” Physicians group alleges US conducted illegal research on detainees

Experiments in Torture: Physicians group alleges US conducted illegal research on detainees

from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today released evidence it says indicates that the Bush administration conducted “illegal and unethical human experimentation and research” on detainees’ response to torture while in CIA custody after 9/11. The group says such illegal activity would violate the Nuremburg Code, and could open the door to prosecutions. Their report is based on publicly available documents, and explores the participation of medical professionals in the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation program.” Download the full report at phrtorturepapers.org.

Boing Boing spoke with the lead medical author of the report, Dr. Scott Allen, who is co-director of the Center For Prisoner Health and Human Rights at Brown University, and Medical Advisor to PHR.

The war for American minds, Godfrey Hodgson

The United States witnessed another ?super Tuesday? on 18 May 2010, in which four states – Arkansas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Oregon – held primary elections to select the lead candidates for the mid-term elections on 2 November. The results were so diverse and confusing that the overwhelming view of political analysts and commentators was – that the voters? instincts are diverse and confused. Next, on 8 June, even more primaries – a ?super-super Tuesday? – will follow. It is safe to predict an even more messy set of results,  compounding further the febrile political and media atmosphere in Washington.

America and the world?s jungle, Paul Rogers

An early decision of Bill Clinton after he became president in January 1993 was the appointment of R James Woolsey as director of the CIA. At his Senate confirmation hearings, Woolsey was asked how he would to characterise the current era, following the end of the cold war and the collapse of the Soviet Union. He replied that the United States had slain a “large dragon” (the Soviet threat) only to find itself living “in a jungle filled with a bewildering variety of poisonous snakes” (see ?A world beyond control?, 22 May 2008).

Zakaria: Obama’s Foreign Policy Is Tough Enough

from Newsweek Columnists – Fareed Zakaria – World View