waterboarding?
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007
 What is waterboarding? This is a question that I've been asking myself for a while now, but I kept forgetting to look it up. It was a major issue that recently held up the nomination of Michael Mukasey as US Attorney General, and it came up again today during the CNN YouTube Republican Debate. From Wikipedia, here's the definition:
Waterboarding is a torture technique that simulates drowning in a controlled environment. It consists of immobilizing an individual on his or her back, with the head inclined downward, and pouring water over the face to force the inhalation of water into the lungs. Waterboarding has been used to obtain information, coerce confessions, punish, and intimidate. In contrast to merely submerging the head, waterboarding elicits the gag reflex, and can make the subject believe death is imminent. Waterboarding's use as a method of torture or means to support interrogation is based on its ability to cause extreme mental distress while possibly creating no lasting physical damage to the subject. The psychological effects on victims of waterboarding can last long after the procedure. Although waterboarding in cases can leave no lasting physical damage, it carries the real risks of extreme pain, damage to the lungs, brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation, injuries as a result of struggling against restraints (including broken bones), and even death.
image snipped from Slate.com
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