LA Times: Lawsuit against two former contractors may shed light on CIA's use of torture

[Larry]

Link.

 

When Gul Rahman was taken to the "salt pit," a then-secret CIA prison in Afghanistan, he was given a psychological evaluation by CIA contractor Bruce Jessen. 

 

Jessen wanted "to determine which CIA enhanced interrogation techniques should be used on him," a Senate intelligence panel report later concluded. 

 

Over the next two weeks, the elderly Afghan farmer was forced to stay awake, subjected to total darkness and loud noises, was badly beaten and was dragged naked and hooded over dirt floors. 

 

On Nov. 20, 2002, guards found him dead from hypothermia, dehydration, immobility and lack of food. The CIA would later determine that Rahman's detention was a case of mistaken identity. 

 

Jessen and another former CIA contractor, James E. Mitchell, will face a federal court hearing Friday in Spokane, Wash., in a lawsuit that could shine a light onto one of the CIA's darkest chapters, its use of torture. The Justice Department hasn't tried to block the suit on security grounds, as it has in previous cases. 

 

Between 2002 to 2008, harsh interrogation techniques developed and supervised by Jessen and Mitchell, both former Air Force psychologists, were used against 39 captives in CIA efforts to collect intelligence about Al Qaeda operations and future attacks. 

 

In the suit, lawyers representing Rahman's family and two other former CIA detainees allege that the psychologists promoted and taught torture tactics to the CIA based on 1960's experiments involving dogs and an unproven theory called "learned helplessness."

 

 

Rather mixed feelings, about this. 

 

Part of me says that we need to do something to stress that no, being classified is not permission to ignore the Constitution. 

 

Part of me says that we are (at least potentially) prosecuting underlings for carrying out the orders of their superiors.  And, while I think that "I was only following orders" shouldn't grant absolute immunity, I also think that it ought to set a very high bar. 

 

[Destino]

The CIA didn't do this. America did this. We did this and we argue in favor of doing more of it, without so much as establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. They did not find him dead from hypothermia, dehydration, immobility and lack of food. They murdered him. They tortured a man to death over a prolonged period of time.

Safe language on this issue annoys me more than usual for some reason. I think we need to own this, change how we discuss it, and accept that it was wrong. After that steps must be taken to make certain there is no place for this in our society.  You got to draw the line somewhere.

As for people being held personally responsible, I know how I'd feel about it if another country did it.  It does feel like a tough pill to swallow, but the article suggests these guys are the ones that ran the program and weren't just underlings following orders. They were contractors.  Wouldn't that mean that at some point these guys agreed to do exactly what they did and agreed on a price for their services?  I'd like to see the details of that agreement.   

[tshile]

It does feel like a tough pill to swallow, but the article suggests these guys are the ones that ran the program and weren't just underlings following orders. They were contractors. Wouldn't that mean that at some point these guys agreed to do exactly what they did and agreed on a price for their services? I'd like to see the details of that agreement.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/cia-torture-report/cia-paid-torture-teachers-more-80-million-n264756

They may not have been the persons in the government that made the decision on behalf of the US, but they absolutely are not underlings. They benefitted greatly from this.

[Destino]

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/cia-torture-report/cia-paid-torture-teachers-more-80-million-n264756

They may not have been the persons in the government that made the decision on behalf of the US, but they absolutely are not underlings. They benefitted greatly from this.

So they started their own small business (specializing in torture) and secured a fat government contract (torturing people). what a wonderful small business success story. Only thing missing is the ending, declaring the company bankrupt and closing it down to and avoid any real liability.