Federal Judge Rules Lawsuit Against Torture Program Psychologists Can ProceedBy Derrick Broze In late April, Senior Judge Justin Quackenbush ruled against two Central Intelligence Agency contract psychologists, James Mitchell and John Bruce Jessen, as they attempted to dismiss a case brought against them on behalf of three victims of the torture program they helped created. Both men are former U.S. military psychologists who are seen as the architects of the CIAs torture program. The lawsuit accuses Jessen and Mitchell of operating a joint criminal enterprise and seeks compensatory damages of at least $75,000. The two men attempted to have the suit dismissed by claiming that the decision to torture Suleiman Abdullah Salim, Mohamed Ben Soud, two survivors of the CIA program, and Gul Rahman, who died as a result of his torture, was a political one and not appropriate for determination by a judge. The men also argued that they are entitled to the same legal immunity as diplomatic officials. The court disagreed with the psychologists, stating that years of case law demonstrate the present fallacy of Defendants argument that the court must decline jurisdiction because the case falls within the realm of war and foreign policy. Further, the court found that contractors do not qualify for immunity unless they are merely acting under the direction of the government, whereas Mitchell and Jessen went beyond simply following orders. The two men designed and sold the torture program, making millions of dollars in the process. Judge Quackenbushs ruling is historic in that it will force at least some of the people responsible for the horrific CIA torture program to answer for their crimes. Thanks to this order, we now enter into the pretrial discovery phase of the litigation, an essential step before any trial of Mitchell and Jessen for their key role in the torture of our clients, the American Civil Liberties Union writes. The judges ruling is a sign that perhaps some justice will be served, but unfortunately some damage cannot be undone. Both Salim and Ben Soud suffer psychologically and physically from the effects of their torture, while Gul Rahmans body has never been returned to his family. These men and their families suffer while the architects of CIA torture still walk free. To be clear, both of these men are deeply disturbed, using their profession as a way to manipulate and break the human mind. According to the Senate report on CIA torture neither psychologist had experience as an interrogator, nor did either have specialized knowledge of al-Qaida, a background in terrorism, or any relevant regional, cultural, or linguistic expertise. The two men served in the U.S. militarys Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape program (SERE), teaching U.S. troops how to resist and survive torture in the event of capture by foreign nations. SERE was supposed to help troops understand torture techniques while Jessen and Mitchell supervised their mental state. After 9/11, the psychologists were tasked with designing and developing the CIAs detention, rendition, and interrogation operations. Using their knowledge of how to resist torture, the two reverse-engineered the SERE program to create a new program that would break detainees mental state in the hopes of creating a loose-lipped zombie. The ACLU writes, Integral to the program was the idea that once a detainee had been psychologically destroyed through torture, he would become compliant and cooperate with interrogators demands. The theory behind the goal had never been scientifically tested because such trials would violate human experimentation bans established after Nazi experiments and atrocities during World War II. Although neither Mitchell and Jessen were present for the torture, the lawsuit says the men are responsible because the CIA employed techniques provided to them by the psychologists. In August 2015, the American Psychological Associations Council of Representatives voted to adopt a new policy that bars psychologists from participating in national security interrogations. This decision reversed the APAs decade-old policy of allowing psychologists to participate in torture sessions. United Nations Special Rapporteur Juan Mndez, a lawyer and a human rights activist who experienced torture at the hands of the Argentinian military, criticized the United States decisions on torture, stating the U.S. is focused on the short-term and not thinking of the long-term consequences. What they do not realize is, fighting terrorism with state terror, which is what torture is, in the long run is much more counter-productive and does not reflect the values of the American people, Mndez said. Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the Lead Investigative Reporter for selfnewsPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com. Follow him on Twitter. Derrick is available for interviews. This article may be freely reposted in part or in full with author attribution and source link. Too bad we cant do the same to doctors for vaccine damage. Odd that theres a special court for vaccine lawsuits, isnt it? Yeah, its more special than it is court. That would put about 60% of them out of business, disband the AMA, the CDC, the FDA and imprison CEOs of pharmacy industry companies, and numerous politicians such as Donald Rumsfeld the father of Aspartame and Tamiflu, who bought off the FDA in 2002. Youre on the sane / right track. Torture is a war crime all those who condoned it supported it or committed it are war criminals and should be tried in the Hague, and if found guilty punished accordingly Please define torture for all of us ill-informed so that we may know exactly what you believe constitutes an act of torture. I dont think that we have seen any torture committed by anyone in our government, but I guess that it is your definition that will clarify just what exactly we are talking about. Wow, a torture troll! Whats next? waterboarding is torture, beatings are torture, Our nation and its military are above these actions. good investigators can get information with out torture. Our nation and its military are above these actions. not so much what Im saying is it should be and all those involved in war crimes deserve their day at the Hague. This liberal activist Judge needs to have his hat brought to him. I think we have suffered enough from these Communist fools that are trying to destroy our country and it is now time to clean out the rats nest in Washington. Define communist and compare/contrast it to socialist. If you can. (betcha cant) Several CIA members, and in addition, experts, have testified that the mistreatment of Arabs kidnapped and imprisoned in Gitmo did not develop information that was genuinely useful. Rather, the victims eventually said what they thought the interrogators wanted to hear, simply lying to reduce the abuse. This is a good thing, but I hope they dont forget to follow through and make the contracting by the CIA also illegal. Say your building falls down. Do you sue the draftsmen or the architect? These guys are the draftsmen. The architects got medals and honors on their way to a cushy retirement. Right, draftsmen just doing the job assigned to them. So theres two of us. Is that a trend? The purpose of the CIA has long since been abandoned and it has become a rogue operation that should be abolished along with some other subversive agencies. War is tortureand it should be a hate crime. 