- Reaction score
- 35
- Points
- 560
More on how the Dear Leader does things:
http://bcblue.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/torture-claiming-professor-owed-iffy-huge-debt/
http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/ip-health/2003-March/004425.html
http://bcblue.wordpress.com/2010/03/06/torture-claiming-professor-owed-iffy-huge-debt/
Torture claiming professor owed Iffy huge debt
March 6, 2010 — BC Blue
Steve Janke digs into the background of Dr Amir Attaran who alleges that detainees in Afghanistan were deliberately transferred so that torture could be used to extract information and that he has uncensored documents proving it. (see CBC story here)
Janke finds out that the good doctor just happens to owe Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff a big favour for defending him when he was about to be kicked out of the Carr Center:
“Amir Attaran, now Canada research chair in law, population health, and global development policy at the University of Ottawa, was a research fellow at the Kennedy School during Mr. Ignatieff’s time at the Carr.
He ran afoul of an influential faculty member and the school’s administration over a line of academic inquiry he insisted on pursuing, and found himself about to be booted out.
He brought his troubles to Mr. Ignatieff, who gave him office space and mentoring support until he could find another academic home. “Michael stuck up for me against some extremely nasty attacks,” Prof. Attaran says.”
(see Janke blog here)
Update: Thank you to a reader that sent me some more info on Amir Attaran. His name was brought up during the 2008 leaders’ debate (see here).
Also: See here for the reason why Attaran was about to get fired and Michael Ignatieff’s defense of him to Harvard officials.
http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/ip-health/2003-March/004425.html
[Ip-health] Carr Center says funding for Amir Attaran is from anonymous source,but claims funding does not pose conflicts of interest
Michael H. Davis michael.davis@law.csuohio.edu
Mon, 03 Mar 2003 13:38:17 -0500
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From the point of view of ethics and conflicts of interest, this kind of
"trust me" assurance simply fails to the ethical prerequisites. The
principle of conflics ethics and of the need for even the appearance, as
well as the reality, of a lack of conflict, is to satisfy the presumption
that, otherwise, there is a conflict. In this case, therefore, it is fair to
presume that the funding does in fact create a conflict of interest and that
any research performed under it is suspect.
Obviously, if insupported assurances are enough, it would not ever be
necessary to supply supporting information. The researcher's own assurance
would be enough. In this case, we are asked to believe that those who do
know the source, also have the expertise to know what kinds of conflicts
might exist. The reason why sources must always be disclosed is because this
is never the case and it takes expertise from other researchers to discover
and explain why a conflict may fatally poison the well.
Mickey Davis
> According to Michael Ignatieff and Michelle Greene, the Director and
> Executive Director of the Carr Center at Harvard, Amir's new research
> position is funded through a secret anonymous grant, that was given to
> Roger Bate's Africa Fight Malaria group, and then to Harvard.
> Ignatieff and Greene will not disclose who the funder actually is, but
> claim "it is not from the pharmaceutical industry nor from any source
> that would involve a conflict of interest." Jamie
>
> (The URL for the group that the anonymous funder used to fund Amir's
> work at the Carr Center: http://www.fightingmalaria.org/index.php)
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: Source of funding for Amir Attaran
> Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 16:08:12 -0500
> From: michelle_greene@harvard.edu
> To: james.love@cptech.org
> CC: michael_ignatieff@ksg.harvard.edu
>
> Dear Mr. Love,
>
> Before accepting any funding for projects, the Carr Center does
> necessary due diligence upon the source of the funding. This was true in
> the case of Amir Attaran, as it is with all of our research funding.
> When appropriate, we examine not only the immediate source of the funds,
> but the original source as well. In Amir Attaran's case, the direct
> source of the funding for his tenure at the Carr Center was Africa
> Fighting Malaria, but we did not stop our due diligence there. Instead,
> we required that the specific funding supporting Dr. Attaran's research
> be traced to its original source(s). When the individual donor who was
> the to be the source of the funding sought to maintain anonymity, we
> indicated to AFM that we would then be unable to accept the funding.
> Appreciating our need for due diligence, AFM then agreed that his/her
> identity could be revealed to the two of us and to the individual in the
> Harvard University Administration responsible for due diligence on
> donors wishing to remain anonymous. Due diligence by both the Carr
> Center and the University was done on this individual. Of course, we
> cannot provide you with a name because of our respect for donor requests
> for anonymity, but - with regard to your specific concerns - you have
> our assurances that we know this individual's identity, that we have
> done due diligence upon the source of the money, and that it is not from
> the pharmaceutical industry nor from any source that would involve a
> conflict of interest. Neither AFM nor the anonymous donor have imposed
> any restrictions whatever on Dr. Attaran's research. We trust that this
> addresses your concerns.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Michael Ignatieff Michelle Greene
> Director Executive Director
>
> _______________________________________________