CIA Director Michael Hayden, testifying before a Senate panel,
admitted the United States has used “waterboarding” as an interrogation
technique. General Hayden also acknowledged the CIA hires private
contractors to separately conduct interrogations of suspected criminals.
Waterboarding.org Website
NPR article, “Waterboarding: A Tortured History
What is Waterboarding?
This Saturday- Love Me or Love Me Knot: A Valentine Fashion Show
We once prosecuted those who used water boarding and other similar techniques as war criminals. Now even Canada has placed the US on its torture watch list along with nations such as Iran, Syria, and China.
How much lower can we go before we realize what we have become ?
Rapunzel, you say? Interesting… tell me more….
To be or not to…What can we do to it?…
Dear old “Spanish Inquisition”, int’it like that?
And that’s by far not the only torture techniques used. I saw a documentary the other day called “Taxi to the dark side” which is equally as shocking as it is interesting. It reveals a lot of the dark (not so secret anymore) secrets about the US’s recent torture history. Such as how prisoner’s in Afghanistan have been repeatedly kicked into the legs over days until one of them died, with his legs basically mashed up. There’s also extreme sleep deprivation, torture using dogs, waterboarding etc. This particular documentary, by the way, won a price just recently- highly recommended.
Thank you Sera, for bringing this issue to your readers’ attention. And it’s amazing how you manage to make it beautiful (the header photo!), funny (the comic) and thought provoking (the topic) at the same time.
Eidur, one of those links says that technique is invented by Italian inquisition.
LOL, at least something to be proud of!
Yeah… torture is wrong always. One reason is that anyone will say anything, making is rather useless in the first place. The other is that most of us (and most nations) have evolved to wanting to treat other humanoids in a somewhat humane manner. Don’t kill them (or execute them), don’t torture them, don’t traffic in them (or their parts), don’t imprison them without fair trial… and so on. Dumping these things to make us ‘safe’ is doublespeak that would make Orwell blush.
Your work is brillant.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said yesterday that waterboarding is “legal” and could be used again by the CIA.
Bettina. It’s not just the US. Americans should do the right thing anyway, and lead by example.
Dandellion/Eidur. Yes, Italian and Spanish Inquisitions both.
Fancy Sweden. Shining a light (world opinion) makes it politically dangerous for anyone using or condoning torture as an interrogation technique. That’s why some prisoners are handed to third party contractors and foreign entities, where inhumane treatment can be better hidden.
Gary. An enlightened civilization benefits everyone. Anything else is just being lazy and counter-productive.
Jenny. Americans used to be known as the “good guys.”
Waterboarding was a popular Khmer Rouge
tactic, especially against women, in Cambodia.
You dark humor is most fascinating to me. You must be the life of any party.
What’s that – you are using Anthro-font on the header? That’s funny.
Yeah, waterboarding, sleep dep, fire hose. It takes real balls to tell someone flat out that it is legal. I usually take a far more conservative stance on things, and I try my damndest not to indict America for most things, lest making myself a hypocrite, but taking blatantly unconstitutional meassures of interrogation out on people is something I cannot condone. There is no way that it is legal in any context aside from the perpetual martial law that America seems to be in nowaday.
such a sobering post…. it is shameful.
but moving on to something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT…. for your most excellent blog there is un petit cadeau awaiting you at the mouse.
p.s whoops, your post isn’t shameful – the existence of waterboarding by the u.s. government is. hopefully you know what I meant!!!
Interesting the things these agencies do.
Tortures as an interrogation “method”, I think of Jack Bauer from “24″ right away…. There’s a recent brazilian film, “Tropa de Elite” – “Elite Squad” in english… a recent film which a policeman uses torture in a way some would call him a fascist.. Despite that, I considered it a good film, though it’s not a movie for all..
Seraphine, I’ve tagged you!
http://aroom-of-ones-own.blogspot.com/2008/02/ive-been-tagged.html
=)
Ah shucks, they’re not going to do anything about it. Nice for bringing attention to it.
lies lies!!
AHA! finally we are getting to know what we for a long time have been suspecting; the govt tortures people, (mostly non-citizens) and and then lays the blame on someone else…or says “yeah, we did it! So whatchugonna do?”