2002 War Detainees Became Medical Experiments During Interrogations, Say Doctors
June 8th, 2010 - 1:47 am ICT by Angela Kaye MasonThe watchdog group known as ‘Physicians for Human Rights’ has released a report on Monday which alleges that the Bush Administration conducted experiments on terrorism subjects during their interrogations which began in 2002.
According to the report, doctors, psychologists, and other medical professionals were assigned to watch and report on the effects of the different types of “torture” that the CIA conducted on these suspects in order to persuade them to talk.
Persuasive measures such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and other methods were used to gather information from these detainees, and the reactions to each type of “torture” was carefully monitored by the medical personnel.
The data which was collected was used to refine the methods of questioning, and to be sure that they stayed within the limits which had been previously set by the Bush administration lawyers.
Even though they remained within the legal boundaries for the interrogations, the Physicians for Human Rights group alleges that the medical professionals crossed the line of medical ethics by turning their patients into experiments.
The CIA denies the charges, and an agency spokesman, Paul Gimigliano, stated, “The report is just wrong, the C.I.A. did not, as part of its past detention program, conduct human subject research on any detainee or group of detainees. The entire detention effort has been the subject of multiple, comprehensive reviews within our government, including by the Department of Justice.”
In a report made by the Red Cross last year, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the chief planner of the September 11, 2001 attacks which killed thousands of United States citizens, said that when he underwent the waterboarding interrogation, that his pulse and oxygen levels were watched closely, and that the medical personnel who was monitoring the procedures even stopped the “torture” several times.
Other groups have expressed the opinion that when it comes to potentially saving thousands of lives by gathering information from a known terrorist, if the terrorist refuses to give vital information, then the interrogation is necessary, and the medical personnel are in place to assure that the “torture” serves that purpose.
- Evidence of medical complicity in torture at Guantanamo Bay - Apr 27, 2011
- US appoints prosecutor to investigate detainee abuses - Aug 25, 2009
- Pak-born Qaeda suspect revealed name of Osama's key courier - May 05, 2011
- CIA interrogators staged mock executions: Report - Aug 22, 2009
- CIA lacked safeguards to stop abuse in terror prisons: Report - Aug 24, 2009
- 'Bush could be arrested abroad over sanctioning 'waterboarding' of terror suspects' - Nov 10, 2010
- US detention centres violated human rights: UN report - Jan 28, 2010
- WikiLeaks cables detail torture on detainees in Kashmir - Dec 17, 2010
- CIA tapes show 9/11 suspects in secret prisons - Aug 18, 2010
- 'Waterboarding' of terror suspects warded off attacks on Britain, claims Bush - Nov 09, 2010
- Ex-CIA Director Porter Goss Upset Over Destruction of Al Qaeda Interrogation Videos, Had Not Approved It - Apr 18, 2010
- CIA interrogation methods are almost illegal, says lawyer - Apr 17, 2009
- Torture Memo Authors Did Not Commit Misconduct, Says DOJ - Feb 21, 2010
- UN welcomes US probe into alleged torture of terror suspects - Aug 26, 2009
- Britain was aware of CIA's barbaric torture techniques - Nov 20, 2009
Tags: agency spokesman, bush administration, chief planner, department of justice, detainees, human rights group, human subject research, interrogations, legal boundaries, medical ethics, medical experiments, medical professionals, oxygen levels, physicians for human rights, psychologists, september 11 2001, shaikh mohammed, sleep deprivation, watchdog group, waterboarding interrogation