The American Psychological Association (APA) held its annual convention in San Francisco in mid-August 2007. AAT showed up on Saturday the 18th at mid-day to register outrage and opposition that this organization of 'helping professionals' sanctions its members' design of and participation in torture programs executed by the U.S. government. We gave convention-goers something to think about at the corner of 4th and Howard on their way to and from Moscone Center.

A group of 'dissident' APA members, Coalition for an Ethical APA organized a rally the afternoon before, which AAT also attended (along with other groups). Ethical APA members had submitted a resolution implementing a full moratorium on APA members' participation in torture, as an alternate to the significantly weaker resolution put forward by the APA leadership. The issue was written up in an article in the SF Chronicle on Saturday morning.

Background: Two U.S. psychologists developed interrogation techniques used by the C.I.A. at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and "black site" prisons around the world. In July 2005, an A.P.A. task force "ruled that psychologists could assist in military interrogations, despite angry objections from many in the profession. The task force also determined that, in cases where international human-rights law conflicts with U.S. law, psychologists could defer to the much looser U.S. standards - what [psychologist Jean Maria] Arrigo called the "Rumsfeld definition" of humane treatment." [from "Rorschach and Awe," Katherine Eban, _Vanity Fair_, 07/17/07]. Links to this and other articles describing the relationship of the APA to U.S. torture:

• "The Black Sites: A rare look inside the C.I.A.’s secret interrogation program," Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, 08/13/07
• "Rorschach and Awe," Katherine Eban, Vanity Fair, 07/17/07
• "The CIA's Torture Teachers: Psychologists helped the CIA exploit a secret military program to develop brutal interrogation tactics - likely with the approval of the Bush White House," Mark Benjamin, Salon, 06/21/07
• "Shrinks and the SERE Techniques at Guantanamo," Stephen Soldz, Salon, 05/29/07