By Janet Phelan
The reports are in and the conclusion is unavoidable—a number of American citizens are stating they have been tortured by their own government.
Back in 2004, the world was given a glimpse of human rights violations executed by US soldiers and contractors in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The violations included rape, sodomy, torture and murder. Soon after, allegations of torture via waterboarding came to light.
Under pressure, President George Bush announced that the US was ceasing these activities, which he insisted on terming as “enhanced interrogation.” Bush refused to admit that waterboarding, which involves simulated drowning, constituted torture.
President Trump has signaled that he desires to reinitiate waterboarding. “It works,” he stated.
But these are all foreigners, right? No one would dare torture an American. Right?
Recently, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer issued a call-out for submissions from NGOs, UN agencies, State parties and Academia, requesting input on “psychological torture.”
As a result of this request for submissions, Special Rapporteur Melzer has been deluged with reports from NGOs, US citizens and others claiming that the US government has put them into weapons testing programs without their consent. The reports submitted revolve around “no touch torture” claims involving deployment of electronic and chemical weapons.
The mainstream media has for some time sneered at such claims. However, when US diplomats were assaulted with electronic weapons in Cuba and Canada, the US press dropped the slurs and took the reports – at least of the diplomats – seriously.
Earlier reports had determined that similar weapons were deployed against the US embassy in Moscow for at least two decades.
According to the recent report submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur by PACTS INTERNATIONAL,
Members of our community experience the same symptomology of ‘no touch’ torture as recently experienced by the US diplomats to Cuba and China, which included: nausea, headaches, sleep problems, vertigo, hearing loss and memory and cognitive issues, along with the following forms of “psychological torture”: workplace harassment, which may lead to termination, vehicle tampering, computer tampering, email tampering, phone tampering, phone monitoring, 24 hr. surveillance,home entry, gaslighting, involuntary detention in a mental facility, vehicular stalking, organized group stalking, community-based harassment, blacklisting, and much more.
The PACTS submission, which was signed by over fifty individuals from the US, China, Canada and Europe, went on to quote Dr. Robert Duncan, who has worked on sensitive projects with DARPA, the CIA and other agencies, to wit:
…the US military and the CIA have been researching a number of interrogation and behaviour modification protocols, such as:
- Induction of manic/depressive states – various methods of verbal abuse
- Memory erasure using drugs Use of fear tactics – gaslighting, stalking, mock burials and executions, etc.
- Remote mind manipulation – Every drug effect can be artificially induced in the target’s mind, including those of poisons.
- Imprisonment and isolation
- Personal and spiritual defamation
PACTS goes on to quote Cheryl Welsh, founder and director of Mind Justice, as follows:
The psychiatric sequelae of PT [psychological torture] are severe. They include delirium, psychosis, regression, self-mutilation, cognitive impairment, and anxiety disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Neuroscience research on these and related mental disorders continues to establish their neurobiological underpinnings, thus challenging the popular view that PT is not physical, not serious, and perhaps not even torture at all.
In a separate report to the Special Rapporteur, mental health professional Tina Henderson, M.A., LCSW explained how people get chosen as test subjects:
These type of torture PROGRAMS are being carried out by state and local fusion centers across the United States. They are being done covertly and apparently being paid for with tax dollars. Typically, persons can be placed on a “watch” list for minimal reasoning. Once on the list, they can be extra judiciously used for non consensual human experimentation which may include the use of military technologies…
Henderson went on to explain the effects of being placed on the watch list.
As per above, most “PROGRAMS” designs for psychological torture are based on the idea that a person’s symptomology will present in such a way that makes them appear mentally unstable. In this way, individuals enduring psychological torture have a disincentive from speaking out for fear they will be labeled as mentally ill. This is just one more form of psychological torture–not being able to ask for help out of fear.
Henderson went on to note that
One example can be seen in the use of what is known as “The Voice of God” technology whereby individuals hear voices via technologically transmitted waves. This is utilized for the purpose of intimidation and control. It is also known as V2K. Individuals presenting with this issue would be seen by doctors or psychiatrists as psychotic and mentally ill. They would be placed in mental institutions which would serve the interests of those doing the torture, because confinement represents control.
In fact, fear of being labelled as crazy is not the only disincentive for US torture victims to get help. There are legal disincentives as well. The twenty or so torture rehabilitation agencies in the US are restricted through the stipulations attached to their HHS funding and will not assist domestic torture victims. The sole federal law governing torture defines it as something occurring outside the borders of the US, therefore making it impossible for domestic victims to sue.
However, some of these agencies appear to also deny the existence of torture in the US. When asked if US torture victims had contacted the Center for Victims of Torture, a Minnesota based organization, media representative Jenni Bowring-McDonough reverted to the fall back of mental illness and replied that
CVT has served small numbers of U.S.-born individuals whose torture occurred outside the U.S. over the years, and we continue to receive calls from U.S.-born individuals with a variety of mental health concerns (including those having nothing to do with torture). (emphasis added)
Bowring-McDonough added that “We direct all U.S.-based callers requesting help with torture that occurred in the U.S. immediately to other US-based resources, such as these: https://www.cvt.org/lookingforhelp.”
When she was informed that the organizations listed in the link would not provide assistance to US domestic torture victims, she cut off contact and refused to answer any further questions.
There appears to be only one organization in the US which provides services to domestic torture victims. The Chicago Torture Justice Center was founded in 2015 as a result of the disclosures that police officers in Chicago had tortured a number of black Americans in order to secure false confessions. The Center does not accept HHS funding and has focused its efforts on police brutality victims in Illinois.
“Trip” Oldfield, director of another torture rehabilitation organization, opined that torture services were not needed for American citizens because “The US has an intact legal system.” However, given that there is no right to sue on a federal level for torture in the US and given the mounting concerns that the judiciary in the US is compromised Oldfield’s assertions do not pan out. In addition, when queried further about the contacts he has received from US born torture victims, Oldfield also reverted to the mental health fall back, stating that these people appeared to be afflicted with mental illness.
The mental health fall back is politically convenient. It serves to buttress the perception that the US does not torture and further assaults the mental integrity of its victims.
Josephine Grace submitted a declaration to the UN Special Rapporteur through the organization Targeted Justice, which she also sent to this reporter. She wrote me, “…please list my name and Springfield, MO….so everyone knows who murdered me when I die. ”
Her experience of electronic torture at the hands of the US government reportedly began when she engaged in anti-nuclear activism:
1980- Woke up one morning with tinnitus- high ringing, ever-changing shrill sound in ears while peacefully, legally gathering signatures to put issue on US ballot regarding: Stopping construction on the only nuclear power plant in Missouri (Calloway Unit) until a national radioactive waste repository is built to store spent uranium fuel rods.
Her detailed account includes the following:
June 2016- Perps outside home 24/7 after let go from job. Using hand-held DEWs to cause spot-specific remote torture on different parts of body: Heart pumping so fast, hard think it will burst (but only upon laying down at night). Sudden pressure in head, feels like it will explode (but only upon laying down). Extreme shaking from vibrations inside body as if electric current running through physical body. Top of head feeling numb and pressure like band around head. Sizzling in head as if ‘bees in a bonnet.’ Sleep deprivation begins.
June 2016 entire south side of home begins to register in danger level magnetic 9 on EMF reader set on 0-3 magnetic. During day began to experience eyes literally jiggling in sockets, organs shaking in abdomen, extreme exhaustion, inability to make decisions, short term memory loss at home. Decide to start blog first time in life to document what was happening- as had no idea.
As succinctly stated by Tina Henderson,
There is NO law that protects American citizens from these kinds of torture. In the US, only non Americans seeking political asylum are protected from torture. You can be a born US Citizen and be subjected to all out psychological and physical torture in America.
The cat may be out of the bag: The leader of the free world tortures people. Special Rapporteur Nils Melzer has promised his report to the Human Rights Council in March of 2020. That would be the same Human Rights Council that the US resigned from in 2018, after Trump accused it of bias. It remains to be seen if Dr. Melzer will begin to tackle this issue head on or if he will fall prey to other influences.
Janet Phelan is an investigative journalist and author of the groundbreaking exposé, EXILE. Her articles previously appeared in such mainstream venues as the Los Angeles Times, Orange Coast Magazine, Long Beach Press Telegram, etc. In 2004, Janet “jumped ship” and now exclusively writes for independent media. She is also the author of two collections of poetry—The Hitler Poems and Held Captive. She resides abroad. You are invited to support her work on Buy Me A Coffee here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/JanetPhelan
Image credit: The Anti-Media
Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month at Patreon. Follow us on SoMee, Flote, Minds, Twitter, and Steemit.
Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.