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GUEST: Richard Mollica, Director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma at Massachusetts General Hospital, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, author of “Healing Invisible Wounds: Paths to Hope and Recovery in a Violent World

Several Democratic presidential candidates met with a dozen retired generals and admirals this weekend in a closed-door debate on the issue of torture. The meetings were organized by the group, Human Rights First, and attended by Senators Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, and Representative Dennis Kucinich. Senator Biden said the meeting reinforced his views that the detention center at Guantanamo Bay should be shut down and military interrogators should not be permitted to torture detainees. Prisoners at Guantanamo as well as US-run prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan have accused the US and its allies of committing severe, systematic torture. Several deaths to date have been attributed to the use of torture by US troops. Last year the UN’s chief anti-torture expert claimed that torture in Iraq was more widespread now than under Saddam Hussein.