History of Waterboarding

Enhanced torture techniques such as waterboarding, have been brought up in several debates. Clinton’s views on whether enhanced interrogations for terrorists is that she feels it’s wrong and that our values shouldn’t be anymore or any less on religious issues:

Torture is known as the intentional infliction of either physical or psychological harm for the purpose of gaining something – typically information – from the subject for the benefit of the inflictor. Normal human morality would typically argue that this is a wrongful and horrendous act. On the contrary, to deal with the “war on terrorism” torture has begun to work its way towards being an accepted plan of action against terrorism targeting the United States. Terroristic acts perpetrate anger in individuals throughout the United States, so torture has migrated to being considered as a viable form of action through a blind eye. Suspect terrorists arguably have basic human rights and should not be put through such psychologically and physically damaging circumstances.

The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution says, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” The fundamental idea of torture is to inflict mental or physical pain onto a suspect to coerce them into revealing information we desire. This tactic is illegal because it violates the Constitution, and in addition, it violates international agreements that our nation has committed itself to. The general provisions of the Geneva Conference of 1949 prevent the use of torture in warfare; the document specifically outlaws “Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating or degrading treatment…” By violating these laws, particularly the Constitution, our nation

There are many forms of torture that have cycled through the ages and cultures. This common water based interrogation practice dates back to the 14th century. Water boarding has been referred to as “water torture”, “water cure” and “tormenta de toca” a phrase that denotes to a thin piece of fabric positioned over victim’s mouth. Water is then slowly poured over the fabric giving the victim a sensation of drowning. It can be very physically painful and psychologically difficult as well for the victim feels like he is dying, yet he is very much alive. It has been used by our country to apprehend extremely dangerous people and stop their planned attacks. The Human Events newspaper published an article quoting “Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee described waterboarding as one of the 10 “techniques” used to retrieve information from Abu Zubaydah, one of Osama bin Laden’s confidants”. Osama bin Laden is the man believed to being responsible for the attacks during 9/11. The interrogation of Abu Zubaydah with water boarding was a key approach to preventing future attempts of terrorism on our soil even though there were some that believed it was inhumane.

A new congressional report was released last week detailing the controversial CIA torture program during the years following the September 11 attacks on the twin towers. The report detailed several despicable ways detainees were treated at various CIA black sites, detainees endured waterboarding, sleep deprivation, confinements, rectal feeding and death from hypothermia. The most despicable aspect of the report was that psychiatrists, psychologist, and some physicians originated some of the torture techniques used by the CIA.

You wake up in a dimly-lit room laying down, your back flat on a cold table, facing unfamiliar men standing over you. You attempt to move, but your arms and legs are strapped down leaving you completely defenseless. Panicking, you begin to scream, but your screams are cut short as a wet cloth is laid over your face. You feel water being poured over the cloth and you begin choking; you can’t breathe; you are drowning. You are being waterboarded. What you just experienced was one of many common interrogation techniques used to pry information from suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay naval base. These techniques,

In this video we hear from the man who was in charge of interrogating the person who planned 9/11. Jose Rodriguez, CIA interrogator, tells about how Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would not give in to their interrogation so they used “enhanced interrogation techniques.” Waterboarding, giving the sensation of drowning, was used to try and break Mohammed. Little the they know it would take over 180 times of “being drowned” to finally speak up. Mohammed never thought he was going to die. He was allowed to sleep and drink ensure. Rodriguez thinks that all of the deprivation, waterboarding and manipulation finally cracked Mohammed. Rodriguez also ordered the destruction of the videos of the interrogation for the safety of the interrogators and their families.

On December 9, 2014, a 528 page document was released to the public known as the “CIA Torture Report”. It contains details of the CIA’s (Central Intelligence Agency) “enhanced” interrogation. The document, which is actually a summary of the 6,700 page report states that the United States, has been torturing its detainees in foreign countries in order to get confessions or answers from them. The many tactics used by the CIA include but not limited to, facial and abdominal slaps, rectal “feeding” and/or rehydration, ice-water baths, sleep deprivation for more than a week, shackling in stress positions, isolation, sensory deprivation, water-boarding, and walling (being slammed against a wall repeatedly). Detainees were also told that their families would be harmed, and/or sexually assaulted. Many Americans are against this “enhanced” interrogation, others feel it is necessary.

First, torture doesn’t work. According to Michael Scheuer and Bob Baer, formerly a senior CIA official in the Counter-Terrorism Center, they both agree that torture doesn’t really work because if we torture people, they figure out what we want to hear and they tell us. Thus, the information we gather from torturing prisoners is not reliable and untruthful.

Waterboarding is known and used, because of the effectiveness at which it causes the person severe mental suffering in an effort to gain intelligence. The fact that it meets the definition of the term torture, means that it would be illegal under the same reasoning as torture is illegal under the standards of International and U.S. law. Furthermore, one of the biggest arguments in favor of waterboarding after the events of 9/11, was the fact that the U.S. was at "war" with terrorists. So therefore it was ok to waterboard terrorists to find out information. However, Article 2 of the UN convention against torture states, there are no circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, that can be used as a justification for torture. This means that no matter what the circumstances surrounding the reason behind someone being tortured, the act is still illegal by international law and therefore illegal by U.S. standards as

For years after the terrible acts of 9/11 the United States Government used many different tactics to acquire information about Osama bin Laden and the terrorist group known as Al Qaeda, who was involved with them, and what they were planning next. The way the government, the CIA specifically, tried and succeeded in torturing its detainees was astounding and sometimes stomach churning as shown in the movie, Zero Dark Thirty, and it’s no wonder that President Obama reformed the laws and regulations that President George W. Bush installed and allowed the CIA to do. The second item about torture for military use was the reliability of the techniques and how often and how much information was actually acquired from

Michael Yoo used several definitions from several different places to define torture in his argument. The first definition is the one he used when he defined torture as the following: act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control. The other definition he uses it used to show what the government defines torture as. This definition is as follows: The United States

not only waterboarded prisoners, but slammed them into walls, chained them in uncomfortable positions for hours, stripped them of clothing and kept them awake for days on end” (Shane). These actions don’t match with the C.I.A.’s definition of torture because they were “used under strict rules”(Shane). Shane shows how the CIA justifies torture by saying that it prevents mass murders of the American public. In a hypothetical situation, there are many lives at risk and there is a potential culprit, it is logical to put that person through a near death experience to save lives. It may not be morally right but the C.I.A. isn’t worried about morals as much as American lives. Shane applies the logic to how during World War II, Japanese were put in concentration camps for safe measure. Even Japanese Americans were put in these camps which shows how the government isn’t as worried about keeping the public happy about their decisions as they are to keeping the public safe. This shows how the government justifies what they want to save lives, which often turns out being

Public revelations over the past few years regarding the recent waterboarding of prisoners of war, detainees and enemy combatants by the United States government has garnered much attention and debate. Some of main topics in this on-going debate include: Is waterboarding torture? Is it legal? Is it moral? What are the repercussions and possible reciprocal action of our enemies because of this waterboarding? This paper does not provide an argument for or against water boarding in and of itself but lays out a defense for the legality of waterboarding as was used against Prisoners of War and detainees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Countless of the harsh techniques the CIA was depicted of frequently using were merely bluffs to get information out of a detainee more easily without physical harm (Rodriguez, Jose A.). Furthermore, 30 is the longest amount of days the CIA will subject a detainee to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT), and it doesn’t usually reach that long (Rodriguez, Jose A.). Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was charged for terrorism on 9/11, and has been portrayed by media and various articles as a victim of the CIA’s “ineffective” and “immoral” interrogation (Rodriguez, Jose A.). Media put great emphasis on the fact that Mohammed was waterboarded, and made it seem like waterboarding is a rampant and common practice by the CIA. Numerous political cartoons, like the one above, specifically show waterboarding as a form of torture because of how much emphasis it has been getting as cruel and completely inequitable for the CIA to repeatedly perform on its detainees. Mohammed was waterboarded 5 times, but media twisted it around as being much worse, and him being waterboarded multiple times more than this number. There are those who say the number doesn’t matter because waterboarding is cruel in general, and should never be done. However, tens of