The two psychologists who designed the US “enhanced interrogation” programme that included waterboarding and other forms of torture, are due to give evidence in open court for the first time this week. Mitchell and Jessen, were former air force psychologists who were tasked by the CIA in 2002 to establish a programme of severe interrogation techniques. “The perverse ‘work’ of these psychologists has dramatically set back the global fight against torture. The psychologists said their interrogation programme had been designed to induce a “learned helplessness” in detainees that would make them more compliant. Mitchell wrote a memoir, Enhanced Interrogation, in which he claimed that the enhanced interrogation techniques helped foil al-Qaida attacks on the US.

Source: The Guardian January 20, 2020 04:52 UTC