A new report from a group of human rights activists and health professionals claims that the American Psychological Association (APA) worked with the Bush administration to justify torture during the war on terror that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
The report alleges that the APA's placement of psychologists in interrogation rooms was used to justify the interrogations as being safe. By having mental health professionals in the room, the Justice Department could argue that the interrogations were legal and not classified as torture, according to the report.
A spokesperson for the APA, meanwhile, has denied the allegations, claiming that there "has never been any coordination between APA and the Bush administration on how APA responded to the controversies about the role of psychologists in the interrogations program."
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A report from the Senate Intelligence Committee last year found the interrogation program was "ineffective and abusive," The New York Times reports, and it has been shut down. The APA last November ordered an independent review of its role in the program, which is now taking place.
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