MetaFilter posts tagged with waterboarding

No Military Commission For You

bearwife — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:53:35 -0800

Guantanamo Bay detainee Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, along with four others, now faces trial in federal court in New York. The United States is seeking he death penalty. "This is definitely a seismic shift in how we're approaching the war on al-Qaida," said Glenn Sulmasy, a law professor at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Mohammed was water boarded over 180 times: it is unclear if his confession will be admissible.

Borderline Human Experimentation

scrutiny — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:06:33 -0800

PHR (Physicians for Human Rights) have released a new report (pdf) that details the extent to which doctors were involved in monitoring and recording data on detainees subjected to waterboarding and other techniques [via] From the article:

A team of PHR doctors authored the white paper, which details how the CIA relied on medical expertise to rationalize and carry out abusive and unlawful interrogations. It also refers to aggregate collection of data on detainees’ reaction to interrogation methods. Physicians for Human Rights is concerned that this data collection and analysis may amount to human experimentation and calls for more investigation on this point. If confirmed, the development of a research protocol to assess and refine the use of the waterboard or other techniques would likely constitute a new, previously unknown category of ethical violations committed by CIA physicians and psychologists.

Stress Positions

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:16:51 -0800

Distinguished Professor of Law and the director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law, Jeffrey Addicott, tells The Jurist: "Even the worst of the CIA techniques that were authorized – waterboarding - would not constitute torture."

"I don't talk about techniques"

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:30:17 -0800

In a new article in the Washington Post: "The Bush administration issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding against al-Qaeda suspects". These documents were requested by then CIA director George Tenet, who told 60 Minutes last year (in conjuction with the publication of his book, In the Center of the Storm), ""The image that's been portrayed is, we sat around the campfire and said, 'Oh, boy, now we go get to torture people.' Well, we don't torture people. Let me say that again to you. We don't torture people. Okay?"

A unique sideshow

djgh — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:18:58 -0800

Waterboarding at Coney Island

...if waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.

orthogonality — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:54:24 -0800

You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it “simulates” the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning—or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure.

Christopher Hitchens, Iraq War supporter, militant atheist, and now volunteer subject of waterboarding. With video.

Amnesty International's waterboarding advertisement

misanthropicsarah — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:25:06 -0800

Amnesty International recently staged a real waterboarding session to reinforce its campaign to get this type of torture stopped.

Amnesty claims its commercial is the "video the CIA doesn’t want you to see”.

Starting this month the commercial will show in Britain in movie theaters during the previews. Possibly NSFW.

The Water Cure

AceRock — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:10:51 -0800

During the Philippine-American War at the turn of the 20th century, American soldiers used a torture method called "the water cure" to extract information from Filipino fighters. [via brijit]

Torture is a blunt instrument

Kirth Gerson — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:37:18 -0800

Five myths about torture In a Washington Post column, Darius Rejali, author of Torture and Democracy, explains why five beliefs about torture are wrong. In a Harper's interview, he answers six questions. "Yes, torture does migrate, and there are some good examples of it both in American and French history. The basic idea here is that soldiers who get ahead torturing come back and take jobs as policemen, and private security, and they get ahead doing the same things they did in the army. And so torture comes home. Everyone knows waterboarding, but no one remembers that it was American soldiers coming back from the Philippines that introduced it to police in the early twentieth century." "The historical record is clear. Waterboarding is torture, and yes focusing on just waterboarding is a distraction. Waterboarding is serious, but only the tip of the iceberg. There have only been three documented cases of waterboarding, but the CIA has subjected at least 30 others to “enhanced interrogation” as Director Hayden says, so there are other kinds of techniques as well. And there are unaccounted prisoners last seen in US custody as well as secret prisons out there where these things continue to happen."

Mukasey's Nuremburg defence

unSane — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:31:18 -0800

In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday, US Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused to investigate allegations of illegal waterboarding and wiretapping, arguing that the Justice Department could not investigate or prosecute somebody for acting in reliance on a Justice Department opinion, such as those written by John Yoo authorizing torture, even if that opinion turned out to be wrong and the behavior criminal. (The former head the Office of Legal Counsel has described these memos as "advance pardons" for lawbreaking.) Mukasey also told the Committee that he would not enforce contempt citations against former White House officials who refused to respond to Congressional subpoenas.

"Thrown Under the Bus" is Thrown Under the Bus. Ouch.

wendell — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:42:53 -0800

"This year, in a gesture of humanitarian relief, the (Lake Superior State University Banished Words) committee restores "truthiness," banned on last year's list, to formal use. This comes after comedians and late-night hosts were thrown under the bus and rendered speechless by a nationwide professional writers' strike. The silence is deafening."
Of course, "(thrown) under the bus"* is on this year's Banished List, along with "perfect storm", "webinar"*, "waterboarding", "post-9/11", "wordsmith", "back in the day", "surge", "x is the new y", "give back" and other seemingly "random" words and phrases.
*One of the requirements for a Banished Word or Phrase is that it has been used as a title for a Blogspot or Typepad blog. Yes, we've done this before. Consider it a tradition or a bad habit.

McCain on Waterboarding

chunking express — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:53:25 -0800

McCain on Waterboarding. From the article:

I’m not particularly impressed with the recent debates in YouTube format hosted by CNN. The cable network’s management of the process has involved too many serious errors in judgment for that to go unnoticed. But in the end it’s the candidates’ responses which mark the low point. Even so, these debates have their moments, and I find on occasion there are passages that are truly inspirational. Last night, John McCain’s response to a question about waterboarding was just that. He found the right pitch and the right moral voice on the question, and his words lifted the debate up for a few minutes on what continues to emerge, just as John McCain says, as the defining issue in the 2008 campaign. This is the not-to-be-missed exchange from the debate.

Ken Silverstein's last article for Harper's, Making Mitt Romney: How to fabricate a conservative, is also worth a look.

Let the Eagle Soak

orthogonality — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:09:34 -0800

John Ashcroft stands up to prove waterboarding isn't torture, by offering to lie down for his own waterboarding. Well, that is, he offers he'd do it if it were necessary, and if he could survive the torture. Is that a brave offer, an admission that US has resulted in deaths, or both? Daniel Levin, one of Ashcroft's subordinates at the Department of Justice, went further, actually undergoing waterboarding himself. He survived it -- but his career didn't, after he he concluded torture was "abhorrent". Is John Ashcroft sincere? My respect for him greatly increased after he rejected authorizing an illegal form of surveillance despite being hounded on his sick-bed by Alberto Gonzales, and many people (including me) believe him to be an honorable man. So let's see what he has to say after being waterboarded. Or would even former Attorney General John Ashcroft "admit" to being an Al-Qaeda during the waterboarding, just to get it to stop?

Keith Olbermann viciuosly, but eloquently, destroys Bush's waterboarding position.

elfollador — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 21:45:20 -0800

Yes. One-link you tube, but screw it, you have to hear this incredible rant. I didn't think the media had it in it anymore.

Come for the beaches - stay for the waterboarding

i_am_a_Jedi — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:51:00 -0800

Waterboarding is Torture… Period

Set A Course for Adventure!

fenriq — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 18:36:43 -0800

AirTorture - Your Premiere "Whisked Away" Airline
Book your flight from **Undisclosed location** to sunny **Undisclosed location** today! Or you may just have a flight booked for you. Enjoy the waterboarding sports!

It's a no brainer (NSFW background)!

"It's a no-brainer for me."

chunking express — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 06:34:35 -0800

Cheney indicated the Bush administration doesn't regard waterboarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. "It's a no-brainer for me," Cheney said. [previously]

This Is What Waterboarding Looks Like

mooncrow — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 07:25:47 -0800

This Is What Waterboarding Looks Like -- David Corn, co-author with Michael Isikoff of HUBRIS: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War, writes about what waterboarding is and what the torturer's tools look like. Back in the day, the Khmer Rouge, among other repressive regimes, used it. Interestingly, waterboarding typically isn't employed to gain useful information. No, this near-drowning technique is most useful for eliciting "confessions". Good times, good times. ( via reddit via Diggdot.us)

The Scandal's Growing Stain

Postroad — Sun, 09 May 2004 11:12:36 -0800

The Scandal's Growing Stain Time Magazine: "Abuses by U.S. soldiers in Iraq shock the world and roil the Bush Administration. the inside story of what went wrong—and who's to blame"