Hidden Connections
 
        In the recent well-publicized book by Pulitzer-prize-winning author James Risen, At Any Cost: Greed, Power, and Endless War, Risen devotes a chapter to the role of the American Psychological Association (APA) in the torture regimen of the Bush administration. The report of this “PENS Task Force,” which gave professional sanction to shockingly unprofessional behavior, was one that was railroaded through under poor reasoning.
         Fortunately, as James Risen reports, the APA just announced November 12 that it is hiring independent counsel to do an investigation about the allegations in Risen’s book, so remedies may be on the way.
        At around the same time, the APA had a Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion. At around the same time, the APA had a Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion. This task force presented itself as a group that considered all the evidence, but in fact the final product showed clearly that every member of the task force was interested in casting arguments in such a way as to defend abortion, avoiding arguments that might suggest otherwise. CL vice-president Rachel MacNair argued the points at APA meetings, and was told she was “brave” – but scientific debate shouldn’t require bravery, should it?
        There is no word on anyone thinking of a remedy for this railroaded product.  
 

SOA Watch
 

        Consistent Life has endorsed the annual Vigil at Fort Benning November 21-23. This is sponsored by the School of the Americas Watch, founded by CL endorser Roy Bourgeois. The Vigil has taken place every year since 1990, the year after the murder of 6 Jesuit priests in El Salvador, to protest the training of Latin Americans in torture and death squad techniques. CL has generally had a presence at the Vigil. This year, the authorities tried to ban the Vigil, but SOA Watch was successful in defending its First Amendment rights.