"One detainee, so-called 'dirty bomber' Jose Padilla was tricked into believing he was injected with a “truth serum” during an interrogation, possibly a form of LSD or PCP. In reality, it was a flu shot."U.S. Injected Gitmo Detainees With ‘Mind Altering’ Drugs (Wired)

Much more here: "'EXCLUSIVE: DoD Report Reveals Some Detainees Interrogated While Drugged, Others 'Chemically Restrained'" (Truthout)

  • http://www.paradea.org/notes/ Teirhan

    I was all set to make jokes until I RTFA’ed and found out that in addition to the vignette above they actually did forcibly inject prisoners with mind altering substances.  Now I feel bad. 

  • DirkSJ

    Injecting real mind altering drugs (which the article says they did) is very shaky moral ground.  If there was some drug that caused no lasting harm and had no serious side effects…maybe…but good luck finding that drug.

    Injecting them with a flu shot and telling them it’s truth serum I don’t have a problem with.  I don’t think the article makes a strong case for why that is wrong.

    • JonS

      You don’t think that injecting people with a flu shot and telling them it’s truth serum might *be* torture?

      • bcsizemo

        I don’t see it as being any closer to torture than keeping someone in a prison cell.  For the most part the flu shot is a safe thing, and by telling them that it is a truth serum you are doing nothing but psychological trickery. 

        And that psychological effect is not something I’d consider torture.  Not in the way they are doing it.  Now if, as an example, they were giving the prisoners glasses of water to drink but telling them it is laced with a toxin with will slowly kill them, then yes that is a form of torture.  In that case the prisoner believes both outcomes are bad.  In the flu shot instance nothing bad will happen if the prisoner believes he might be likely to answer a question.  At worst for they would just keep quiet for a period of time.

        • JonS

          “I don’t see it as being any closer to torture than keeping someone in a prison cell.  For the most part the flu shot is a safe thing, and by telling them that it is a truth serum you are doing nothing but psychological trickery. ”

          Well, that’s just wrong. Presumably the guards knew it was a safe flu shots, but the recipient didn’t – in fact the recipient was explicitly led to believe something else. Further more, we can presume he was injected against his will. We can also presume that he knew enough about LSD and PCP to know the effects would be a little more dramatic than ‘just keeping quiet for a bit’.

          Any useful definition of torture includes psychological torture and the abuse of a power imbalance. Both are clearly present here.

          • JonS

            From the conclusion to Appendix II of the IGs report, which deals with Padilla:”We further concluded that the [redacted] failed to follow the legal review proceedures established by the US Joint Farces Command to ensure that [redacted, but presumably Padilla] welfare was protected in accordance with guidance issued by the President.”
            Appendix II also makes it clear that he was infected against his will, and that he believed it was LSD.

    • cfuse

      Shaky moral ground? We’re talking about *Gitmo* – that boat sailed years ago.

  • Finnagain

     It’s not shaky moral ground, it’s out and out immoral.

  • simonbarsinister

    This is wrong because it undermines trust in medical professionals… but COME ON, these people were being tortured and we’re worried about the ethics of lying about flu shots!?

    I’ll bet Abu Zubaydah would say don’t worry about the Haldol, just stop waterboarding him 83 times in a month.

    Standard caveat: I’m not saying set Zubayah free and give him a pony, I’m just against torture because its inhumane, ineffective, undermines our own credibility, sets a bad precedent in our own behavior and in what’s acceptable, lowers ourselves to the level of the worst in the world, and is against everything this country used to stand for.

    • EH

      Yeah, it wasn’t a mock burial, it was just a guy building a coffin-shaped box for him to lie down in.

    • http://imcravingpresidency.tumblr.com/ SedanChair

      I’m not saying set Zubayah free and give him a pony

      If you aren’t, I am. Unconditional release for all prisoners in Gitmo, Bagram and every secret prison is the only moral choice.

  • novium

    Let’s not forget that Jose Padilla is and was an American citizen.

    • elix

      NOT IN GITMO HE ISN’T.

      *cough* Sorry about that, I forgot to take my anti-cynic pills this morning. That’s fixed now.

  • http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul

    Hasn’t anyone who knows the history of the CIA been expecting to eventually find out that interrogations included drugs and/or transcranial electro/magnetic stimulation, all the way to implants and neurosurgery?

    River Tam ain’t just about denial in Egypt.

    That’s one reason that access to detainees by Red Cross and Amnesty International is nonnegotiable. The ones who underwent “no holds barred” interrogation during the Cheney administration are undoubtedly the ones we never admitted we had captured.