Per The US DOJ: We Do Not Torture Like The Spanish Inquisition... It's More Like the Khmer Rouge

[elehhhhna]

We Do Not Torture Like The Spanish Inquisition... It's More Like the Khmer Rouge
By Paul Kiel - February 15, 2008, 3:02PM

Can there be a prouder moment in our nation's history? Yesterday Justice Department Official Steven Bradbury rallied to the defense of the CIA's use of waterboarding, arguing that the technique used by the CIA was nothing at all like the "water torture" used by the Spanish Inquisition. "The only thing in common is the use of water," he argued.

But as Marty Lederman, a veteran of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, writes, in distancing the CIA's technique from that used by the Spanish Inquisition and the Japanese in World War II, Bradbury made it plain that the technique he was describing was closer to "the sort popularized by the French in Algeria, and by the Khmer Rouge. This technique involves placing a cloth or plastic wrap over or in the person's mouth, and pouring or dripping water onto the person's head." He quotes Darius Rajali, author of Torture and Democracy, as saying that this technique was "invented by the Dutch in the East Indies in the 16th century, as a form of torture for English traders."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/

[KansDem]

1. Well, that certainly puts my mind to rest!

I was worried there for awhile!

:sarcasm:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. so these people have tried it?

waterboarding IS torture.

[flor de jasmim]

3. Do unto others...

When the AG said he thought it would probably be torture if it were done to him, I half expected to hear him add, "But of course, I'm not a terrorist."

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Oh, that's different. Pol Pot was ever so much nicer than Torquemada.

[PDJane]

5. Denial, denial............

A jolt of reality is in order here.....

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. ‘Not Like Putting Burning Coals On People’s Bodies’

“It is not like putting burning coals on people’s bodies. The person is in no real danger. The impact is psychological,” Lieberman said.



http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/15/lieberman-waterboar... /

[alfredo]

7. I feel much better now.