his part, the boy
revealed too much to me. I knew in this atmosphere
of unbridled presidential privilege and war
mentality that his punishment might be severe. Yet,
my well-meaning silence contributed to our
society’s permissive stance that allowed each
act of murder and torture to continue. Each one
that voted for the current administration not once
but twice shares the burden of their deeds. Each
voice that has remained silent and passive is a
loud endorsement of torture, cruelty and above all
greed by the corporate and political
powerful.
The comics can tell water
boarding jokes now and Americans laugh but would
they want their children to experience the torture
our side is administering to an untried
“enemy?” I think not. Should the people
ordering such horrific tortures be required to
experience it on themselves before denying that it
is “torture?” I think yes. In
public.
The APA found a tiny voice
that attempts to question standard operating
procedure at Guantanamo this week. I checked the
small box that voted yes to the
following:
Be it resolved
that psychologists may not work in settings
where persons are held outside of, or in
violation of, either International Law or the US
Constitution, unless they are working directly
for the persons being detained or for an
independent third party working to protect human
rights.
I wonder if the rest of
the shrinks in my profession will vote no (that
would be a yes for torture). I pray not.
Do you feel patriotic when
you imagine death to Muslims… some of whom are
the sweetest people I know? Once American voices
shouted out for death to Japanese, the English, the
Italians, the Germans, the Koreans, on and on even
to US Northerners or Southerners. Do not these
battle cries sound hollow and so unbelievably
stupid after time has passed? If only diplomacy had
trumped bloodthirsty impulsiveness.
If you ask yourself if you
are standing up for America by endorsing inhumane
treatment and needless war, I think your grandpa
may have said it most clearly when he told you two
wrongs never make a right. Speak up for America to
find her moral high ground again. That is how we
became the greatest nation in the world in the
first place.
©2009, Molly
Barrow
* * *
Dr. Molly
Barrow holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is
the author of the new book, Matchlines:
A revolutionary New Way of looking at relationships
and making the right choices in
love. She is an
authority on relationship and psychological topics,
a member of the American Psychological Association
and a licensed mental health counselor. Dr. Molly
has appeared as an expert on NBC, PBS, KTLA, and in
O Magazine, Psychology Today, Newsday, MSN.com,
Match.com, Women's Health and Women's World. Please
visit: www.askdrmolly.com
or Take the new relationship compatibility test,
Match Lines Systems for Successful Relationships
for Singles, Couples and Business at
www.DrMollyBarrow.com.
Molly has a radio program, Your Relationship
Answers at www.blogtalkradio.com/drmollybarrow
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