Here are some great websites for y'all to check out!
Hi Josh,
I'm glad you asked. I was starting to gather up information with a view to doing a website for the play when the time comes.
Here are some websites you can look at that discuss the continuing problem of torture under Obama.
2009 Torture Continues. In Bagram. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8116046.stm
Why it should be prosecuted (lots of internal links) http://www.truthout.org/what-torture-is-and-why-its-illegal-and-not-poor-judgment57622
US uses electric shocks, stress positions, etc. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/aug/11/world.humanrights
http://static.michaelmoore.com Feb 24 2010 68 lawmakers fully briefed by CIA
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/30/747973/-Torture-Autopsy-Reveals-Death-by-Enhanced-Interrogation&usg
Books that I have relied on a are Torture and Truth, by Mark Danner; Jane Meyer's The Dark Side; and A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation from the Cold War to the War on Terror, by Alfred W. McCoy (I was in contact with him by email early on to ask him specific questions, like whether a psychologist might pose as a lawyer). Other books that were really helpful are Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity, and the War on Terror, by Steven H. Miles; Fixing Hell, by Larry C. James (an awful book, but he was a psychologist and army colonel who admits, in one tiny sentence buried in the middle of the book, that he was involved in torture. His attitude toward the Iraqis is also really telling); and the Lucifer Effect, by Zimbardo. There's also a book by a former interrogator, Matthew Alexander, that I read. He champions himself as a big proponent of interrogations that don't involve torture but unapologetically describes his use of psychological torture.
I'll send you more links that specifically relate to issues in my play as I gather them up (and hunt them down again).
Here's a website that describes the debate within the APA over psychologists' involvement in torture:
Here are two websites that will explain why the new Army Field Manual is still flawed (Robert's comment when Susan invokes it--"Read the fine print." Under Appendix M, it allows abusive tactics on certain detainees. From the last page you can see it allows solitary confinement past 30 days, with permission, sleep deprivation, and manipulation of environment (the frequent flyer program, where detainees were moved every few hours.) It is recommended for use with fultility and fear up approaches.
Just to explain what some of these attachments are, Appendix H was an appendix to a Pentagon torture manual used throughout Latin America in the 80s (classes were taught at the School of the Americas using this manual). The basic approaches it describes are still relied on.
The Kubark Manual is an old Cold-War era manual that formed the basis of the more recent techniques. The Regression attachment is either from the Kubark Manual or the 80s Pentagon Manual.
More on the use of psychological torture is here:
My play would have to be set in the year 2007. As an aside, there is a group that has broken off from the APA in protest of the APA's weak stance on psychologists' involvement in torture. I'll send you more on that later. They're based in New York.
I hope this is enough to get you started. Any questions, please ask. I've done a lot of research and I've been immersed in issues related to torture for years through human rights work. I wrote a book with torture survivor Dianna Ortiz--The Blindfold's Eyes: My Journey from Torture to Truth. It describes in detail what torture is like from the perspective of the victim/survivor. Not light reading, but it was the impetus for writing this play.
Let me know if you have questions.
Pat
I would appreciate any other books or articles that you come across or have recalled, especially those written by or for interrogators. Thank you for the research info. you have provided thus far.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to meeting you.
Sincerely,
Charlie Kevin