Waterboarding

Waterboarding is a torture technique that is used in coerced interrogations or for punishment. In modern practice it produces a severe gag reflex and makes the subject believe his death is imminent, while not causing permanent or lasting physical harm. For this reason—and its reported use in the interrogation of US War on Terrorism detainees—its recognition as torture is disputed.

Medieval waterboarding

File:The Water Torture Fac simile of a Woodcut in J Damhoudere s Praxis Rerum Criminalium in 4to Antwerp 1556.png

"The Water Torture"—Facsimile of a woodcut in J. Damhoudère's Praxis Rerum Criminalium in 4to, Antwerp, 1556.

In the medieval form of waterboarding, a victim was strapped to a board and tipped back or lowered into a body of water until he or she believed that drowning was imminent. The subject was then removed from the water and revived. If necessary the process was repeated.

Although in a technical sense there are actually several other forms of water-based interrogation, all variants have in common that the victim reliably almost drowns but is rescued or re-animated by his captor just before death occurs. The technique is designed to be both psychological and physical. The psychological effect is inherent in the fact that the victim is given to understand that he shall be killed outright by dint of enforced drowning unless his cooperation as demanded is indeed produced promptly. This perception reinforces the interrogator's control and gives the victim sound cause to experience mortal fear.

The physical effects are extreme pain and damage to the lungs, brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation and sometimes broken bones because of the restraints applied to the struggling victim. The psychological effects can be longlasting (see below).

Dunking

Main article: Dunking

Punishing a common scold in the ducking stool.

A similar technique was applied to punish scolds and detect supposed witches. In a trial by ordeal called "dunking" or "ducking," supposed witches were immersed into a vat of water or pond, and taken out after some time, when the victim was given the opportunity to confess. If she confessed, she was killed; if she did not confess, she was submerged again. This process was usually repeated until the victim either drowned or submitted herself to execution in another way (hanging or, rarely, burning).

Modern waterboarding

Main article: water cure

Further information: [[:SERE]]

The modern practice of waterboarding, characterized in 2005 by former CIA director Porter J. Goss as a "professional interrogation technique", involves tying the victim to a board with the head lower than the feet so that he or she is unable to move. A piece of cloth is held tightly over the face, and water is poured onto the cloth. Breathing is extremely difficult and the victim will be in fear of imminent death by asphyxiation. Journalists Brian Ross and Richard Esposito described the CIA's waterboarding technique as follows:

The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt. According to the sources, CIA officers who subjected themselves to the water boarding technique lasted an average of 14 seconds before caving in. They said al Qaeda's toughest prisoner, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, won the admiration of interrogators when he was able to last over two minutes before begging to confess.

In the United States, military personnel are taught this technique, to demonstrate how to resist enemy interrogations in the event of capture. According to Salon.com, SERE instructors shared their techniques with interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp.

Dr. Allen Keller, the director of the Bellevue/N.Y.U. Program for Survivors of Torture, has treated "a number of people" who had been subjected to forms of near-asphyxiation, including waterboarding. An interview for The New Yorker states:

[Dr. Keller] argued that it was indeed torture. Some victims were still traumatized years later, he said. One patient couldn't take showers, and panicked when it rained. "The fear of being killed is a terrifying experience," he said.

On September 6, 2006, the United States Department of Defense released a revised Army Field Manual entitled Human Intelligence Collector Operations that prohibits the use of waterboarding by U.S. military personnel. The revised manual was adopted amid widespread criticism of U.S. handling of prisoners in the War on Terrorism, and prohibits other practices in addition to waterboarding. The revised manual applies to U.S. military personnel, and as such does not apply to the practices of the CIA.

Waterboarding in popular culture

The medieval form of waterboarding was represented as having been used by the Waffen SS of the Third Reich in the Robin Williams movie Jakob the Liar.

A waterboarding incident was depicted in an episode of the television series "The 4400" entitled "The New World" (June 11, 2006).[1]

Mel Gibson's character in the film Conspiracy Theory is subjected to waterboarding during interrogation by a CIA spook played by Patrick Stewart.

In the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "The Xindi" Captain Jonathan Archer "waterboards" an alien prisoner by slowly asphyxiating him by locking him in an airlock and initiating the decompression cycle.

Waterboarding is depicted during an interrogation scene in the 1978 film Power Play

Dunking is depicted in the Disneyland ride Pirates of the Caribbean where audio-animatronic pirates are shown dunking a magistrate in a well in order to make him reveal the location of treasure.

Waterboarding was depicted in the movie G.I. Jane after Demi Moore's character was captured in a training reconnaissance mission.

See also

• Command responsibility
• Torture
• Water cure
• Water torture