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It's curious to see Guantanamo Bay mentioned by name. I wonder if one of the reasons we're having trouble closing it is because the psychological health of the
by andreyf 11y ago
It's curious to see Guantanamo Bay mentioned by name. I wonder if one of the reasons we're having trouble closing it is because the psychological health of the inmates has deteriorated to a state which so obviously violates ethical guidelines on prisoner treatment and perhaps even human experimentation.
- joesmo 11y agoYou think the authorities tortured these people so bad that their only recourse is to wait for them to die / kill them all before closing to hide the evidence? I wouldn't be surprised.
- andreyf 11y agoI wouldn't use the word "torture", as there is a big distinction between the work psychiatrists at Guantanamo did and physical torture, even if the two overlapped (e.g. drown the person and then revive them for some psychological objective). I can imagine how the physical techniques used in "enhanced interrogation" might actually not be the most morally abhorrent ones.
- rhizome 11y agoIt's all part and parcel. Psychiatry and psychology are used continually; the physical stuff is intermittent.
- joesmo 11y agoI wasn't just referring to the psychiatrists, but to the authorities in general, and torture is the only word to describe what's happening there.
- greglindahl 11y agoThe definition of "torture" you're using isn't a good one. Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture#Definitions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture#Definitions The UN Convention Against Torture, the first example in that section, doesn't make the distinction you're making.
- andreyf 11y agoThanks for linking that. Perhaps I should have been more clear. While some of the things done to Guantanamo detainees qualify as "torture" under the UN definition (e.g. waterboarding), I can imagine a smart and determined psychiatrist working around that definition of torture and yet leaving a person in a psychological state which makes clear the immense immorality of their work. In other words, there exists a set of "enhanced interrogations" that are not technically torture (in the way that waterboarding is), but that are still morally abhorrent and would likely be prohibited if revealed.