(Re)Call the Doctor: Physicians Involved in CIA Interrogations?

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(Re)Call the Doctor: Physicians Involved in CIA Interrogations?
By Spencer Ackerman - July 23, 2007, 2:39 PM

Blink and you'll miss it. But yesterday on Meet The Press, Admiral Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence, seemingly disclosed something long suspected but never proven about the CIA's "enhanced interrogation" techniques: interrogators receive advice from medical personnel in conducting their interrogations. When it came to light two years ago that psychiatrists and psychologists helped prepare interrogations at Guantanamo Bay, the revelation caused a huge scandal in the psychiatric community -- something that now looks set to repeat itself with physicians.

McConnell appeared on Tim Russert's Sunday chat show to reassure viewers that President Bush's new executive order for CIA interrogations prohibits torture. He stuck to that line consistently throughout his interview, but during one quick moment of elaboration, McConnell, perhaps inadvertently, disclosed something extremely significant:

When I was in a situation where I had to sign off, as a member of the process, my name to this executive order, I sat down with those who had been trained to do it, the doctors who monitor it, understanding that no one is subjected to torture. (Emphasis added)

Until now, no confirmation existed that "doctors monitored" CIA interrogations -- or indeed took part in any aspect of them.
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