APA: Psychologists who have role in torture will be kicked out

All over the country, states, municipalities and local groups are banding together to resist Bush's policies on everything from global warming to foreign policy.  Numerous city councils even passed resolutions to impeach the President.  On the issue of torture, a well-recognized organization is putting its foot down.

The American Psychological Association is taking a firm stand against the Bush Administration's misuse of the Geneva Conventions.  It includes barring psychologists from participating in any unethical interrogation technique, such as torture:

The Washington, D.C.-based American Psychological Association, underpressure to respond to reports implicating mental-health professionalsin prisoner-abuse scandals at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prison inIraq, has banned members from any involvement in interrogations thatinvolve torture. The ruling, which came to a vote on Sunday, barspsychologists from knowingly planning, designing, or assisting in theuse of torture. The ruling specifically lays out more than a dozenspecific practices, including simulated drowning and forced nakedness,and aims to draw a clear line between providing care to detainees andplaying advisory roles to interrogation teams. Anyone in violationcould be expelled from the 148,000-member organization and possiblylose their state licenses, according to the new ruling, if they fail toreport abuses or take part in them personally.

You can bet this will be a hot topic all over conservative talk radio.  "Those psychologists are giving the enemy a free pass," they will probably say.

A spokesperson from the American Psychological Association reminds us that torturing the enemy is not necessarily a precursor to good intelligence:

Those who support torture in interrogations seem to think itworks quite well. Why do you think it doesn’t yield accurateinformation?
We don’t know exactly why; there hasn’tbeen a scientific study. But the assumption is that to stop the painand suffering, a detainee will say whatever the interrogators want tohear.

Back to the impact itself.  This will affect the Bush Administration's access to top-notch psychologists on issues concerning the Military Commissions Act and Guantanamo.

Here is the official APA Resolution that prohibits the unethical use of interrogation techniques.