How many of here think that water boarding is torture?

Question

I don't want to know why, I just want to know if you think it is or isn't?

http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3D-GcXl1y_mQw

Why can't Attorney General Michael Mukasey bring himself to say it is?

Answer 1

I understand anyone who's ever had it done to them KNOWS it's torture. There was a guy who actually volunteered to have it done to him and he said eventhough he knew the people who were doing it to him and he knew that they would stop and that it was only an experiment, that he still felt like they had turned on him and were trying to kill him.
There was a guynamed Henri Alleg who was water boarded and said that not only was it undoubdedly torture, but that "accidental death" of the person being water boarded was "frequent":
(Under the topping of Algeria):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding

*************
Edit:
From reading some answers I see that there is a huge misunderstanding by people who support water boarding or torture.To people who say that AQ also tortures and that beheadings are not protected by the Geneva convention... Listen... No one is saying that once someone is proven to have committed terrorist acts that they shouldn't be punished or even put to death. What we're saying is that as a part of interrogation it is not only inhumane (the chance of the person being innocent and little details like that), but also ineffective to torture someone in order to obtain reliable information out of them. That's all. No one is defending what the bad guys are doing. We're just pointing out that people who may or may not be involved in a plot are going to give whatever information the torturer wants to hear if they feel imminent death by torture. If the interrogators want nonsense gibberish spoken by a desperate captive who thinks he's about to drown, then they deserve the info they get.
Even according to Republican United States Senator John McCain, who was tortured as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, waterboarding is "torture", "no different than holding a pistol to his head and firing a blank" if not worse.


So is it torture you ask... the answer is a resounding YES.
Does it get the prisoner to talk? YES.
Is it effective in obtaining reliable and truthful information? NO

Answer 2

Of course it is torture. That however, isn't the real question, which is, is it necessary to get reliable information that is required to stop potential acts detrimental to our citizens. In addition, are the better methods. And lastly, will the use of such acts be detrimental over the long term by building resentment.

Like many things it is not just a simple question.

Answer 3

I don't think the video is what it pretends to be.. It is definitely not an American military training video.

That said, I don't know anyone who believes that water boarding is anything other than torture.

The more important question is whether or not it saves lives. If you believed a terrorist had information that you needed immediately, would it be morally correct not to try to extract the information? Would you let other innocent people die because you didn't want to harm the terrorists?

Answer 4

again, people who think no physical pain is involved have never been water boarded. But, the right wing pundits say it isn't torture - so the brainwashed masses believe it isn't

Answer 5

I have had it done to me as a part of my SERE (survival, evasion,resistance.escape) training in the US Navy. It isn't fun. You will tell them anything to get them to stop. My problem was they weren't asking me any questions. I was on the board because the other POW's weren't doing their exercises fast enough.

Answer 6

I don't think anyone has denied it is torture. But you can't get important information from viable information sources with candy canes and clouds. At the end of the waterboarding process you live. Is Daniel Pearl alive?

Answer 7

I do.

I would like to see the advoactes water boarded and questionned afterwards about whether it was torture or not.

And what happens when American troops get captured in war? It is inevitable. If they are tortured, then the US should not expect sympathy from the rest of the world.

Answer 8

I think it's a great way to spend an afternoon.

I would like invite OBL over for a barbeque. Does anyone know where he is?

Answer 9

Yes. If it were not. it would not cause people to talk after less than a few minutes.

Answer 10

Of course it's torture. If it wasn't there wouldn't be the stink about it that there is.