December 9 – The Polarized Reaction to the Torture Report; America’s Torture Doctors; Will Shoddy Reporting Become an Excuse for Denying Campus Rape?

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the release of post-9/11 torture and rendition report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence which has been held up for years and is heavily redacted. John Bradshaw, the Executive Director of the National Security Network joins us to discuss the partisan political divide in response to the report as Republicans, with the exception of Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain, defend torture and those that perpetrated it, while Democrats and the White House defend the report and the need to make it public. We will also examine why the author of the legal justification for the Bush Administration’s use of torture, John Yoo, was not held to account.

Part 2

Then we speak with Dr. Steven Miles, a professor of Medicine and Bioethics at the University of Minnesota Medical School and author of “Oath Betrayed: America’s Torture Doctors”. He joins us to discuss the role of CIA doctors in monitoring and resuscitating torture victims and the key role played by two psychologists who were paid more than $81 million as contractors to carry out the program along with a multi-year indemnification of more than $1 million. We also look into whether Condoleezza Rice will be held to account since she more than Dick Cheney seems to have authorized and directed the torture and rendition regime.

Part 3

Then finally we get an update on where the issue of campus rape stands following the retraction by Rolling Stone of much of their expose on gang rape by fraternities at the University of Virginia. Casey Corcoran, a Program Director with the Children’s Program at Future Without Violence, who works on issues of dating violence, domestic violence and sexual health and healthy conflict resolution, joins us. We will discuss how progress can be made since many apologists for campus rape are using the shoddy reporting by Rolling Stone as an excuse to deny the nationwide problem of sexual violence on campuses.