Three senior officials lose their jobs at APA after US torture scandal (The Guardian)
"As the American Psychological Association copes with the damage reaped by an independent investigation that found it complicit in US torture, the group announced on Tuesday that its chief executive officer, its deputy CEO and its communications chief are no longer with the APA.
All three were implicated in the 542-page report issued this month by former federal prosecutor David Hoffman, who concluded that APA leaders “colluded” with the US department of defense and aided the CIA in loosening professional ethics and other guidelines to permit psychologist participation in torture."
Ah well if they lost their jobs all is well then ! My personal opinion is that a slap on the wrist for torture is not enough. No prison, nothing ? What's to stop the next guy from doing the same ? "Worst case, if we're caught and found guilty, we'll need to do find a new job, maybe do conferences for a while"
Is anyone arguing that torture is not something that happens in Guantanamo? By now it should be common knowledge that it's a torture camp. Obama promised to shut it down but he didn't.
I don't think anyone on HN has argued that, but many people in the general public still insist that "enhanced interrogation" like what's done in Guantanamo is not actually torture. Or at least they used to, until Obama finally admitted people have been tortured; though some still insist it isn't torture.
My question was more hypothetical. That seems like the very definition of torture.
Those people know it is really torture, they are just able to handwave it away because the people it is happening to believe in a slightly different god than they do.
True, anyone can argue anything, but sleep deprivation is pretty low on the pain scale once you have kids. You discover that the child will bring sleep deprivation to the parents for months on end. But, it isn't torture, because this is what you signed up to do. You volunteered to lose sleep.
On the other hand, once you have teenagers you discover that they would claim confiscating their iPhone for an entire weekend is torture.
That's broken logic on a grand scale. Using the same method, let's justify punching them ...
> True, anyone can argue anything, but getting punched in the face is pretty low on the pain scale once you start boxing. You discover that your sessions on the ring will bring punches to your face for months on end. But, it isn't torture, because this is what you signed up to do. You volunteered to get punched.
Ergo, using your logic, punching prisoners in the face is not torture !
Going on minimal sleep for a week is far less severe than no sleep for 11 days straight.
If they were keeping prisoners up for 24-36 hours, I could see that potentially being argued as not torture, if not done frequently. Anything beyond that is cruel.
Somewhat off-topic, but how could anyone possibly argue this is not torture?