Torture Is A Moral Issue Panel

Friday, June 26, 7:30pm
First Presbyterian Church
1140 Cowper St. (at Lincoln), Palo Alto, 94301

Panelists:

Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years.  He is now on staff at Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Savior in inner-city Washington, D.C., and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).  His articles and op-eds have been published in The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Miami Herald, and online with truthout.com, commondreams.org, consortiumnews.com and other websites.  He has appeared on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and the Washington Journal.  While at the CIA McGovern's responsibilities included preparing the President's Daily Brief (PDB) under presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan and conducting early morning briefings of the PDB one-on-one with the Vice President, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Among other degrees, he holds a certificate in Theological Studies from Georgetown.

Jean Maria Arrigo PhD, is a social psychologist and independent scholar who seeks to give moral voice to intelligence professionals. In 2005 Arrigo was a dissident member of the American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security, and united with Psychologists for Social Responsibility and military intelligence professionals of conscience to deter psychologists' involvement in torture.  Arrigo established the Ethics of Intelligence and Weapons Development Oral History Collection at Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley; the Intelligence Ethics Collection at Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University; and the nonprofit Project on Ethics and Art in Testimony.  Her PhD dissertation title was Sins and Salvation in Clandestine Scientific Research: A Social Psychological and Epistemological Inquiry.  In 2008 she co-authored "APA Denunciation and Accommodation of Abusive Interrogations - A Lesson for World Psychology."

Ben Daniel is the pastor of Foothill Presbyterian Church in San Jose, and is an internationally recognized writer of faith-based social and political commentary. His work has been published by a wide variety of print, online, and broadcast media, including Beliefnet.com, TheRevealer.org, KQED FM and The San Jose Mercury News; his writing has been linked by the BBC Online, Al Jazeera's English language website and the website of United Nations' mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ben's regular commentaries appear on UPI's ReligionandSpirituality.com and on his website, bendaniel.org. Ben lives in East San Jose with his wife, Anne, and their four children.
 

Terrence Karney is a former Army Interrogator, and Instructor.  He served as a Staff Sergeant with the 223rd Military Intelligence Battalion of the California Army National Guard. “Insight through inquiry” is the 223rd’s motto.  In 2003 Sergeant Karney was the Non-Commissioned Officer in charge of keeping V Corps' Interrogation Battalion up to date on the enemy's situation.  Later he managed collections in the Northern Tip of the Sunni Triangle in Iraq. From 1994 until he left the Army in 2009 he was an interrogation instructor, helping to train at least 300 students.  As a teacher he has an insider's perspective not only on the art of interrogation but also  on the doctrine. 

"I like people... The guy on the other side of the table is a person.  He's not some abstract evil poured into flesh.  If you can keep that in mind, you don't have to like him but if you can remember that he is a person you can get the information.  To commit torture you have to forget he's a person." - Terrence Karney, in interview with Dan Epstein on "Justice Talking" from NPR, air date 3/3/08.  Click here to hear interview or here to download transcript. Karney is in the last segment.

David DeCosse is Director of Campus Ethics Programs for the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University where he coordinates all of the Center's programs for faculty, staff and students, including lectureships, panels, and fellowships.  DeCosse has a background is publishing, teaching and ethics scholarship.  Formerly the newsroom manager of Ascribe Newswire, he began his career as a reporter in New York state. While working at Doubleday Books he edited But Was It Just? Reflections on the Morality of the Persian Gulf War.  He has taught in the Religious Studies Department of Santa Clara University since 1999.  He holds a doctorate in theological ethics from Boston College-Weston Jesuit School of Theology.  DeCosse will moderate the panel.

John Crigler is a guitarist, singer and composer.  For the Project on Ethics and Art in Testimony he creates songs using the natural speech of oral history narrators. He has written pieces about the spiritual travails of two veteran intelligence professionals with the texts from Jean Maria Arrigo's oral histories.  In 2006 he wrote the musical accompaniment for Arrigo's readers theater play Speaking of Torture.  His music spans blues, jazz, folk, neoclassical and minimalist styles.  As a singer, he commits to the illumination of difficult texts.  Crigler will perform his "Lament of an Army Interrogator" for our event.

Suggested donation for Friday panel $5-15 (no one turned away for lack of funds).
Come early as space is limited.

If possible, join us for Saturday Conference featuring:
Torture Survivor Personal Testimony;
Rev. Carol Wickersham, founder of No2Torture;
Banafsheh Akhlaghi, Amnesty International-USA Western Regional Director;
Rita Nakashima Brock, theologian and activist;
more conversation with Friday panelists;
plus workshops, multifaith worship & opportunities for action.

Click here to download flyers for panel & conference.

(Thanks to Democracy Now website for Arrigo's photo; and to Santa Clara University website for DeCosse's photo.)