Waterboarding: Torture or Coercion?
Offered for your evaluation, a video I found on YouTube produced by a group called “Current”. It shows a gentleman by the name of Kaj Larsen voluntarily subjecting himself to this interrogation technique so that we can all judge for ourselves whether this is torture or coercion.
I don’t think I’d get in line to volunteer for this particular experience, I was even hesitant to watch the video after hearing how terrible waterboarding is and how most people will say just about anything to stop the process in just a few minutes. What I saw surprised me, but it did not shock me.
Throughout the video, there is commentary that attempts to sway the viewer’s opinion; they made some valid points. However, I couldn’t help thinking how important it is that our intelligence community (not our military, but our intelligence community, like the CIA) have the tools necessary to extract information in a timely manner to protect the lives of thousands.
Keep in mind:
- Waterboarding does subject the suspected terrorist to a form of coercion that, in his mind, leads him to truly believe he is drowning
- Aside from those 2-5 minutes of a really rotten experience, there is no actual physical harm.. like beheading or chopping off body parts
- While we do not want to lower ourselves to the level of our enemy, we also do not want to leave ourselves vulnerable just because we are concerned someone will believe they are about to die; if that were the case, perhaps we shouldn’t be using real bullets either
- The reporter volunteered to be waterboarded and came out shaken but OK; members of our military experience waterboarding during training; in either of these cases, have they been tortured?
- Weighing the extreme discomfort a suspected terrorist will experience for a period of 5 minutes against the lives of thousands of innocent people does seem to be a no brainer… but here’s a chance for you to see what waterboarding is all about and decide for yourself
While I may not agree with everything said on the video, I believe we should all thank these folks for providing us with the opportunity to form our own opinion based upon a better understanding of what waterboarding is then can be provided via the rhetoric of political debate.
So… for your consideration:
Stumble it!