Top Bush-era GITMO and Abu Ghraib psychologist is WH's newest appointment by Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com, March 25, 2011
One of the most intense scandals the field of psychology has faced over the last decade is the involvement of several of its members in enabling Bush's worldwide torture regime. Numerous health professionals worked for the U.S. government to help understand how best to mentally degrade and break down detainees. At the center of that controversy was -- and is -- Dr. Larry James. James, a retired Army colonel, was the Chief Psychologist at Guantanamo in 2003, at the height of the abuses at that camp, and then served in the same position at Abu Ghraib during 2004.
Today, Dr. James circulated an excited email announcing, "with great pride," that he has now been selected to serve on the "White House Task Force entitled Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The Military Family." In his new position, he will be meeting at the White House with Michelle Obama and other White House officials on Tuesday.
For his work at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, Dr. James was the subject of two formal ethics complaints in the two states where he is licensed to practice: Louisiana and Ohio. Those complaints -- 50 pages long and full of detailed and well-documented allegations -- were filed by the International Human Rights Clinic of Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program, on behalf of veterans, mental health professionals and others. The complaints detailed how James "was the senior psychologist of the Guantánamo BSCT, a small but influential group of mental health professionals whose job it was to advise on and participate in the interrogations, and to help create an environment designed to break down prisoners."
During his tenure at the prison, boys and men were threatened with rape and death for themselves and their family members; sexually, culturally, and religiously humiliated; forced naked; deprived of sleep; subjected to sensory deprivation, over-stimulation, and extreme isolation; short-shackled into stress positions for hours; and physically assaulted. The evidence indicates that abuse of this kind was systemic, that BSCT health professionals played an integral role in its planning and practice. . . .
Writing in 2009, Law Professor Bill Quigley and Deborah Popowski, a Fellow at the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program, described James' role in this particularly notorious incident:
In 2003, Louisiana psychologist and retired Col. Larry James watched behind a one-way mirror in a US prison camp while an interrogator and three prison guards wrestled a screaming, near-naked man on the floor.
The prisoner had been forced into pink women's panties, lipstick and a wig; the men then pinned the prisoner to the floor in an effort "to outfit him with the matching pink nightgown." As he recounts in his memoir, "Fixing Hell," Dr. James initially chose not to respond. He "opened [his] thermos, poured a cup of coffee, and watched the episode play out, hoping it would take a better turn and not wanting to interfere without good reason ..."
Although he claims to eventually find "good reason" to intervene, the Army colonel never reported the incident or even so much as reprimanded men who had engaged in activities that constituted war crimes.
James treated numerous detainees who were abused, degraded, and tortured, yet never took any steps to stop or even report these incidents
And yet Americans wonder why in so many countries they are hated.
They are not hated for their so-called freedom or human rights but rather for what they have done to the peoples of other nations by commission or omission.
If again and again the US supports one dictator after another sooner or later some people will get fed up with being told that as a people they do not deserve justice, human rights, freedom or that the government should be more concerned about its peoples needs and not just lining their own pockets or acting out their own prejudices and bigotry.
A nation which oppresses its people should be called out on it rather than praised as Obama has done with Saudi Arabia , Syria, Egypt, Bahrain etc.
For example the US ally Uzbekistan uses torture routinely and yet no member of the US government or the US media dare speak the truth.
Even Obama we know has done little to change the way the government, the intelligence and security community along with the CIA, FBI and the Pentagon are fighting their dirty war against the over-hyped Islamic-Terrorist threat to Western Civilization.
So before those in power flush everything down the Memory Hole let's see what we do know about America's and the UK's relationship with brutal oppressive anti-democratic anti-human rights Regimes ie Uzbekistan, Syria , Yemen, Algeria, Egypt , Pakistan, Morocco, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain.
UK says that intel obtained under torture is perfectly legal.
Former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray was fired for telling the truth about the Uzbek government and America and Britain's Faustian deal with the Uzbekistan government.
The Uzbek government was using the threat of terrorism to oppress its Muslim population and anyone who criticized the government of Uzbekistan .
The wider problem is that other nations are also using this excuse to deny democratic freedom and human rights to their citizens.
They can use this fear to act with not just impunity but with the blessings of the USA and the UK and their quisling immoral lackeys.
Even under Pres. Obama the USA is still either covering up the torture they use and that of their allies against so-called "terrorist suspects" there is still no recourse for Justice for the victims or their families.
The West should learn a lesson from those nations with popular uprisings and that is those in power are there to defend the status quo at any cost.
Uzbeks invented connections between dissidents and Muslims in Uzbekistan with AlQaeda
Torture in Uzbekistan another ally of the USA which abuses and tortures prisoners with impunity and the protection of the United States of America
Part 2 Sufferings (SACKING OF AMBASSADOR) ILLUSTRATED
The interviewer suggested HRW is in bed with US government in fact they are also hated in the USA, Canada, UK etc.
Uzbekistan has destroyed its Civil society and allows human rights abuses to continue.
Once again the hypocrisy of the USA, Britain and even Canada is absolutely graven.
Human rights in Uzbekistan/ HRW's Steve Swerdlow talks to VOA Uzbek Feb 2011.mp4
and more on Yemen, Morocco, Syria
Yemen brute force by government against the people protesting for Reform
American marketing fear campaign inorder to rationalize its continuing support for anti-democracy regimmes such as in Yemen, Morocco, Syria Ivory Coast , Uzbeckistan
America's next war is with Yemen?
Huge demo in Yemen, president blames US, Israel
This is what democracy looks like in Countries under US imperialism???
Protest in yemen turns deadly army opens live bullets 5 killed in aden city 2 26 2011
this is how the Yemeni security deal with the demonstrators in Aden Maala part 2
Battlefield LIVE BY THE YEMENI ARMY Against Peaceful Protesters ADEN CITY 3-4-2011
Morocco
Moroccan teachers to strike after violent protests Reuters march 28, 2011
RABAT (Reuters) - Teachers in Morocco will stage a two-day nationwide strike starting on Tuesday after two recent demonstrations for better benefits ended in violence, union officials said on Monday.
Moroccan police had on Thursday and Saturday clashed with teachers demonstrating in the capital Rabat. Organisers said 170 people were injured in Saturday's clashes.
"Unions will show their solidarity with the teachers and condemn the barbarous way the peaceful demonstration of teachers was suppressed and stage a 48-hour strike," three Moroccan unions representing teachers said in a statement.
Local organiser Said Nazizi said 165 people were hurt, 65 seriously, including people with broken limbs or gashes from beatings by police. Unions said 50 were taken to hospital.
Interior Ministry and police officials declined to comment on the violence.
Various groups have stepped up protests in Morocco in recent weeks, emboldened by successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. Tens of thousands gathered in cities across the kingdom earlier this month in one of the largest anti-government protests in decades.
Although many of the protests in the Arab world are focused on removing their rulers, most demonstrators in Morocco are not seeking to topple King Mohammed, who this month promised in a speech constitutional reform. Instead, they are seeking political rights, and end to corruption and various social benefits.
"The speech delivered by the king is not enough," Nazizi said. "There is nothing on the ground, nothing in reality."
Nazizi, like most protestors in Morocco, said he did not want to remove the king, only to see his role limited to the largely ceremonial function played by monarchs in Spain or Britain.
We don't want him to do everything," the teacher said. "We want the parliament to decide."
Teachers are seeking improved benefits although other groups want expanded political rights, an end to corruption and various social benefits
Morocco: Thousands Demonstrate Peacefully:Police Restraint Contrasts with Previous Week’s Violent Repression Human Rights Watch,MARCH 21, 2011
(Rabat) - Moroccan authorities allowed peaceful, pro-reform demonstrations to take place in cities across the country on March 20, 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. The police restraint contrasted with their violent dispersal of demonstrators the previous Sunday in Casablanca.
Since Moroccans joined the protest movement sweeping the Arab world with marches in several Moroccan cities on February 20, security forces have alternated between tolerating public rallies and forcibly dispersing them. The decision on whether to allow or repress the demonstrators seems to rest more with political decisions by authorities than with the behavior of the demonstrators, Human Rights Watch said.
"On March 20, Moroccan authorities respected the right of citizens to assemble and protest peacefully," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The stance toward peaceful protesters we saw on that day should be the rule."
...The peaceful conclusion of the March 20 demonstration in Casablanca contrasted with what happened there on the morning of March 13, when hundreds of youths assembled in front of the main police station at United Nations Square to demand "real reforms," an apparent rebuke of those that the king had announced four days earlier.
The police, who that morning had been deployed throughout the city in large numbers, struck the protesters with batons to disperse them. Some of the protesters retreated to the nearby headquarters of the Unified Socialist Party (PSU), a small, legal opposition party. PSU members, who were meeting that day, came out into the streets. The police beat some of them as well, including a senior party figure, Mohamed Sassi. A dissident comic, Ahmed Snoussi, was also among those beaten that morning.
The police in Casablanca injured many protesters and arrested more than 100 over the course of the day; all were released later that day. The February 20 Movement said it received medical certificates from more than 20 injured protesters, some with broken arms, others with head wounds. Among those beaten by the police were members of the Islamist ‘Adl wa'l Ihsan (Justice and Spirituality) movement, who joined the rally at United Nations Square and resisted the police's violent efforts to disperse it.
The pro-reform street protests in Morocco began largely peacefully when thousands demonstrated in towns and cities on February 20, largely without police interference. But by the next day, the police began violently breaking up smaller protests.
On February 21, police in Rabat clubbed demonstrators in Bab el-Had square. Khadija Ryadi, the president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (Association Marocaine des Droits Humains, AMDH) was among those who went to the hospital after being beaten.
In the southern city of Agadir, police arrested at least four students on February 22 as they distributed a bulletin announcing a sit-in at al-Amal plaza downtown. The police questioned and photographed them before freeing them with a warning that they would be arrested if they proceeded with the sit-in, Mohamed Nafaa, a member of the AMDH's Inezgane-Aït Melloul branch, told Human Rights Watch. On February 23, the police prevented protesters from staging the sit-in in Agadir and detained some of them.
Also on February 23, police in Rabat forcibly dispersed a small demonstration called by the Moroccan Democratic Network for Support of the People in front of the Libyan Cultural Center. The police beat would-be participants, including Abdelkhaleq Benzekri, Abdelillah Benabdeslam, Montassir Idrissi, and Taoufik Moussa'if. Moussa'if, a human rights lawyer who is active in the judicial reform association Adala, said that as protesters arrived, an official ordered them to disperse. When they refused, the official ordered the use of force. Moussa'if told Human Rights Watch that the police beat him on the head, shoulders, and feet. Benabdeslam, of the AMDH, told Human Rights Watch that baton-wielding police clubbed the protesters hard on various parts of their bodies.
"It is great that Moroccans were free to march peacefully for reform on March 20," Whitson said. "But as long as their efforts sometimes meet with a green light, sometimes with police truncheons, the right of peaceful assembly in Morocco will remain a gift that authorities bestow or revoke as they please, rather than the fundamental right it remains."
SYRIA:
Syria has been under Emergency rule since 1963
Syria has been used as a proxy torturer for the the USA
Abuse and torture common in Syrian jails
Syria: Government Crackdown Leads to Protester Deaths
Authorities Should Halt Use of Excessive Force on Protesters Human Rights Watch
MARCH 21, 2011
(Cairo) - Syria should cease use of live fire and other excessive force against protesters, as it did on March 18 and 20, 2011, in the southern town of Daraa, leaving at least five people dead, Human Rights Watch said today.
Sunday, March 20 marked the third day of protests in Daraa, where government forces yet again fired on protesters and used teargas to break up a public gathering, killing one person and injuring dozens of others, according to media reports. Today's fatality brings the total number of protesters killed in Daraa to at least five.
"The Syrian government has shown no qualms about shooting dead its own citizens for speaking out," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Syrians have shown incredible courage in daring to protest publicly against one of the most repressive governments in the region, and they shouldn't have to pay with their lives."
Security forces used teargas and fired on protesters who gathered in the town. An eyewitness speaking on a BBC Arabic television broadcast claimed they used teargas in far greater quantities on Sunday than during Friday's protests. Today's protests also reportedly turned violent with the BBC reporting that some protesters in Daraa set fire to several buildings including the headquarters of the ruling Baath Party.
On March 18, following Friday prayer, several thousand protesters had marched from the al-Omari Mosque in the southern city of Daraa, calling for greater political freedom and accusing members of the government of corruption, according to a resident of the suburbs of Daraa who spoke to Human Rights Watch. Media reports provided similar accounts. Footage of the events on YouTube show security forces using water cannons to disperse protesters, but later, the security forces started firing at the protesters.
According to Reuters, security forces fired on and killed Wissam Ayyash, Mahmoud al-Jawabra, and Ayham al-Hariri. A fourth protester, Adnan Akrad, died on Saturday from wounds also sustained by live ammunition used by Syrian security forces. Another YouTube video shows a body being carried from the crowd, covered in blood, with the sound of repeated gunfire in the background. Human Rights Watch was unable to confirm independently the names of the dead. A resident in Daraa told Human Rights Watch on March 19 that he understood four people had been killed and that two bodies were returned to their families on Friday. The residents also heard that some of the wounded had been taken by helicopters to unknown destinations. They believed that there were approximately 35 other civilians wounded and 15 security men who were transported away by helicopter.
On March 19, security forces also used teargas to disperse thousands of mourners who gathered for the funeral of Ayyash and al-Jawabra who had been killed. A resident from Daraa told Human Rights Watch:
"After the burial of the two men, ... people left the cemetery chanting that after today there will not be any fear. Security members met them at the bridge with teargas canisters and later used bullets to disperse them."
"The Syrian government's attack on the funeral procession only adds insult to injury," said Whitson. "Syrian authorities promised to investigate, but such promises ring hollow while the government continues to attack Syrians to for exercising their rights to public assembly."
Over 150 protesters murdered by American backed Syrian Forces
Obama is silent as Syria is a US ally lackey & quisling
03/25/2011 Deadly Government Crackdown on Syrian Protesters
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