CIA torture of David Hicks

[jingofever]

via Disinfo.com. This is a transcript from Lateline, an Australian news show.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2006/s1662218.htm">www.abc.net.au/lateline/c...662218.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Choice quote:<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>PROFESSOR ALFRED MCCOY, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN: That's correct. In the deepest darkest days of the Cold War initially as a defensive move, the CIA launched a massive mind control project to crack the code of human consciousness, a veritable Manhattan project of the mind with research expenses reaching up to $1 billion a year at peak in the 1950s and the first breakthrough in this massive project came at McGill University. It was actually a joint Canadian, British, US effort, top-secret effort, and Dr Donald O. Hebb at McGill University found that he could induce a state akin to psychosis in a subject within 48 hours. Now, what had the doctor done? Hypnosis, electroshock, LSD, drugs? No. None of the above. All Dr Hebb did was take student volunteers at McGill University where he was head of Psychology, put them in comfortable airconditioned cubicles and put goggles, gloves and ear muffs on them. In 24 hours the hallucinations started. In 48 hours they suffered a complete breakdown. Dr Hebb noted they suffered a disintegration of personality. Just goggles, gloves and ear muffs and this discovered the foundation, or the key technique which has been applied under extreme conditions at Guantanamo. The technique of sensory disorientation. I've tracked down some of the original subjects in Dr Hebb's experiments of 1952 and men now in their 70s still suffer psychological damage from just two days of isolation with goggles, gloves and ear muffs. David Hicks was subjected at peak to 244 days of isolation, the most extreme isolation in the 50-year history of these CIA psychological torture techniques. David Hicks has suffered untold psychological damage that will take a great deal of care, a great deal of treatment and probably the rest of his life to move beyond. To say that David Hicks has not been tortured, to say that David Hicks is only suffering from a sore back, a statement that's been made by the Foreign Minister, I think that just flies in the face of a fact. It represents an ignorance of what torture is, particularly what psychological torture is.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>

[Project Willow]

Thanks for posting this. I've been meaning to get his book, which comes highly recommended.<br><br>Has anyone here read it? <p></p><i></i>

[Joe Hillshoist]

One day Howard, Downer and Ruddock will get some heavy karma.<br><br>Scumbags from hell.<br><br>Thanks for that haven't seen lateline for a while.<br><br>There is a bumper sticker here at the moment.<br><br>John Hunt ia a Coward <p></p><i></i>

[Ike Broflovski]

"A Question of Torture" is one of the best books I've read in the last year. It's not that long, either. He argues that while the exotic parts of MKULTRA have always gotten the most attention, the more prosaic techniques of psychological torture have been much more important and widely used in the last 50 years of US military/intelligence interrogation. He argues that the Abu Ghraib torture was consistent with methods the CIA has used for years, far from being a few psychotic grunts acting out.<br><br>"The Politics of Heroin" is also great, but much longer. McCoy has done great work in applying serious historical scholarship to topics normally ignored or considered "conspiracy theory." Fortunately, he's also just a good writer. His books are very easy to read.<br><br> <p></p><i></i>