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POLITICAL ESSAYS
Medical Terrorism At Gitmo
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Friday, February 24, 2006
Reuters [1]
Experts see medical ethics vio-
lations at Guantanamo
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"Doctors and psychologists at
the U.S. military prison in
Guantanamo Bay are taking part
in practices...that violate
medical ethics, say ethicists
and medical associations."
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"U.S. professional medical as-
sociations have been slow to
take a position on the ethics
of such practices as force
feeding and coercive interro-
gations but that is now chang-
ing."
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Slow?
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Here's the text of my March
12, 2003 "The Superpower's
Medical Terrorism" essay
[2]:
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{start}
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Under the March 6th [2003]
headline
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Guantanamo Facility To Open
Mental Ward For Prisoners
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Associated Press reports:
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The psychiatric wing of about
35 cells will open this month
with a staff of psychiatrists,
psychologists and nurses....
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Patients will be held in [8-
foot-by-7-foot] individual
cells, but some cells will be
twice as large to allow treat-
ment and counseling, and some
prisoners will be shackled....
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Below I present excerpts, for-
matted for readability, from
the Statement by
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LEO ALEXANDER, MD
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published in the 1949 book
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DOCTORS OF INFAMY: the Story
of the Nazi Medical Crimes
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Here's Dr Alexander's prelim-
inary remarks:
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In the Summer of 1945, as an
officer in the United State
Army, it became my duty to in-
vestigate medical and research
activities carried out in Ge-
rmany during the war, particu-
larly in the field of diseases
of the nervous system and in
related fields of physiology.
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I examined many documents, re-
cords and reports.
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I saw the concentration camps
with their dispensaries and
laboratories.
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I interrogated surviving wit-
nesses, culprits and others.
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I embodied my findings in a
number of official reports
and [in] contributions to
scientific journals.
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In 1946 I returned to Nurem-
berg as a Consultant to the
Secretary of War, on duty with
the Office of the Chief of
Counsel for War Crimes. I
served into the following year
and had a chance to acquaint
myself still more thoroughly
with the subject matter of
this book [= DOCTORS OF IN-
FAMY].
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I can therefore vouch for the
authenticity of the documents
it includes and for the truth
and accuracy of virtually all
the statements made.
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Now Dr Alexander gets down to
the substance of the matter:
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Science under dictatorship
becomes subordinated to the
guiding philosophy of the
dictatorship.
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"Rational utility" and cor-
responding doctrine and plan-
ning replace moral, ethical,
and religious values.
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Nazi propaganda was highly
effective in perverting public
opinion and public conscience
in a remarkably short time.
In the medical profession this
expressed itself in a rapid
decline in standards of pro-
fessional ethics.
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****
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The experiments performed in
concentration camps
represented not merely a ruth-
less and callous pursuit of
legitimate scientific goals.
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An important feature is that
they were motivated by sini-
ster, practical, ulterior pol-
itical and personal purposes,
arising out of the require-
ments and problems in the ad-
ministration of totalitarian
rule.
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****
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These cases [of careerism]
illustrate an important ele-
ment of motivation, familiar
in ordinary crime and apply-
ing equally to war crimes and
crimes against humanity.
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Fear and cowardice --especi-
ally fear of punishment or
ostracism by the group-- are
often more important motives
than simple ferocity or ag-
gressiveness.
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The archcrime to which the SS
was committed was the genocide
of non-German peoples and the
elimination by killing, in
groups or singly, of Germans
who were considered useless or
disloyal.
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In effecting this twofold pro-
gram Himmler demanded and re-
ceived the cooperation of phy-
sicians and of German medical
science.
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I have proposed the term
"ktenology," the science of
killing, for this trend of
Nazi research.
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In the course of ktenological
research, methods of mass kil-
ling and mass sterilization
were investigated and develop-
ed, as well as
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methods for rapid and incon-
spicuous individual execution.
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****
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The triumph along this line --
a method that would produce
autopsy findings indicative of
death from natural causes--
was the development of intra-
venous injectionss of a
suspension of live tubercle
bacilli, which brought on
acute miliary tuberculosis
within a few weeks.
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As a means of further camou-
flage, so that the SS at large
would not suspect the purpose
of these experiments, prelim-
inary tests on the efficacy of
this method were performed ex-
clusively on children at the
Neuengamme concentration camp.
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****
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Whatever methods he used, the
physician gradually became the
unofficial executioner, for
the sake of convenience, infor-
mality, and relative secrecy.
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Medical science has always been
an instrument of military pow-
er, in that it preserves the
health and fighting efficiency
of troops. This essentially
defensive purpose is not in-
consistent with the ethical
principles of medicine.
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As long ago as the first
World War, however, the German
empire enlisted medical sci-
ence as an instrument of ag-
gressive military power by
putting it to use in the
development of gas warfare.
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It was left to the Nazi dicta-
torship to make medical science
into an instrument of political
power, a formidable, essential
tool in the complete and effec-
tive manipulation of totalitar-
ian control.
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This should be a warning to all
civilized nations, and particu-
larly to those individuals who
are blinded by the "efficiency"
of totalitarian government,
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UNDER WHATEVER NAME.
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*Doctors of Infamy* was pub-
lished by Henry Schuman Inc.
The above excerpts are at
pages xxix, xxx, xxxi, xxxiii
and xxxiv in the front matter
of the book.
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{end}
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You of course took special
notice of--
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Fear and cowardice --especi-
ally fear of punishment or
ostracism by the group-- are
often more important motives
than simple ferocity or ag-
gressiveness.
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>From the Reuters newsstory:
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"Steven Miles of the Universi-
ty of Minnesota's Center for
Bioethics said medical organi-
zations had been reluctant to
speak out for fear of aliena-
ting politicians whose support
they need on issues such as
malpractice reform, but the
flow of news from Guantanamo
had forced their hand.
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"'There's enough smoke now to
suggest that bad things are
happening,' he said."
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Now?
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[1]
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...2401048_pf.html
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[2]
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The Superpower's Medical Ter-
rorism (March 6th 2003):
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http://groups.google.com/group/alt....de=source&hl=en
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