What a wimp
Published by Jeff, November 4th, 2007 in Bush, Foreign Policy, SillinessAccording to this guy:
Having been subjected to this technique, I can say: It is risky but not entirely dangerous when applied in training for a very short period. However, when performed on an unsuspecting prisoner, waterboarding is a torture technique - without a doubt. There is no way to sugarcoat it.
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Unless you have been strapped down to the board, have endured the agonizing feeling of the water overpowering your gag reflex, and then feel your throat open and allow pint after pint of water to involuntarily fill your lungs, you will not know the meaning of the word.
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Waterboarding is slow-motion suffocation with enough time to contemplate the inevitability of blackout and expiration. Usually the person goes into hysterics on the board. For the uninitiated, it is horrifying to watch.
What a pansy that guy is. We all know it’s just like dunking someone in a bucket of water. Our television characters do it all the time and they’re awesome.
I love how often you see the ‘depends on how it is done’ argument; that missed the whole point of the debate. Do we, or don’t we, engage in tactics that people would construe as torture. If we are really going to argue the specifics of what is and is not torture, then we had better put together a comprehensive manual to outline how to perform non-tortuous waterboarding.