Say Uncle!

In recent weeks there’s been a lot of talk about torture. No, not endless reruns of American Idol on the Fox Reality channel. Real torture. Spanish Inquisition, locked in a concrete room, toothpicks under the fingernails torture. Or maybe those are just “tough interrogation techniques.” Apparently it’s difficult to say exactly what torture is. Some of the brightest minds in our country seem to be having trouble deciding what constitutes torture, with the latest controversy coming over the practice of waterboarding.

I am neither a government agent, nor a former prisoner of war, so I have no firsthand experience with waterboarding. But from what I have been able to understand, the practice involves strapping someone to a board at an incline, covering the head with some sort of material, and pouring water over the face to simulate the sensation of drowning. Depending on which variation is used, it may also involve pouring water directly into the mouth to force inhalation of water into the lungs. The practice dates back at least as far as the Spanish Inquisition, has been practiced by the likes of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia and has long been considered serious enough to be prosecuted as a war crime by many countries – including the United States. However, during the past several years, several Administration officials, including both the CIA and FBI directors and Vice President Cheney have confirmed the use of waterboarding on some prisoners and have made the statement that our government does not (or more accurately, no longer) considers the practice to be a form of torture.

So, is waterboarding torture? Well, sometimes, things are what they are. That contraption parked in front of your desk with a seat, a back, possibly arms, maybe some wheels, that is a chair. You sit in it, you recline in it, you spin around in it and sometimes fall asleep in it. Regardless of who sits in it, or what they may do in it, it’s still a chair. That big flat thing in your bedroom with a mattress, blankets and pillows, that’s a bed. Not a chair. You can call it a chair if you want, but it will still be a bed. You can sit on it, recline on it, jump on it, fall asleep on it, perform whatever chair function you want on it. Doesn’t matter. It’s not a chair. It’s a bed. If waterboarding has been used as torture for hundreds of years, prosecuted as torture when engaged in by other entities, and labeled torture by those who may have been victims of it (i.e. Senator John McCain), then you’ll forgive me if I don’t believe the Vice President when he tries to tell me it isn’t torture. He knows it is. He simply doesn’t care. He’s decided that he will do whatever he damn well pleases, whenever he damn well pleases, whether anyone likes it or not.

There is a difference between an aggressive interrogation and a torture session. Making someone uncomfortable - maybe roughing him up a little – is not the same as drowning him. We can – and will continue to debate the effectiveness and the morality of torturing a suspect for information we believe to be vital. These are questions we will be wrestling with long after this war is over. Let’s not cheapen the discourse by pretending we don’t understand what it is we’re talking about. Waterboarding is torture. Agents of our government have waterboarded prisoners in the past and are prepared to do it again. Let’s take it from there.