So, torture's only torture if it causes "prolonged psychological suffering"

[EffieBlack]

according to the people who told us that McCain should be president largely because of his POW experience - during which, they agree, he was tortured, thereby sustaining prolonged psychological damage, according to their own definition.

[EFerrari]

1. Hey, they worked hard for that double standard!

[geckosfeet]

2. Piece on NPR about that.. Fairly informative and it explores and ultimately

debunks that rationale.
Psychologists Refute CIA Interrogation Memo

[Canuckistanian]

3. Omar Khadr is in bad shape, psychologically

The most distressing anecdote from Gould's report, however, which, bizarrely, he portrayed as an example of Omar "having some feelings," followed a session with an interrogator from the Department of Defense, who had shown him a photo of his family, only for Omar to deny that he knew anyone in the picture. "Left alone with the picture and despite his shackles," the report continued, "Omar urinated on the picture. The MPs cleaned him, the picture and floor and again left him alone with the picture -- after shortening his shackles so that he couldn't urinate on the picture again. But, with the flexibility of youth, he was able to lower his trousers and again urinated on the picture. Again the MPs cleaned up and left him alone with the picture on a table in front of him. After two and a half hours alone and probably assuming that he was no longer being watched, Omar laid his head down on the table beside the picture in what was seen as an affectionate manner."

~snip~

As Dr. Eric Trupin, who has conducted extensive research on the effects of incarceration on adolescents, explained in 2005 after reviewing the results of mental status tests administered by Omar's US lawyers, which followed three years of interrogations that began as soon as Omar was captured, and which had a cumulative effect that the Canadians either could not or would not consider:

The impact of these harsh interrogation techniques on an adolescent such as O.K. , who also has been isolated for almost three years, is potentially catastrophic to his future development. Long-term consequences of harsh interrogation techniques are both more pronounced for adolescents and more difficult to remediate or treat even after such interrogations are discontinued, particularly if the victim is uncertain as to whether they will resume. It is my opinion, to a reasonable scientific certainty, that O.K.'s continued subjection to the threat of physical and mental abuse places him at significant risk for future psychiatric deterioration, which may include irreversible psychiatric symptoms and disorders, such as a psychosis with treatment-resistant hallucinations, paranoid delusions and persistent self-harming attempts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-worthington/screwed-up-and-abused-oma_b_112924.html

How's THAT for "prolonged psychological suffering"?