Chinahand Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 I am intrigued by the Hitchens brothers - two opinionated, articulate individuals who have made careers out of their often non mainstream views. Christopher Hitchens fully supported the Gulf Wars and has an absolutely uncompromising attitude to militant Islam (and all other religions!). He agreed to be Waterboarded to understand whether this technique, fully approved by President Bush and his cabal, is torture or not. Read the article - see the . I totally agree with his conclusion that it is - and really wonder about the unreality of the Whitehouse and the Pentagon on this - the idea that if President Bush was kidnapped and waterboarded they would proudly stand there and insist he wasn't tortured is a shining bright lie to their hypocracy on this issue. Hitchen's was waterboarded in a very controlled environment, there was no interrogator demanding information, insisting on getting the answers he wanted to hear. The question every one must ask themselves is what if the person going through this didn't know the answers, couldn't satisfy the interrogator - was made to continuously go through repeated drownings. Not a nice thought. You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it “simulates” the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning—or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure. ... 1. Waterboarding is a deliberate torture technique and has been prosecuted as such by our judicial arm when perpetrated by others. 2. If we allow it and justify it, we cannot complain if it is employed in the future by other regimes on captive U.S. citizens. It is a method of putting American prisoners in harm’s way. 3. It may be a means of extracting information, but it is also a means of extracting junk information. (Mr. Nance told me that he had heard of someone’s being compelled to confess that he was a hermaphrodite. I later had an awful twinge while wondering if I myself could have been “dunked” this far.) To put it briefly, even the C.I.A. sources for the Washington Post story on waterboarding conceded that the information they got out of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was “not all of it reliable.” Just put a pencil line under that last phrase, or commit it to memory. 4. It opens a door that cannot be closed. Once you have posed the notorious “ticking bomb” question, and once you assume that you are in the right, what will you not do? Waterboarding not getting results fast enough? The terrorist’s clock still ticking? Well, then, bring on the thumbscrews and the pincers and the electrodes and the rack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Tatlock Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 2. If we allow it and justify it, we cannot complain if it is employed in the future by other regimes on captive U.S. citizens. It is a method of putting American prisoners in harm’s way. I've been saying that for years. But it's not just U.S. citizens, it's all of the 'allies' associated with them too i.e. Brits that are at risk. Anyhoo, at least Bush hasn't long to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimcalagon Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 Whilst I don't generally agree with torture, I would pay good money to see Peter Hitchens being waterboarded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VinnieK Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 Whilst I don't generally agree with torture, I would pay good money to see Peter Hitchens being waterboarded. I'd pay similar to see if there was some torture that could stop Christopher from talking/writing/waxing his knackers for articles/generally making a spectacle of and drawing attention to himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronky Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 Publicising a form of torture on the internet is a damn fool thing to do. I'll give it six months before some teenagers in the UK copy this and end up killing someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3v0 Posted July 4, 2008 Share Posted July 4, 2008 Publicising a form of torture on the internet is a damn fool thing to do. I'll give it six months before some teenagers in the UK copy this and end up killing someone. What? Teenagers don't watch TV do they? And there's never torture scenes on TV. Why would they read some "old guy's" news article on the internet in the first place? *Besides, they're all out stabbing each other to be concerned with torture methods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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