2007-12-14
torture
Would you trust this man with your children? John Kiriakou [former leader of the CIA team that captured Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah] said by using the torture technique of water boarding he got his captive to talk in less than 35 seconds.
He looks so earnest. On ABC News this week he said "Like a lot of Americans, I'm involved in this internal, intellectual battle with myself weighing the idea that waterboarding may be torture... and I struggle with it."
This isn't your average frat-boy hazing mind you. Waterboarding is a harsh interrogation technique that involves strapping down a
prisoner, covering his mouth with plastic or cloth and pouring water over his face.
The prisoner quickly begins to inhale water, causing the sensation of drowning. Of it's infamy Rear Adm. John Hutson (USN Ret.) testified before Congress recently that, “Other than, perhaps the rack and thumbscrews, water boarding is the most iconic example of torture in history. It was devised, I believe, in the Spanish inquisition. It has been repudiated for centuries.”
I have no doubt that some shall call Kiriakou a hero. Not to me. Torture, though used through human history is of questionable value in achieving fair results. How much, I venture to guess, would Mr. Kiriakou "struggle" with this if he had been subjected to waterboarding himself.
Would you trust this man with your children? John Kiriakou [former leader of the CIA team that captured Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah] said by using the torture technique of water boarding he got his captive to talk in less than 35 seconds.He looks so earnest. On ABC News this week he said "Like a lot of Americans, I'm involved in this internal, intellectual battle with myself weighing the idea that waterboarding may be torture... and I struggle with it."
This isn't your average frat-boy hazing mind you. Waterboarding is a harsh interrogation technique that involves strapping down a prisoner, covering his mouth with plastic or cloth and pouring water over his face.
The prisoner quickly begins to inhale water, causing the sensation of drowning. Of it's infamy Rear Adm. John Hutson (USN Ret.) testified before Congress recently that, “Other than, perhaps the rack and thumbscrews, water boarding is the most iconic example of torture in history. It was devised, I believe, in the Spanish inquisition. It has been repudiated for centuries.”I have no doubt that some shall call Kiriakou a hero. Not to me. Torture, though used through human history is of questionable value in achieving fair results. How much, I venture to guess, would Mr. Kiriakou "struggle" with this if he had been subjected to waterboarding himself.
THANKS TO: Bad American / Politics as Usual for covering this subject.
Labels: atrocities, iraq quagmire, torture, waterboarding
¶ 20:17
