Water-Boarding: A yes or no answer
I think I speak for many of us when I say that I am thoroughly frustrated by the feigned ignorance and painful twists of logic surrounding this particular issue. To prove that I am not the narrow-minded pig that some of you might think, I will begin the article by looking at what a conservative, namely John McCain, had to say about Water-Boarding November 29th, 2007 in a campaign event in St. Petersburg.
” … following World War II war crime trials were convened. The Japanese were tried and convicted and hung for war crimes committed against American POWs. Among those charges for which they were convicted was water-boarding.”
Before I describe the process in detail, I wanted to use this quote to give a little perspective on the practice. Back in the days, we used to make thrillers and epic dramas over the savagery of Japanese and Vietnamese interrogation methods during war. We were the good guys then. But our contemporary human rights abuses threaten to turn the tables around on the perception of our society.
My question: Is water-boarding torture? (a yes or no answer)
The head is tilted back and water is poured into the upturned mouth or nose. Eventually the subject cannot exhale more air or cough out more water, the lungs are collapsed, and the sinuses and trachea are filled with water. The subject is drowned from the inside, filling with water from the head down. The chest and lungs are kept higher than the head so that coughing draws water up and into the lungs while avoiding total suffocation. “His sufferings must be that of a man who is drowning, but cannot drown.” Source
Now when one considers that a definition of torture is:
Extreme anguish of body or mind; agony.
We can see that we have something of a moral duty to end this flagrant abuse that is being carried out in our name! How can any politician, no matter the side, party or loyalty, claim that this is not torture. The Bush administration never directly addresses the problem stating that the U.S does not torture. Prompting my gag reflex.
The good news is that the issue has finally been thrusted before the noses of the people, and consequently the “people in power” had to make a show of addressing the issue for our sake. In December the House of Representatives voted 222-199 to pass a measure that requires intelligence agents to comply with the Army Field Manual. A move which bans torture and puts interrogation techniques in line with the rest of the civilized world.
It’s a step forward at least. All I could wish for now, save the abolition of all non-conforming standards of interrogation, is a straight yes or no answer from the people that instituted the practice. In a sense I do not envy them, as the day of accountability draws ever-nearer.
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[…] Thooghun’s Political Armory wrote an interesting post today on Water-Boarding: A yes or no answerHere’s a quick excerptTo prove that I am not the narrow minded pig that some of you might think, I will began the article by looking at what a conservative, namely, John McCain, had to s… […]