Recent developments suggest that accountability for US torture may be on the horizon. The Homeland Security Inspector General is reopening an investigation of how Canadian Maher Arar was sent to be tortured in Syria. and nearly 60 Congresspeople have urged appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate Bush administration responsibility for torture. The health professions also need accountability for abetting US torture.

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Are we to have accountability for torture at last? two new developments give hope that an accountability moment may yet occur.

Rendition Investigation Reopened

In the first development, the Homeland Security Inspector General told Congress he is reopening an investigation into the "extraordinary rendition" of Canadian Maher Arar. Arar, as you may recall, was arrested as he was switching planes en route home from vacation in Switzerland and sent to be tortured in Syria. For the first time a US official admitted that there is evidence that Arar was sent to Syria because it was expected that he would be tortured there.

Skinner's testimony said officials "concluded that Arar was entitled to protection from torture and that returning him to Syria would more likely than not result in his torture."

The Canadian government acknowledged error, apologized to Arar, and issued reparations. The US government refused to allow him to enter the country to give Congressional testimony.

More information on the Arar case and the IG investigation can be obtained from Scott Horton's posting, which includes his testimony to Congress this week. As Horton summed up his view of the hearings:

The hearing revealed some remarkable facts. First, that Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson made a key finding that facilitated Arar’s shipment to Syria (a determination that it was against U.S. interests for him to be returned to Canada). Second, that the INS had determined that Arar would more likely than not be tortured if he was returned to Syria. Third, that his shipment to Syria, overriding normal procedures, occurred after tremendous pressure had been brought to bear from the office of the Deputy Attorney General.

The hearing was remarkable in that, although pretty harsh criticism was doled out by Committee members and myself, IGs Skinner and Ervin largely agreed that the criticism was well-founded, that the conduct involved was inexplicable or inexcusable, and that a further investigation was necessary.

Even more amazingly, the entire panel of speakers (including the two IGs) agreed that it would be appropriate for a criminal investigation to be commenced looking into violations of the anti-torture statute by those involved in the case, particularly figures in the Deputy Attorney General’s office.

Congress Members Urge Special Counsel

In the other development, nearly 60 members of Congress have written the Attorney General (aka, Director of Torture Cover-up), requesting that a Special Counsel be appointed to investigate Bush administration involvement in torture. [The letter to Mukasey can be read here.]

In a letter to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, the lawmakers cited what they said is "mounting evidence" that senior officials personally sanctioned the use of waterboarding and other aggressive tactics against detainees in U.S.-run prisons overseas. An independent investigation is needed to determine whether such actions violated U.S or international law, the letter stated.

Apparently referring to a recent ABC News report that US torture was micromanaged out of the White House by the so-called Principals Committee — which included Vice President Richard Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, George Tenet, and Attorney General John Ashcroft — with President Bush's knowledge and approval:

[W]ithin the last month additional information has surfaced that suggests the fact that not only did top Administration officials meet in the White House and approve the use of enhanced techniques including waterboarding against detainees, but that President Bush was aware of, and approved of the meetings taking place.

They go on to summarize the implications of the revelations of White house micromanaging of torture:

"This information indicates that the Bush administration may have systematically implemented, from the top down, detainee interrogation policies that constitute torture or otherwise violate the law," it said. The letter was signed by 56 House Democrats, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and House Intelligence Committee members Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y).

As Rep. John Conyers explained:

"We need an impartial criminal investigation," said Conyers, who called the detainee controversy "a truly shameful episode" in U.S. history. "Because these apparent 'enhanced interrogation techniques' were used under cover of Justice Department legal opinions, the need for an outside special prosecutor is obvious."

Fiven the determination of Attorney general Mukasey to carry out his primary duty of protecting the torturers, there is little chance the recommendation in this letter will be acted upon during this administration. When a new administration takes power on January 20, there will be great pressure to forget the wrongs committed by the Bush administration. We are likely to be told by the opinion makers to "let bygones be bygones" and to look ahead. It is up to us concerned citizens to keep the pressure on for accountability for Bush administration crimes, among the foremost of which is the open legalized use of torture. Only truth and accountability can inhibit a recurrence when the next crisis hits our country.

Health Professions' Accountability

While the lawyers and others who made possible the Bush regime abuses are starting to receive the scrutiny they deserve, we should not forget the need for psychologists and other health professions to establish accountability for our professions' aiding and abetting Bush's torture regime. It is well known that the American Psychological Association worked hard to provide cover for Bush administration actions. But the other health professions, while taking stronger positions regarding their members' participation in detainee interrogations, have not acted to discipline or condemn the actions of their members aiding the torture regime.

It is openly acknowledged by both the Defense Department and the CIA that their "harsh interrogations" (aka "torture") are conducted under medical supervision. Yet neither the AMA nor ANA have acted to investigate nor discipline members performing these functions. And official and unofficial reports have consistently pointed to the failure of medical professionals, in most cases, to stop or report abuse of detainees, even as they stitched up the wounds and medicated the damaged souls.

None of the health professions should be proud of how it responded to this crisis of human rights and of human decency. We need a Health Professionals Truth Commission to investigate and produce a definitive account of the collaboration of members of our professions in detainee abuses. We further need an analysis of the policy errors and institutional pressures that inhibited our professions from doing the right thing and putting "do no harm" at the top of our agenda.

Authors Bio:
Stephen Soldz is psychoanalyst, psychologist, public health researcher, and faculty member at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. He is co-founder of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology and is President of Psychologists for Social Responsibility. He was a psychological consultant on two of the Guantanamo trials. Currently he maintains the Psyche, Science, and Society blog.