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Barack Obama is worried about the “psychological well-being” of the American military family. He should be. His and Mr. Bush’s wars are generating tens of thousands of physically and mentally wounded veterans. PTSD rates are high. Families living with multiple deployments are sometimes at wits end to meet expenses, and by month’s end are on food stamps. Multiple deployments severely strain marriages and parenting relationships, which will have generational effects. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress raise the specter of cutbacks for veterans and veterans’ health programs.
Mr. Obama has responded with a classic technique: create a White House-led task force. This one is entitled, “Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The Military Family.” It was to have met Friday with Michelle Obama. One of its lead members is Dr. Larry C. James.
It is an Orwellian choice and another example of Mr. Obama doubling down on CheneyBush’s GWOT. Before he retired from the Army, Dr. James, along with Drs James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, was at the center of the controversies involving the use of torture and inhumane techniques against prisoners held by or for the US. In Gitmo, most of those prisoners were later determined to have done nothing at all except become swept up in a panicked frenzy.
According to complaints filed with his licensing authorities in Louisiana and Ohio (both of which determined they could not act on them), this is what happened at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib during Dr. James’ tenure:
During his tenure at the prison, boys and men were threatened with rape and death for themselves and their family members; sexually, culturally, and religiously humiliated; forced naked; deprived of sleep; subjected to sensory deprivation, over-stimulation, and extreme isolation; short-shackled into stress positions for hours; and physically assaulted. The evidence indicates that abuse of this kind was systemic, that BSCT health professionals played an integral role in its planning and practice. . . .
(Emphasis mine.) Dr. James claims he was sent to Abu Ghraib to fix it. But this is how he describes his role, from his book, Fixing Hell, An Army Psychologist Confronts Abu Ghraib:
“It was clear to me that I was no longer a doctor but rather a combatant with the sole purpose of helping the Army kill or capture the enemy.”
Coming from a senior health care practitioner, that’s called an admission against interest. As Army Major General Antonio Taguba, who investigated Abu Ghraib, has said,there was no doubt that war crimes occurred there; the issue is whether anyone will be held accountable. Greenwald:
Of all the psychologists to choose from, why would they possibly choose to honor and elevate the former chief psychologist of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib at the height of the Bush abuses? More disturbing still, among those most damaged by detainee abuse are the service members forced to participate in it; why would the White House possibly want to put on a task force about the health of military families someone, such as Dr. James, who at the very least is directly associated with policies that so profoundly harmed numerous members of the military and their families?….
Whatever the explanation, the symbolism here is as ugly as the mindset underlying it.
Dr. James is currently head of the psychology department at Wright State University in Dayton, OH. As it has in San Diego, the military has several operations in Dayton and has sway in the local economy.
We had several discussions yesterday at Emptywheel about the domestication of GWOT policies. Coincidentally, one of Dr. James’ workshops at Wright State is a program to train local “law enforcement officials, members of the Department of Homeland Security, DOD, and the Border Patrol” in the use of psychological techniques he developed. Its aims:
Define Psychological Terrorism
Identify Types of Psychological Terrorism
Discuss the role of the media in counter terrorism efforts
Identify how demographics are used to recruit teenage terrorists
Understand the psychological make-up of the suicide bomber
Discuss strategies to prevent psychological terrorism
I hope that Jeff Kaye will have more on this shortly.
35 Comments
I wonder how Dr. James would advise his hypothetical patients, former guards at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, to answer the inevitable question: “What did you do in the war, daddy?”
One clue about why the conflict-with-the-right-averse Mr. Obama would find Dr. James so attractive comes from this CounterPunch article from 2009 (h/t muddy thinking @ Glennzilla):
Psychologist Accused of War Crimes Opposes Investigations
This appears as the latest in a series of moves by President Obama to signal both the civil liberties community and the war criminals from the Bush era the exact same message. Obama now directly approves of torture without apology. By encouraging and approving of the torture of Bradley Manning, appointing “Dr.” James, and obstructing both domestic and international justice Mr. Obama has completely abandoned any pretense to legitimacy. President Obama now believes he can declare war even without the approval of Congress. Did he really ever believe any of that talk during the campaign about protecting the constitution, the rule of law, or civil liberties? No serious supporter of civil liberties can continue to pretend that Obama adheres to the rule of law. It’s official, he is worse than Bush on civil liberties.
Don’t some military people come back with PSTD from having inflicted or witnessed torture?
If so, can we expect that James will advise their families to just get over it?
His bio says:
“He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Defense Superior Service Medal for his dedicated service to our nation in the global war on terrorism. While on Army active duty, he was the Chair, Department of Psychology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and later Tripler Army Medical Center. Dr James has published five books as well as numerous scientific papers. He is Board Certified in both Clinical Psychology and Health Psychology. He is the President of the American Board of Health Psychology and President elect for the Division of Military Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Dr James has received numerous awards and honors such as the Dorothy Booz-Black award, The Timothy Jeffrey Award, The Diversity Award and the Military Psychologist of the Year Award. Known for his vision, energy and his ability to engage and motivate others, Dr James is seen as a visionary and dynamic leader who has the ability to push the envelope in the development of innovative projects with colleagues and organizations. He has received over three million dollars in grant funding and his innovative and groundbreaking ideas have led to new models of training, research and service delivery within his profession.”
Let’s hear an ‘Amen’ for giving the likes of him a Bronze Star and the many other awards and millions for his service to ‘our country’, the innovative son-of-a-bitch.
At least his grin is pasted on.
earlofhuntingdon March 26th, 2011 at 5:25 am «
Excellent summary of the current state of affairs, earlofhuntington!
And with the quote you provide, the evidence that these psychologists now act in the interests of politics over their patients and their ethics.
Looking forward to Jeff Kaye’s writing as well!
This should be an immense embarrassment to the WH and the First Lady.
greenharper March 26th, 2011 at 7:43 am «
Indeed, greenharper …
Dr. James himself may be suffering PTSD from the torture/interrogation he observed as part of his duties in the GWOT. He may be in denial. We expect him to be informed and self-observing but I do not see anything in his personality that would signal we could depend on this.
His denial may as well be the vehicle for inflicting more damage on the communities he is now “officially” tasked with aiding. It’s very sad. And disgusting in that we depend on the supposed “expertise” of these charlatans.
It happened to me in therapy. A counsellor with their own “issues” worked against my disclosures of my issues, BECAUSE they would not fit with the world-view that the counsellor depended on to maintain their own shaky equilibrium.
I even paid to go back to question this counsellor to ensure my “theory” was correct. Not to get an admission from them: that would have been futile. However, I did get enough backstory to flesh out how they “counselled” me AFTER I had disclosed and somewhat resolved my issues elsewhere.
wendydavis March 26th, 2011 at 9:02 am «
Thanks!
“… Known for his vision, energy and his ability to engage and motivate others, Dr James is seen as a visionary and dynamic leader who has the ability to push the envelope in the development of innovative projects with colleagues and organizations. He has received over three million dollars in grant funding and his innovative and groundbreaking ideas have led to new models of training, research and service delivery within his profession.”
This says so much that sets off blaring alarms in my head, I really do not know where to start.
I see NOTHING in this bio about serving individuals, groups, or humanity with his expertise.
He’s a corporatist, in the business of psychology.
There are military psychologists who do yeoman’s work with few resources and a long list of patients. There is also considerable pressure to make diagnoses fit with “the needs of the service”, whether it be to avoid long term costs or to get troubled souls back into uniform and back into the Middle East. Counseling the individual sometimes takes a back seat, and must cause additional needless suffering.
I see that a number of those awards post-date his service at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, which begs the question of whether they were awarded not for his psychological work, but for covering the backsides of his superiors and predecessors.
Maj. Gen. Taguba, on the other hand, was reassigned to a quiet corner at the Pentagon and then forced to retire after his critical report on Abu Ghraib.
Dr. James seems to have taken a different approach. He appears at crucial times to have made no distinction between the needs of the service and the needs of those under his clinical supervision, and found no conflict in that.
As seems to have done regarding Pfc. Manning’s treatment, Mr. Obama would have asked and been reassured by the Pentagon that Dr. James’ loyalty and performance were beyond question and that he was A-OK. It’s a good thing Mr. Obama chose community organizing instead of becoming a prosecutor early in his career. He seems willing to believe anything a witness tells him, regardless of the potential conflict in their testimony.
Great post, I hope it goes viral.
This is a scandal that needs more
attention.
Excellent post, EofH. Indeed, I will have something more to say about this. Only time constraints keep me from having a post ready to go.
I remember how it went for Gen. Taguba; so very sad. And that Janet Sharpinski took the fall for Abu Graihb (plus Graner and England).
‘Miltary psychologist of the year’. Like giving Paul Bremmer the Medal of Freedom. But you’re right; James made his chooices; I guess a man like him can sleep at night.
Thanks for getting this online so quickly. To say that it is an outrage is inadequate. (Not that I have very often) I will never again take any action by Obama as “well intentioned bumbling.” My very being as a human and a mental health professional has been slapped in the face. It is one thing to mishandle human rights abuses by our government but magnitudes worse to celebrate the perpetrators.
‘Innovative projects’; oh my, yes. Too many metaphors leap to mind, all of them too disgusting to type this morning, reader.
Great! I am looking forward to your information and commentary.
Just jaw-dropping, isn’t it? How far we have fallen. How much farther do we have to go?
I participated in a study in which we brought in expert interrogators and found that the torture techniques designed by the psychologist were not effective and got false information. It was never to be used by those under the military code of justice. The torture was used by CIA and recommended by psychologist does not meet the standards of “doing no harm.” To reverse the torture training and use it against our enemies is despicable and goes against every value we have as Americans and according to the experts in fact torture does not work.
Anyone who had anything to do with the torture should be held accountable and not be given medals and appointments to help military families.
Perhaps Mitchell and Jessen, as well as James, steller and respected “psychologists” all, will so besmirch such reputation as the “discipline” yet retains that something, new, post-rule of law, post-Constitution, post-reason will have take its place? Some brave “new” Manipulative “Social” Science, perhaps?
Ain’t Obama great with his subtle, nuanced “messages” of “Nope we can deceive in”?
Thank you, EOH, for bringing this feat of snearing-do to our attention. Obama certainly surrounds himself with the astute and calculating. All which really remains for Obama to do is to hold hands with G.W. Bush while they both do the torture tango and sing, in true, happy harmony, about doing it all for the love of the Homeland and the little people who live there.
Looking forward, I am, to Jeff’s thoughts on the wee matter.
DW
Looking forward to your professional take on Dr. James and what ought to be his strange appointment by Mr. Obama.
I’d also be interested in your views on his role at Wayne State. It seems to be a convenient place to park him so that he can continue to inject his “innovative perspective” into further military programs, and more alarmingly, into domestic applications of them at both federal and state levels (to the extent that they remain separate levels of law enforcement).
There’s a rhetorical haze around our military composed of ‘honor’ and ‘courage’ and ‘service’ and ‘sacrifice’ and such like, but the reality is often seedy and vile and just plain evil.
So my cynicism might be a bit over the top, but I have wondered about what is going to happen when these vets start seeking help for their trauma when they start telling these stories.
This man was put in charge so that he can monitor the treatment for ptsd and trauma that might have been caused by witnessing or participating in torture…as well as the rest of the horrors of war.
If he is in charge of “wellness” he can make sure that the treatments that work the best are not used. He can make sure that these stories are not validated. Hell, he can even create an atmosphere that invalidates any reports of torture by blaming psychosis. It’s an amazing amount of control to have over this vulnerable group of people.
An invalidating environment may increase the mental health risk. For many it’s telling the truth, finding the cognitive distortions and moving on, that helps the most. If they are to tell their truth, it could be very damaging. He’s put in charge as gate keeper. Wolf in charge of the hen house so to speak.
The saddest part for me, is knowing that his presence will only increase the mental health wounds. To date the best most empirically supported treatments for trauma include the retelling of the story. From the empirically supported exposure therapy, to EMDR, to cognitive behavioral therapy. In general their truths would be acknowledged and validated and distortions would be replaced.
There is likely a vested interest in keeping the truth under wraps. This is one area, where I was certain the truth would bubble up. I would encourage everyone on FDL to support private treatment centers for no charge made to help veterans such as the “At Ease” program in Omaha Ne. This non profit program was designed to provide safe treatment at no cost to the vets, precisely because the fear of being ostracized and judged for seeking help, keeps many from treatment.
Please support these types of treatment centers because this may be the only way the truth comes to surface.
http://www.lfsneb.org/behavioralhealth/at_ease/index.asp
Glenn’s got an “Update below with White House response.”
Obama thinks James’ views and history are quite reasonable. That’s why he appointed him.
You can expect this task force will be stacked with sociopaths who will faithfully promote the chief sociopath’s point of view as in the catfood commission and the “con” Jobs Commission.
Wrong place, sorry Wendy.
Obama thinks James’ views and history are quite reasonable. That’s why he appointed him.
You can expect this task force will be stacked with sociopaths who will faithfully promote the chief sociopath’s point of view as in the catfood commission and the “con” Jobs Commission.
Thanks for this putting into words just how destructive and corrupting to the first the military then the public this is.
I was just about to point that out…
Apparently the WH is denying inviting James explicitly. His attendance was (note the past tense) going to be as part of a larger group.
Whether this is WH ass covering or the truth, doesn’t particularly matter to me.
What interests me in this ugly incident is simply the fact that this is where looking forward gets you. Had James been looked back on and prosecuted for his involvement in war crimes, he wouldn’t be attending WH functions and potentially embarrassing the First Lady.
What really gets me though is that war criminals aren’t just roaming free in our society, they are welcome at the highest levels of society (all too often in academia). It is only when someone publicly points out that a war criminal is on the guest list, that things suddenly become socially awkward.
This is a national disgrace.
According to an update by Glenn Greenwald, the White House claims that it has not appointed Dr. James to any task force, but that he might once have been attending as a representative of one of the groups it has invited to a meeting next Tuesday. He will not now be attending.
Given the tortured nature of that statement, I assume the White House has explicitly disinvited him from attending, even in a representative capacity.
Glenn notes that that will be news to Dr. James, who had sent an e-mail to his network as follows, a copy of which was obtained by the Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program (emphasis mine):
Dr. James may or not be many things. But it seems unlikely, as a former Army colonel and as head of a faculty department in psychology, that he fabricated an invitation to such a high-profile event and broadcast it in an open e-mail.
If he didn’t, someone at the White House is a coward, and has remarkably poor judgment.
“it seems unlikely… that he fabricated”
I’m not sure I would agree with that. We already know the man lacks morals, ethics, and otherwise good character traits. He is now a dean at a university. That is not a job one gets without being able to sell one’s attributes. While the majority of deans are undoubtedly solid citizens of good character, I do know people who have… how to put this delicately… puffed up their credentials in order to climb the next rung on the ladder. I would not put it past James to make himself a more important figure than may have been warranted.
That said, I wouldn’t put it past the WH to have invited James and now dis-invited him. He should be able to prove his personal invitation, if indeed he received one. That would also tell us, which pinhead in the WH blew it.
I am agnostic on where the fault lies, but I wouldn’t automatically discount embellishment on the part of James.
Real or accidental his “appointment” by the WH serves to draw attention to the fact that this sociopath has benefited professionally and apparently socially from his war time work.
The situation is quite murky. James claims he was invited to a task force meeting next Tuesday, by the First Lady, no less. Michelle Obama’s office says he was never considered or invited, in fact, there isn’t even any task force.
I don’t know who is telling the truth, or what, but until these matters are clarified, I’m going to hold my powder on this subject.
However, there is much more to be said about Col. James, including things that haven’t been discussed thus far, and are not in the complaints written on him, much less in Glenn Greenwald’s article. I will be writing on this quite soon.
Yes. Oh, and by the way, earlofhuntingdon, the meeting is to take place on Tuesday, not was to take place on Friday, at least according to Glenn.
I wrote to my congressman about it. I urge others to do the same. It’s clearly one thing to not prosecute Bush Administration torture, and quite another to appoint it to highly regarded committees and high office. And Congress needs to know that nobody has forgotten that it has not done its duty to convene hearings leading to indictments and prosecutions.
Furthermore, a Congress that doesn’t think that child molesters should be within 1000 yds of a child’ family shouldn’t think that psychologists who develop ways to lead servicemen to torture belong within 1000 yds of a serviceperson’s family.
I wonder which organization he’s working with, that indirectly invited him, SAMHSA or APA, given that he’s the president elect of the Division of Military Affairs for the APA, that august body that always has had a problem with banning torture for psychologists.
Whatever the story and whatever the outcome with the WH -looking forward to all further reporting on this- I am *absolutely* certain that James is an accomplished opportunist along with everything else. And that would explain any number of unethical actions in this episode on his part. And how foolish to play such high visibility games with the WH, if that is what he has indeed been doing.
If the WH is embarrassed and has changed their direction as a result, then we are indeed making some progress!
Here’s how things stand after a brief investigation, and what we can find that is “on the record.”
http://www.truth-out.org/white-house-denies-existence-task-force-ex-guantanamo-psychologist68856
Briefly, there is no task force. James is not working with the WH. He appears most likely invited by APA, but no one will go on the record about that. (Note, APA says it had “no input on who would be invited to the White House,” but this still leaves open questions about James that APA wouldn’t answer.)
It seems the WH didn’t want to directly say it was APA. That is supposition, based on the fact the other org mentioned as being there in the WH statement had no known relationship with James.
In any case, this episode shows that we should remain vigilant, as the attempt to rehabilitate those who tortured — not just not investigate, or prosecute, but proactively rehabilitate — is ongoing.