Is "Waterboarding" Torture?

The Wall Street Journal doesn't think so. Even those who offer token opposition to the practice imply that this kind of thing has happened in the past and we shouldn't take much notice of it. Here's an interesting transcript from a trial of Japanese interrogators after World War II, who "waterboarded" American detainees in captivity. The war crimes prosecutor is getting testimony from an American soldier who was waterboarded:

"Q: What other physical treatment was administered to you at that time?

A: Well, I was given what they call the water cure.

Q: Explain to the Commission what that was.

A: Well, I was put on my back on the floor with my arms and legs stretched out, one guard holding each limb. The towel was wrapped around my face and put across my face and water was poured on. They poured water on this towel until I was almost unconscious from strangulation, then they would let me up until I'd get my breath, then they'd start over again.

Q: When you regained consciousness would they keep asking you questions?

A: Yes sir they did.

Q: How long did this treatment continue?

A: About twenty minutes.

Q: What was your sensation when they were pouring water on the towel, what did you physically feel?

A: Well, I felt more or less like I was drowning, just gasping between life and death."

Here's the CIA's formal description of the waterboarding technique approved by president Bush for use in Guantanamo and in other secret CIA torture sites around the world:

"The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt."

Sound familiar? It's worth placing in the public record that the Bush administration's torture policies are, in this specific respect, the same as the Japanese dictatorship's in World War II. The American prosecutor at the time dismissed charges against the American serviceman whose testimony appears above on the following grounds: "The untrustworthiness of any admissions or confessions made under torture would clearly vitiate a conviction based thereon." How far we've sunk. And it took a Christian president, supported by Christian voters, to take us there.