Is Water Boarding Torture?

Whether or not you agree with the use of torture for interrogation purposes, it still is used all over the world.  Torture can have extremely negative psychological and physical effects on both the detainee or prisoner and the interrogator.  According to the Human Rights Watch organization, whose purpose is “‘…protecting the human rights of people around the world’, many countries continue to brutalize detainees or suspects.”1  Such countries who are known for present-day torture methods are China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, and Uzbekistan1 to name a few.   Methods of torture can range anywhere from the application of physical force, to the pain received from shackles, ropes, and handcuffs, to the use of a high-pitch annoying sound and electric shocks, to the infamous and outlandish Chinese Water Torture method.  In the eyes of international law, torture is strictly prohibited.  Still, the nations of the world find ways circumnavigate the rules or “guidelines” as they seem to be.  A fine example of such an occurrence is with the United States’ use of water boarding.  In this paper, I hope to reveal to you why Water boarding is so wrong, and why it is undoubtedly a method of torture. 

Of the many definitions of the word torture, one would think that the meaning is relatively the same no matter whom you ask; unfortunately this is not the case.   The Oxford American Dictionary states that torture is:  the action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something, or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain.  However, the definition of water boarding as a form of torture poses an argument.  Some people believe that it should be used because it is a successful method of interrogation that does not inflict bodily harm (as no physical effects on the body are visible as a result) while others argue that it inflicts pain, both psychological, and physical in many different forms.   Within the last decade, the U.S. government has come forward and admitted that water boarding has been used on terrorists and terror suspects to retrieve information.  After this announcement2, many people felt that water boarding was acceptable.  Thus, “around the world, some of the most egregious human rights violations have been perpetrated by states in the name of counter-terrorism” states Miller1.

So why is water boarding used?  The answer is simple. For high-security suspects who will not talk or, tell the interrogators what they would like to hear during the interrogation, this is one of the most severe methods of torture or  “enhanced interrogation” as the Bush Administration put it.  In 2008, reports were released to the public saying,  “The Bush administration issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of interrogation techniques such as water boarding against al-Qaeda suspects.”3  Because of this, up until President Obama signed the executive order in 2009 that required both U.S. military and paramilitary organizations to use the Army Field Manual as the guide on getting information from prisoners,4, the CIA and other counter-insurgency special operational forces were not required to follow the rules of the manual (that listed various interrogation techniques with the exception to methods involving torture) and were free to use water boarding because it was not classified as a form of torture at the time. 

If people recognized that water boarding was wrong, then why was, and is, this issue debated so heavily in the United States?  Many right-wing conservatives held the opinion that water boarding was just a form of interrogation and should be used if it reduces the potential harm of the greater good (i.e. preventing a future terrorist attack by using the method on a captive who knows information of a threat or terrorist plot).  Many human rights activists and left-winged liberals held the opposing view that water boarding is inhumane, goes against the War Crimes Act of 1996, and conflicts with ethical and moral principles.  Until recent reports of news-people investigating this issue further, (some even offering to be water boarded themselves to show what it is like) these were the standard opinions on the subject from both sides of the argument.  Today more people, even right-winged conservatives like myself, can agree that water boarding is a definite form of torture and should not be used at all in the United States. 

The reason why so many right-winged conservatives and those who were proponents of water boarding have agreed that this is a form of torture is because of their witness to first-hand experience of news-reporters offering themselves to be water boarded.  A famous right-winged conservative news reporter out of Chicago, Illinois known as “Erich ‘Mancow’ Muller decided he’d get himself water boarded to prove the technique wasn't torture.  It didn't turn out that way. ‘Mancow,’ in fact, lasted just six or seven seconds before crying foul.”5  According to numerous government sources, the average person lasts approximately fourteen seconds during one interval or session of water boarding.   “Mancow” was quoted in saying, “I wanted to prove it wasn't torture. They cut off our heads, we put water on their face...I got voted to do this but I really thought 'I'm going to laugh this off’”.  After lasting the six or seven seconds, Mancow got up and said, “...It was instantaneous...and I don't want to say this: absolutely torture… I mean that's drowning," he added later. "It is the feeling of drowning." 5  Fox News and Current TV have also aired private demonstrations of water boarding as well as Vanity Fair writer Christopher Hitchens’ act of subjecting himself to a water boarding demonstration back in 2008.6  In all cases, the mock-detainees (reporters) lasted only a few seconds.  All subjects to the water boarding have verbally-announced and displayed some sort of pain whether it was physical or psychological or both.  Water boarding is more than unpleasant.  According to John Sifton of Human Rights Watch, “The person believes they are being killed, and as such, it really amounts to a mock execution, which is illegal under international law.”7

Until President Obama’s presidency, water boarding may not have been seen as an ethical practice, but nonetheless it was used.  Although water boarding does prove to be effective in retrieving wanted information from hostiles as many proponents will argue, it is unethical and a vile method of torture.  Author Debra Miller and I understand that, “National security is a legitimate interest of any state, and states have a responsibility to provide for the security of their citizens.  But the tendency to characterize and treat all “enemies” as “terrorists” or “terrorist sympathizers” contributes to the delineation between “legitimate” and “illegitimate” communities, leaving the latter vulnerable to state violence, and enabling the state to justify that violence as a necessary reaction to terror.” 1   The United States has engaged in torture.  Whether by “outsourcing”8 terror suspects to other nations to carry out these “enhanced interrogations” or by performing such vehement tactics on U.S. soil, the United States is guilty of operating with and performing methods of torture. 

Thankfully, water boarding, as we know it today, is not used by the United States.  However, there is always the possibility that it is and will be used in the future by special operational units and divisions of the military, either foreign and/or domestic.  Water boarding is effective when used in the right setting; however, it is highly unethical and a quintessential example of malpractice.  I believe that all perpetrators and violators of the international laws that prohibit the use of torture of detainees and suspects, regardless of the interrogators’ country of origin, should be prosecuted for their actions.   Again, the definition of torture according to the Oxford American Dictionary is: the action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something, or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain.    Water boarding is the action and practice of inflicting both severe mental and physical pain as a punishment for refusing to cooperate with interrogators.  Water boarding forces detainees and suspects to say or do things against their will.  And, sadly, one could assume that some of interrogators carrying out this method find pleasure in doing so. That sounds like torture to me.  No one should be put in a cruel and inhumane situation where the thought or possibility of imminent death is near. This is why water boarding is wrong, and why it is undoubtedly a method of torture. 

References

1 Miller, Debra A. Torture. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2009. Print.

2 Price, Caitlin. "JURIST - Paper Chase: CIA Chief Confirms Use of Waterboarding on 3 Terror Detainees." JURIST - Legal News and Research. 05 Feb. 2008. Web. 16 Mar. 2010. <http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/02/cia-chief-confirms-use-of-waterboarding.php>.

3 Warrick, Joby. "CIA Tactics Endorsed In Secret Memos." The Washington Post. 15 Oct. 2008. Web. 16 Mar. 2010. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/14/AR2008101403331.html>.

4 Mount, Mike. "Obama Gives Military's Interrogation Rules to CIA - CNN.com." CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. 22 Jan. 2009. Web. 16 Mar. 2010. <http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/22/obama.interrogations/>.

5 "The Raw Story; Conservative Radio Hosts Gets Waterboarded, and Lasts Six Seconds before Saying Its Torture." The Raw Story | Investigative News and Politics. Web. 16 Mar. 2010. <http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/05/conservative-radio-hosts-waterboarded/>.

6 "YouTube - Watch Christopher Hitchens Get Waterboarded (VANITY FAIR)." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 2 July 2008. Web. 16 Mar. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LPubUCJv58>.

7 Ross, Brian, and Richard Esposito. "CIA's Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described - ABC News." ABCNews.com - Breaking News, Politics, Online News, World News, Feature Stories, Celebrity Interviews and More - ABC News. 18 Nov. 2005. Web. 16 Mar. 2010. <http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1322866>.

8 Mayer, Jane. "Outsourcing Torture." The New Yorker. 14 Feb. 2005. Web. 16 Mar. 2010. <http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/02/14/050214fa_fact6>.