Should
waterboarding be outlawed?
Defining
torture is a little like trying to define pornography. In 1964, Supreme Court Justice Potter
Stewart said, “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of
(pornographic) material I understand to be embraced . . . [b]ut I know it when I see it.” (Emphasis added)
It’s
also not easy to describe or define torture, but everyone probably knows it
when they see it – or thinks they do. In
the final analysis, torture is often in the eye of the beholder.
Defining torture
That
said, “The question of just what does and does not qualify as torture is a
vexed one in American law. … Defining torture requires teasing it out of court
decisions and legal memoranda … as well as statutory language. As Andrew McCarthy explained in National
Review, torture has been variously described as ‘specifically intended to
inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering’ or ‘intense, lasting and
heinous agony.’” (“Taking the Easy Way Out
on Torture,” by Mona Charen, Townhall.com, Nov. 2,
2007)
So,
is “placing a person on his back on a seesaw board, tilting him backward,
covering his face with a cloth, then pouring water into his mouth and nose so
that he feels as if he is going to drown” torture? The military has required our pilots to
undergo it (waterboarding) to prepare them for
interrogation upon capture. ...”
(“Taking the Easy Way Out on Torture,” by Mona Charen,
Townhall.com, Nov. 2, 2007)
Walter
Pincus, writing in washingtonpost.com (Oct. 5, 2006)
noted, “… those who practice it say it combines the advantages of being
unpleasant enough to make people talk while still not
causing permanent injury.”
Is it reliable?
Discussions
of waterboarding generally fail to mention that it
dates back to the Vietnam War. John
McCain, the most widely recognized public figure with direct knowledge of
torture, tells us that it does not produce reliable information because those
who are subjected to such treatment will say anything to get it to stop.
However,
a recent Sacramento Bee editorial noted that “… a Palestinian logistics chief
for al-Qaida, was captured in March 2002” and that,
although he was “fluent in English and friendly,” he didn’t provide any
information that could be acted on. The
CIA waterboarded him, and John Kiriakou,
a former CIA agent, “believes this information ‘disrupted a number of attacks
…’”
Other
examples of al-Qaida prisoners who are reported to have broken under waterboarding and provided valuable information include the
mastermind of the Sept. 11 attack, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who also took credit
for a string of other terror plots, including the beheading of Daniel Pearl.
What is torture?
So,
the question remains, just what is torture?
Is it sleep-deprivation? Bright lights? Being
forced to stand for long periods in uncomfortable positions? Non-stop grilling? Or endlessly playing blaring music, perhaps
for days on end? Are these more or less severe than waterboarding
someone for less than a minute? No one
has ever withstood waterboarding for more than about
35 or 40 seconds.
The dilemma
So,
should we outlaw certain methods of extracting valuable intelligence because it
makes us uncomfortable to contemplate, even though it generally doesn’t cause
any permanent damage to prisoners?
For
my part, I come down on the side of doing whatever is necessary to protect
ourselves. I can accept waterboarding, which lasts less than a minute but has
proven effective in obtaining intelligence.
People seem to forget or ignore the fact that fighting a war involves the
use of force.
© 2007 Harris R. Sherline
All Rights Reserved