CIA: Yes, We Torture - But It's NOT "Spanish Inquisition" Kind Of Torture

[kpete]

Justice Dept. Official: CIA Waterboarding Was Subject to "Strict Limitations"
By Paul Kiel - February 14, 2008, 1:12PM

The CIA's use of waterboarding was legal and not torture, a Justice Deparment official argued this morning, because it was a "procedure subject to strict limitations and safeguards" that made it substantially different from historical uses of the technique by the Japanese and the Spanish Inquisition.

..........

The Spanish and Japanese use of "water torture," he said, "involved the forced consumption of a mass amount of water." Asked by a Republican whether Bradbury was aware of any "modern use" of waterboarding that involved the "lungs filling with water," Bradbury said no.

The Japanese forced the ingestion of so much water that it was "beyond the capacity of the victim's stomach." Weight or pressure was then applied by standing or jumping on the stomach of the victim, sometimes leading to "blood coming of the victim's mouth." The Spanish Inquisition would use the technique to the point of "agony or death."

But the CIA wasn't doing that, he argued. "Strict time limits" were involved -- presumably governing the length of time that interrogators could induce the sensation of drowning. There were "safeguards" and "restrictions" that made it a much more controlled procedure. Because of that, he said, the technique did not amount to torture.

more at:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/justice_dept_official_cia_wate.php

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Would Mr Bradbury volunteer his body for a session or two? I mean it ain't that bad

now is it?

There are days.... I wonder what these people consume that they will sell their souls (and the nation's soul) to pursue evil

[hughee99]

2. Let the Monty Python jokes begin... n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Our chief weapon is surprise.

Surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our three weapons are fear, and surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to George Bush...

[DinahMoeHum]

14. "Get. . .the comfy chair!!"

:evilgrin:

[Bicoastal]

3. I don't think any of us expected the Spanish Inquisition.

*DA-DAAAAAAAAAAH.*



NOOObody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!

[tanyev]

13. Condi certainly wouldn't have been able to anticipate it.

[Supersedeas]

16. When compared to the Holocaust or the most evil regimes of the world, we really really seem tame.

[Virginia Dare]

5. Phew, that's a relief..

I guess it won't be so bad when our "enemies" use it on our soldiers then?

[Hugabear]

6. Of course it's not the Spanish Inquisition - it's the American Inquisition

I can't believe the nerve of these sick fucks, actually defending this shit! "Oh, but our torture isn't as bad as the old methods!"

[spanone]

7. if these asswipes listened to themselves they would die of shame

[htuttle]

8. We're running a kinder, gentler Inquisition now...

"How we doing? Any converts today?
Not a one, nay, nay, nay
We've flattened their fingers
We branded their buns
Nothing is working
Send in the nuns!

The Inquistion, what a show
The Inquistion, here we go
We know you're wishing
That we'd go away
So, c'mon you Moslems and you Jews
We got big news for all of yous
You better change your point of views today
'Cause the Inquistion's here and it's here to stay!"
-- http://www.lyricsmania.com/lyrics/mel_brooks_lyrics_29877/other_lyrics_60363/the_inquisition_lyrics_607001.html">The Inquisition, Mel Brooks

[Uncle Joe]

18. It's a prime example of Bush's Compassionate Conservatism, instead of

baking someone at an ungodly 400 degrees, they turn the heat down to a more comfy 350.

I just wonder why they destroyed all those tapes showing the difference between previous inhumane water torture and our kinder, gentler version?

[sabra]

9. seems like Lieberman is using some of the same talking points...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3183047&mesg_id=3183047

[DemoTex]

10. This is so absurd, it's almost comedic ..

But I'm not laughing. This desperate defense of the indefensible is symptomatic of the morbid sickness that pervades the GOP right wing in general, and the Bu$h regime in particular.


:cry:

[NNN0LHI]

11. Well lets send the fuckers to the Hague and let it be decided there then

If everything is copacetic these scum should have no worries.

Don

[malaise]

12. This is the same Bradbury

who Bush wants appointed. IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. Patently untrue.

The Spanish Inquisition simply called it "tortura del agua" instead of "waterboarding."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisition#The_trial

[Junkdrawer]

17. If they were so innocent, they wouldn't float...

They're witches terrorists, I tell ya...

Tie them up and throw them in the river. If they sink and drown, they're innocent.

If they float, they're terrorists and should be burned at the stake.

[radfringe]

19. But It's NOT "Spanish Inquisition" Kind Of Torture.... ummm yes it is

Waterboarding
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding

Waterboarding is a form of torture that consists of immobilizing a person on his or her back, with the head inclined downward, and pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages.<1> Through forced suffocation and inhalation of water, the subject experiences the process of drowning in a controlled environment and is made to believe that death is imminent.<2> In contrast to merely submerging the head face-forward, waterboarding almost immediately elicits the gag reflex.<3> Although waterboarding can be performed in ways that leave no lasting physical damage, it carries the risks of extreme pain, damage to the lungs, brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation, injuries (including broken bones) due to struggling against restraints, and even death.<4> The psychological effects on victims of waterboarding can last for years after the procedure.<5>

Waterboarding has been used in interrogations at least as early as the Spanish Inquisition.<6> It has been used for interrogation purposes, to obtain information, coerce confessions, punish, and intimidate. Today it is considered to be torture by a wide range of authorities, including legal experts,<4><7> politicians,<8> war veterans,<9><10> intelligence officials,<11> military judges,<12> and human rights organizations.<13><14> Waterboarding gained recent attention and notoriety in the United States when the press reported that the CIA had used waterboarding in the interrogation of certain extrajudicial prisoners<15> and that the Justice Department had authorized this procedure.<16> The new controversy surrounded the widely reported use of waterboarding by the United States government on alleged terrorists, and whether the practice was acceptable.

-------------

http://hubpages.com/hub/Killing-in-the-Name-of-God

Torture In the Spanish Inquisition
The ostensible goal of the Inquisition, you'll recall, was the discovery of false converts. In other words, the Inquisition was trying to find out which of the people whom they had forced under penalty of death to convert to Christianity weren't really Christians.

To achieve this end, the Inquisitors employed several means of torture to aid their victims in confessing their hidden allegiance to the Pentateuch or the Koran. One of the most popular techniques was something called called tortura del agua (water torture), which consisted of introducing a cloth into the mouth of the victim, and forcing them to ingest water spilled from a jar so that they had the impression of drowning. (The current American term for this torture technique is "waterboarding," and it is being employed against alleged enemy combatants at the direction of the President and the Department of Justice.)

[librechik]

20. those people that dies under interrogation were so comfortable when they passed

they were literally thanking us.

[Solly Mack]

21. Right...that's why the CIA agents bragged about how long KSM

withstood being waterboarded...because there were "strict time limits" that were just oh, so safe.


and KSM couldn't have possibly been in agony when he couldn't take anymore.


Sheesh

Bunch of torture excusing pieces of shit.

[JBoy]

22. It's OK if it's precise and accurate torture

Analog Torture = Bad
Digital Torture = OK

Just like precision bombing doesn't hurt people.

[Jack Rabbit]

23. The Spanish Inquisition used waterboarding

It was considered very effective at getting heretics to confessing to all kinds of nasty stuff.

[DearAbby]

24. Not the "Spanish Inquisition?" ... well that take the load off my mind

seeing that torture back in the middle ages was 100% effective making women admit they were witches who screwed the devil during full moons. It is sure to wrestle the truth out of terrorists!

Since this is the 21st Century...There were "safeguards" and "restrictions" that made it a much more controlled procedure. :sarcasm: Well I feel better now.

[Supersedeas]

25. Not the Spanish Inquisition -- ah, something to be proud of, right Mr. Bradbury

[Wizard777]

26. It's also not noogie or indian burn kinda torture either. n/t

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

27. Recommended. Can I remove his teeth with stricts limits on amount of novocaine?

:shrug:

I want to IMPOSE MY WILL on him just enough to TORTURE him,...but not cause death or short of death upon him.

:puke:

[LynnTheDem]

28. Torture is "good"...when we do it.

And I am so sure the rest of the world will see it that way, too.

And of course when American soldiers and/or civilians are captured & waterboarded, it will be "good" torture, not "bad" torture done to them.

Just as the Geneva Conventions say.

:eyes:

You've lost it all, America. Thanks to George W. bUsh and his republics.

[Kashka-Kat]

29. "sensation of drowning"? You mean the asphyxiation and loss of conciousness?

Yeah, I guess that's a "sensation of drowning."

[Disturbed]

30. The theater of the absurd.

Amerika has sunk low.

Methods used at GITMO

1.Prolonged sleep deprivation,
2.Sensory deprivation,
3.Extremely painful "stress positions,"
4.Sensory bombardment (such as prolonged loud noise and/or bright lights),
5.Forced nakedness,
6.Sexual humiliation,
7.Cultural humiliation (such as desecration of holy scriptures),
8.Being subjected to extreme cold that induces hypothermia,
9.Exploitation of phobias,
10.Simulation of the experience of drowning and controlled drowning, i.e., waterboarding.