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The Case for Waterboarding (very interesting article)
FrontpageMag ^ | Sept. 29, 2006 | Vasko Kohlmayer

Posted on 09/29/2006 2:32:28 AM PDT by FairOpinion

Discussing his recent compromise with the White House on detention and interrogation of captured terrorists, John McCain said on the Today show that ‘there will be no such thing as waterboarding…You will never see that again. We stood up and said that cannot be done.’

It is not easy to grasp the thinking of senator McCain and others who seek to ban this practice in the light of its immense value in our fight against terror. Take, for instance, the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed captured in Pakistan in March of 2003. One of the masterminds of 9/11 and al-Qaeda’s operational leader at the time, he possessed a wide-ranging knowledge of the network’s plans, logistics and personnel. Unwilling to share it voluntarily, he was subjected to forced interrogation. As resilient as he was and defiant, he held out until the interrogators decided to proceed with waterboarding. Two and a half minutes into the procedure, a broken Mohammed begged for relief. Stunned and shaken, his extensive confession amounted to nothing less than a treasure trove of priceless intelligence.

Although waterboarding is normally employed as the last resort and the frequency of its use kept secret, it has been made known that so far it has worked every time it has been tried. Thanks to its extraordinary efficacy, we have been able to obtain a great amount of critical intelligence that would have otherwise remained inaccessible. With the help of this information we have captured al-Qaeda operatives, stopped deadly plots, and saved many innocent lives. One of the fruits of Mohammed’s confession, to give one example, was the thwarting of a conspiracy to fly an airliner into the Library Tower, the tallest building in Los Angeles.

(Excerpt) Read more at frontpagemag.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: congress; gwot; interrogation; mccain; terrorism; waronterror; waterboarding; wot
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I think NO method should be off the table, as long as it's effective to obtain information from terrorists.
1 posted on 09/29/2006 2:32:30 AM PDT by FairOpinion
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The excellent closing paragraph of the article:


"And as far as opponents of waterboarding are concerned, I have these questions to ask: Are a few moments of a terrorist’s discomfort more important than the lives of the innocents he seeks to destroy? Are two minutes of Moussaoui’s anguish worth more than the three thousand lives lost on 9/11? Does his momentary pain override a lifetime of hurt of those left behind?


If you can’t answer in the affirmative then hold your peace."


2 posted on 09/29/2006 2:34:56 AM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion
I think NO method should be off the table, as long as it's effective to obtain information from terrorists.

It's a total lie that water boarding is torture. It's so effective that real torture is unnecessary just so long as one does the water boarding with a good doctor monitoring it so the person doesn't drown.

3 posted on 09/29/2006 2:36:42 AM PDT by dennisw (Confucius say man who go through turnstile sideways going to Bangkok)
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To: dennisw

"It's a total lie that water boarding is torture. It's so effective that real torture is unnecessary just so long as one does the water boarding with a good doctor monitoring it so the person doesn't drown."

====

Yes, the article makes that very point.

"Waterboarding, on the other hand, is fleeting in duration with the actual discomfort lasting seldom more than a couple of minutes. And since a man can be safely deprived of oxygen for at least twice as long, there is almost no risk of long-term harm. The possibility of injury is further reduced by the fact that the procedure calls for no direct physical contact between the subject and his interrogators. Not even as much as pushing or chest slapping is required at any time, making waterboarding one of the safest and least confrontational among interrogation methods. Involving the lowest risk of long-term harm and the least amount of cumulative discomfort, it is also the most humane. Most importantly, it is the most effective."



What's the matter with our lawmakers that they don't even try to understand what's going on, just trying to score political points?!


4 posted on 09/29/2006 2:46:28 AM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion
Admiral Stockdale said that McCain was routinely and repeatedly tortured during his captivity in North Viet Nam. Those people are experts at that sort of thing. Probably that is why McCain is so hostile to waterboarding.

Waterboarding makes mortal fear. Those of you who have not experienced mortal fear cannot know what I am saying.

The NVA used near drowning and were very ingenious with ropes. Mortal fear, true terror, works. Wouldn't take but a few minutes to show you what I mean.
5 posted on 09/29/2006 2:55:28 AM PDT by Iris7 (Dare to be pigheaded! Stubborn! "Tolerance" is not a virtue!)
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To: Iris7

I think the ultimate in non-lethal and non-painful torture would be total sensory deprivation.

Imagine if you couldn't see, hear, smell, taste or feel anything.


6 posted on 09/29/2006 3:01:12 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz ("Freedom by its nature cannot be imposed, it must be chosen")
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To: FairOpinion
I am not saying that physical interrogation, putting someone in mortal terror, is not necessary on occasion. You either have to use mortal terror on a fellow who would kill you, your friends, and your family if he could, or, you can let his friends kill you, your friends, and your family.

Simple, really. Being killed is not at all like watching a TV show. Not the slightest bit.
7 posted on 09/29/2006 3:01:43 AM PDT by Iris7 (Dare to be pigheaded! Stubborn! "Tolerance" is not a virtue!)
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To: Iris7

What people keep ignoring is that we are dealing with TERRORISTS and the informaion we gain from them is to save thousands, perhaps even millions of innocent lives.

Mortal fear of a terrorist vs. thousands of innocent lives -- I don't think there should even be a debate, the answer is so clear.


8 posted on 09/29/2006 3:02:18 AM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion
One more morning where I'm awakened to the sound of a noxious voice on the radio. Today it was John McCain crowing about a victory, so I knew there would be not so good news.

From the article: Viewed in this light, waterboarding may well be the most just form of interrogation for this kind of criminal, because it gives him a taste of his own evil. The difference is that his anguish is stopped the moment he expresses a desire for it to be so. This, tragically, is something which his victims would never be granted. That's good enough for me.

9 posted on 09/29/2006 3:09:17 AM PDT by Mrs. P (I am most seriously displeased. - Lady Catherine de Bourg)
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To: FairOpinion
This is an excellent, if somewhat long, article from the Atlantic Monthly on this point. That Magazine is hardly a right wing tool:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200310/bowden
10 posted on 09/29/2006 3:11:03 AM PDT by Tom D. (Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. - Benj. Franklin)
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To: FairOpinion
I don't see how waterboarding Moussaoui would have prevented 9-11...since nobody knew of the plot.

He could have confessed to a plot to contamminate all the spinach...IOW...made something up.

With Mohammed, it was different since they knew his rank in the terrorist network.

11 posted on 09/29/2006 3:11:06 AM PDT by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon)
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To: EQAndyBuzz
Sensory deprivation has been tried. Doesn't work at all. Can make a person crazy though. People have hacked solitary confinement, never hearing a human voice once, for many years.

The "oublette" business is like that.

"The castle has a dungeon but the prisoners who died there were sure to have been breakers of the law rather then prisoners of war. The dungeon is bottle necked, built purposefully so that there was no escape. Being fourteen feet from top to bottom the prisoners were literally thrown in, many suffering from broken bones in the fall. There are no windows down there so it was extremely dark and stuffy. When full, as it often was, the prisoners were barely able to move and were left to die in their own bodily wastes. Dug into the dungeons floor was an Oublette, a French word meaning to forget or cast aside. It was a small compartment roughly the size of an average human being, which afforded no room to stretch. No one survived for long after the lid was placed into position. The prisoners were neither fed nor watered; what a horrible lingering death it must have been."

Oublettes were also set up with some room and with some food and water. Didn't want to let the fellow off easy.
12 posted on 09/29/2006 3:12:57 AM PDT by Iris7 (Dare to be pigheaded! Stubborn! "Tolerance" is not a virtue!)
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To: FairOpinion

I'm so incredibly sick of McCain's BS...


13 posted on 09/29/2006 3:17:45 AM PDT by gdc314
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To: FairOpinion
I am not saying that true mortal terror should not be used. Waterboarding instills this quickly and without leaving visible marks.

A nasty business though.

Worse business is letting your own people die because you are squeamish.
14 posted on 09/29/2006 3:19:53 AM PDT by Iris7 (Dare to be pigheaded! Stubborn! "Tolerance" is not a virtue!)
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To: Iris7

Mortal fear, and pure terror is the key to unlocking people's mouths, not pain.
Do you or anyone else remember the short story or it could have been a TV show whose premise was the unlocking of a captives most dreaded fear and then presenting them with it.
Why can't McCain make this leap of logic.


15 posted on 09/29/2006 3:36:26 AM PDT by Recon Dad (Marine Spec Ops Dad)
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To: Iris7
MCain was a high value captive; not that he had much info but his father was a 4 star Admiral. The Viet Cong saw him as a choice captive to be used bargaining material.

Consequently, I'm not sure he was routinely tortured; On the contrary, it was to the VC's advantage to keep him in relatively good shape.

Wouldn't MCain want to create the image that he was tortured horribly but failed to give them any info?

This position allows him to build his own image. So why wouldn't he want to say WATERBOARDING doesn't work, so he could say we should not use it.

On the contrary WB does work and if it had been used on him he would have yielded. Is there any proof tht the VC used WB?

16 posted on 09/29/2006 4:02:23 AM PDT by cliff630 (cliff630 (Didn't Pilate ask Christ, "What is the Truth." Even while looking in the face of TRUTH))
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To: cliff630

Wouldn't MCain want to create the image that he was tortured horribly but failed to give them any info?

McCain: Hmmmm, could it be NARCISSISTIC Personality Disorder?

It's all about him.


17 posted on 09/29/2006 4:37:33 AM PDT by Bluebird Singing
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To: FairOpinion
These guys are going to be very upset at that comment.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

This bumper sticker is courtesy of Rushbo and his EBI.

18 posted on 09/29/2006 4:49:09 AM PDT by AdvisorB
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To: FairOpinion
Biden just said, on Imus, that waterboarding was considered the most severe torture under Pol Pot.

Dear Senator Biden, Saddam was a dictator like Pol Pot was a dictator. Good thing we got rid of him.

19 posted on 09/29/2006 4:51:25 AM PDT by syriacus (Clinton governed by polls in order to protect Hillary's chances to be President.)
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To: FairOpinion
Does his momentary pain override a lifetime of hurt of those left behind?

It would seem that waterboarding would do no lasting damage.

20 posted on 09/29/2006 4:52:44 AM PDT by syriacus (Clinton governed by polls in order to protect Hillary's chances to be President.)
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