And admits he was wrong:
"I don't want to say this: absolutely torture."And his experience was enviable next to the actual interrogation practice. A paramedic was on hand to supervise the procedure, which they assured him would be stopped if he threw a toy cow he was holding.
He threw the cow after 6 or 7 seconds.
[NOTE: The link in this post originally went to The New Republic, but I've switched it to a different source because the TNR link was lost in their botched redesign.]
9 comments:
Well, it is s subjective thing. I was waterboarded during my stint in the Army, as part of Survival Training. It wasnt that bad.
After throwing the cow, it's too bad he didn't also throw out some actionable intelligence on where the terrorists are hiding.
1. If it were really torture, he wouldn't have gone 6 or 7 seconds. He'd be done in 1 or 2 seconds.
2. As a publicity stunt, which it was, it works best if he says it's torture.
Ann,
I don't think whether something is bearable for four more seconds really is the dividing line for torture or not.
Here's a dividing line for you, Josh: If it were torture, a talk show host wouldn't volunteer to do it in the first place.
If it were torture, a talk show host wouldn't volunteer to do it in the first place.
But what is "it"? There are two different things. There's being waterboarded the way he was: choosing to do it in the first place, then choosing when to start and stop it. Then there's being waterboarded against your will, not knowing when it will stop or start, possibly repeatedly. Even if you thought the first thing wasn't torture, the second could still be torture.
Like there aren't things that go on in some people's bedrooms that other people wouldn't consider torture if done to them.
Sure, if it's not consensual whipping could be torture.
AA: "If it were torture, a talk show host wouldn't volunteer to do it in the first place."
This makes no sense at all. First of all, Muller didn't believe it was torture when he volunteered to be water boarded. But even if he did think it was torture, why would that prevent him from thinking he could beat the system?
Post a Comment