Waterboarding

You know what pisses me off?  The fact that no one wants to answer whether waterboarding is torture, and they refuse to answer on national security grounds.  This makes absolutely no sense.  Allow me to debunk some arguments.

1. "But if we say we use it, so might the enemy!"  Nope, the enemy is too busy beheading us.  I'm sure it's a horrible experience, but I'll take waterboarding any day over beheading.
2. "It's a special proprietary secret on how we do it."  Sorry, that cat's out of the bag too.  See Wikipedia, CNN, etc.
3. "If they know we don't use it, they'll be emboldened!"  Get real.  We're dealing with people who tape explosives to themselves - waterboarding isn't likely to scare them.  It also can't possibly be a deterrent, considering we also kill them.
4. "If they know we use it, they'll seek revenge."  See argument 1.

The only reason not to answer the question is because (a) we use it, and (b) we're afraid of public condemnation.

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Comments

[throckmorton]

You are absolutely right! I also believe that they are afraid of the public opinion. This is especially a concern as we have practiced waterboarding as part of evasion training for all our special ops and aircrews.