Waterboarding Is Torture, Says Ex-Navy Instructor (SERE)

The Washington Post ^ | Nov 9, 2007 | Josh White

[RDTF]

A former Navy survival instructor subjected to waterboarding as part of his military training told Congress yesterday that the controversial tactic should plainly be considered torture and that such a method was never intended for use by U.S. interrogators because it is a relic of abusive totalitarian governments.

Malcolm Wrightson Nance, a counterterrorism specialist who taught at the Navy's Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) school in California, likened waterboarding to drowning and said those who experience it will say or do anything to make it stop, rendering the information they give nearly useless.

"In my case, the technique was so fast and professional that I didn't know what was happening until the water entered my nose and throat," Nance testified yesterday at a House oversight hearing on torture and enhanced interrogation techniques. "It then pushes down into the trachea and starts the process of respiratory degradation. It is an overwhelming experience that induces horror and triggers frantic survival instincts. As the event unfolded, I was fully conscious of what was happening: I was being tortured."

-snip-

If Mohammed faced waterboarding for 90 seconds, Nance said, about 1.2 gallons of water was poured down his nose and throat while he was strapped to a board. Nance said the SERE school used a board modeled after one from Southeast Asia, though it had leather straps instead of metal clamps.

SERE attendees expect to be released and assume that their trainers will not permanently harm them. Nance said it is "stress inoculation" meant to let U.S. troops know what to expect if they are captured. "The SERE community was designed over 50 years ago to show that, as a torture instrument, waterboarding is a terrifying, painful and humiliating tool that leaves no physical scars -snip-

[pnh102]

We should make it very clear that we won’t waterboard terrorists that don’t try to attack us. Should the terrorists adhere to this simple edict, they will have nothing to worry about.

[MattinNJ]

If it keeps my family and nation safe, do what you have to do.

[arderkrag]

A former Navy survival instructor subjected to waterboarding as part of his military training told Congress yesterday that the controversial tactic should plainly be considered torture and that such a method was never intended for use by U.S. interrogators because it is a relic of abusive totalitarian governments.

I agree with him completely.

[svcw]

Water boarding is torture ... ok thats why it should be used.

[AD from SpringBay]

A former Navy survival instructor subjected to waterboarding as part of his military training told Congress yesterday that the controversial tactic should plainly be considered torture...

They write that like it's a bad thing. Let's see - we can either a) torture a murdering fascist Muslim who knows when and where the next attack will come and save hundreds of lives, or b) not torture a murdering fascist Muslim who knows when and where the next attack will come and lose hundreds of lives. Seems like an clear decision.

[darkwing104]

Like I said in another thread,

Some people will do anything for a bottle of Mad Dog.

Darkwing104 MSgt(Ret)

[MplsSteve]

I think most of us abhor the use of torture.

But a lot of people in govt need to realize that, under the right situation, torture can be a successful means of finding out what the enemy is up to.

If the use of torture saves the lives of American soldiers and civilians, I have no problem with it.

[wideawake]

Nance reminded Congress that the final -e in his name is not silent.

[wideawake]

Understood, collaborator.

[Brilliant]

I wonder how long it took Dean to recruit this guy.

[GBA]

I really don't give a rat's rear end if waterboarding is torture or not. What I want to know is, is it effective?

The easily offended, holier than thou, types who would screw over their fellow Americans with various and sundry political schemes, yet would not waterboard some sub human hell bent on killing as many of US as it could is haughty, arrogant stupidity. Republicans who are unable to see this are idiots who do not deserve their elected office.

Does anyone remember the Dukakis debate moment where he hesitated on about what to do about someone who raped his wife? Make waterboarding more personal. Frame the question like this,

"Waterboarding is an effective way to extract information, if a terrorist scumbag is about to kill your wife and family, including your puppy and your little girl's new kitten with a nuclear devise, which, btw, would kill you and all your neighbors and friends, would you waterboard the scumbag...even if a few demonrats think it's torture?"

[Just mythoughts]

I doubt these that got the treatment were ever the ones selected to strap explosives to themselves to slaughter innocent people.

[gridlock]

Waterboarding is not my cup of tea. I think we as a nation would be better off if we did not rely on it.

However...

There is a specific legal definition of “torture”, and waterboarding does not meet it. It is not a matter of feelings or voting. It is or it is not. From a legal point of view, it is not torture. To put it in the same catagory as actual torture belittles the horror of actual torture.

That said, the US Government, as a matter of policy, has determined that they are no longer going to use this particular interrogation method. I am OK with that.

[NavyCanDo]

Being incinerated alive at your office desk by burning jet fuel - now that’s torture.

[Jim Noble]

Of course waterboarding is torture.

So what? Jumping off the 108th floor is torture. Having your head cut off is torture.

I think that unrestricted warfare against the jihadis is a) what the people want, b) entirely justified, c) not practiced enough, and, d) the key to victory for any electoral politicians who are willing to use that torture card, i.e., who will answer Schmucky and Her Thighness by saying, "You bet your ass we tortured KSM! So what?"

[MindBender26]

>>>A former Navy survival instructor subjected to waterboarding as part of his military training told Congress yesterday that the controversial tactic should plainly be considered torture and that such a method was never intended for use by U.S. interrogators because it is a relic of abusive totalitarian governments.

>>>I agree with him completely.

An Islamic terrorist has set up an atomic bomb somewhere in a city where 100,000 Americans, including your parents and children are living. There is no time to evacuate them.

The bomb is set to go off in one hour. If I know where it is I can disarm it.

Can I waterboard the perp to find out where it is?

Welcome to the real world, 2007 version.

[Humble Servant]

” those who experience it will say or do anything to make it stop, rendering the information they give nearly useless. “

I think we have to judge that statement against actual product to date. We aren’t likely to see a lot of the product of this method, due to secrecy, but if it wasn’t producing results that have saved thousands of innocent lives, I truly don’t believe we’d be using it just for kicks.

[PLMerite]

“I think most of us abhor the use of torture.”

I think a lot of people confuse the “torture” that is used to extract legitimate information and the “torture” that is used to punish and intimidate “enemies of the state” in such leftist icons as Cuba, North Korea, Cambodia, Saddam’s Iraq, etc.

[arderkrag]

No, you can't. Sorry. If you compromise the principles of a free society just for survival's sake, you don't deserve the benefits of the country those principles are founded upon.

And drop the whole "ticking time bomb" garbage. It's an old and tired argument that is based on emotion.