Why swine flu and torture provoke witch hunts

Witch hunts come in different guises. While MPs in the UK are being pilloried for their expenses, witch hunting in the US is taking a different form. The recent controversy about whether or not to release yet more photographs of US military personnel depicting abuse of captives in Iraq and Afghanistan serves as an instructive episode for us to study the psychology of the witch hunt.

Reversing his earlier decision to release the detainee photos, Obama justifies his position on the basis that the images could "further inflame anti-American opinion".

The anxiety on the part of US Defence Department, voiced by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, is "that the release of these photographs will cost American lives" because they would incite a backlash among extremist groups in the Middle East.

This argument is countered by the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups in the US and abroad on the grounds that evidence of torture must be made public in order to raise public awareness and to act as a deterrent against further acts of torture. The witches are the ones who are trying to cover up torture.

A closer look at Obama's change of mind suggests that it may in fact be a brave decision that, paradoxically, at a psychological level, protects human rights and interests. While the ACLU is concerned to expose such quasi-criminal behaviour, there is nevertheless a danger of creating scapegoats out of the torturers and thereby failing to address some of the deeper, underlying causes that foster this kind of behaviour.

This is the psychology behind the witch hunt. We want to punish and remove the torturers in order to uproot this evil from our midst. But mixed in with our desire for justice and revenge, there is also a desire to project our sadism into the torturers and in this way to be rid of our own hatred and destructiveness. The Salem witch trials of 17th century New England were virulent attempts to cleanse society of its ills and had a cathartic, albeit temporary, effect by making the persecutors feel self-righteous and pure.

The ACLU asserts that increased awareness of the practice of torture will serve as a deterrent. This argument rests on the assumption that human behaviour can be altered through moral pressure and example. If this were really the case, we would not have the problems we have now.

Although those who order, command and commit torture are responsible for their actions, they provide a warning sign that there has been a perverse takeover in the psyche of the culture. The warning signs need to be taken seriously. But the idea that torture can be uprooted through vilification is seductive in its simplicity.

Obama's decision points out a hidden danger in this approach. The release of more