Chris Hitchens on Waterboarding

July 3, 2008 D. H. McKee

Short version: He lasted about 15 seconds; Yes, it’s most definitely torture; No it’s not very effective at getting useful information.

Believe Me, It’s Torture: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com

The â..boardâ. is the instrument, not the method. You are not being boarded. You are being watered. This was very rapidly brought home to me when, on top of the hood, which still admitted a few flashes of random and worrying strobe light to my vision, three layers of enveloping towel were added. In this pregnant darkness, head downward, I waited for a while until I abruptly felt a slow cascade of water going up my nose. Determined to resist if only for the honor of my navy ancestors who had so often been in peril on the sea, I held my breath for a while and then had to exhale andâ..as you might expectâ..inhale in turn. The inhalation brought the damp cloths tight against my nostrils, as if a huge, wet paw had been suddenly and annihilatingly clamped over my face. Unable to determine whether I was breathing in or out, and flooded more with sheer panic than with mere water, I triggered the pre-arranged signal and felt the unbelievable relief of being pulled upright and having the soaking and stifling layers pulled off me. I find I donâ..t want to tell you how little time I lasted.

One Response to “Chris Hitchens on Waterboarding”

clvrmnky
16 years ago

This gives you an idea of how dense this guy is. It wasn’t good enough that he could read about the process, and watch videos showing people undergoing the torture, and then draw his own obvious conclusions.
No, he had to be sure that water was wet, and when it interferes with breathing it causes stress in humans.
What’s next? Bullets hurt when they go in? Losing a leg to land-mines or cancer is sad and debilitating? Some cats are nice and others are mean?
What a maroon.

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