Physicians for Human Rights has encouraged the Trump administration to investigate torture by the CIA

Less people than ever before in history seem to feel the USA stands on a morale high ground in dealing with human rights issues. A torture program by the CIA has helped to shake up faith in the USA as being an unusually humane nation.

In a report on June 21, 2017, titled U.S. Torture Program Constituted Illegal, Unethical Human Experimentation, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR’s) shares insights into the CIA torture program. In the aftermath of 9/11 the CIA instituted a torture program at secret prisons across the world.

The torture program by the CIA was made up of an illegal and unethical regime of experiments on people. Physicians for Human Rights has released declassified documents which have confirmed that the CIA conducted experimental research with a goal of testing an hypothesis which has not been supported that torture could break the resistance of detainees and aid with interrogations. This was all part of the operation of the “enhanced interrogation” under the Bush administration.

Sarah Dougherty, who is the lead author of PHR’s report on this matter, titled Nuremberg Betrayed: Human Experimentation and the CIA Torture Program, has said what amounted to junk science was promoted by two psychologists who envisioned an opportunity to profit greatly by setting off a very crude program of experimentation which was aimed at studying the effects which torture had on detainees.

The two CIA contract psychologists, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, promoted the claim which has not been supported that “breaking” detainees psychologically could help to produce their compliance and cooperation, and therefore yield intelligence. In this program health professionals were actually charged with monitoring the application of the torture and reviewing whether the torture tactics seemed to work.

PHR’s director of programs, Homer Venters, has commented that health professionals broke with the ethical guideline of “do no harm,” and used their professional skills to take part in research which aided torture. This brutal experimentation was done on non-consenting prisoners. It is not legal to perform research without having informed consent.

The health professionals who took part in the torture experiments were placed under pressure from the CIA to come up with data to justify torture practices. The CIA legal counsel used the data to provide legal cover for those responsible for the torture. This was used to avoid criminal prosecution for the torture. It appears the actual goal of the program was to psychologically destroy the detainees.

The PHR has encouraged the Trump administration to open up criminal investigations into the allegations of illegal experimentation. There is a need to gain a full accounting of the crimes which have been committed and which have been enabled by health professionals in what they say was for national security. If the USA wishes to ever again regain a morale high ground worldwide in dealing with human rights issues the government must prosecute health care professionals and others responsible for such reprehensible behavior.