Do we have proof that these masked men administered the technique properly?
Of course not- these were trained SERE instructors who practice this technique on Special Forces candidates.
SERE instructors have explained that the version of water-boarding that they do for training is not as extreme as that practiced by the Bush Administration...
Mostly because it is not as long, nor repeated... and is not concurrent with other physical abuse and stress such as sleep deprivation or stress positioning.
Because they they do not complicate water boarding training with these other stressors, they are less likely to accidentally kill someone.
Obviously, a 'safe' situation where you are being water boarded for demonstration purposes is not at all as horrific as when you are being water- boarded by a group of young jar heads who think you personally crashed planes into the towers and who are happy to get some payback...
187 times.
This doesn't seem like responsible journalism. What if there had been complications and Hitchens died or suffered some type of permanent damage? Would that be Cheney's fault?
Why? Because some guy was claiming he didn't think it was torture and found out first hand he was entirely wrong?
Your concern over this threat of potential death SHOULD reflect a similar outrage that US officials condoned and promoted this kind of treatment of 'detainees' that had no right to due process.
The facts are clear- that zubiydah gave good information BEFORE being water-boarded, and gave ZERO useful information during water-boarding.
It is clear that Cheney and Rumsfeld were desperate to 'illicit' information they could use to link al quaeda with Iraq, and that they were unconcerned that the information illicited thru water-boarding had been characterized by the military involved as suspect and untrustworthy.
They were obviously out to coerce detainees to make the statements they wanted to support their illegal and unwarranted war on Iraq.
And , yes... if Hitchens had been hurt, it would have been Cheney and Bush's fault for putting us into this situation in the first place.
How fucking moronic it is to even suggest that an action we have EXECUTED people for as a war crime is somehow NOT a war crime because 9/11 changed everything.
9/11 did not change anything, except to enable the moral bankruptcy of Cheney and Rumsfeld free reign.
And yes... what Hitchens went thru was mild compared to what we have subjected detainees to...
And he felt what he went thru was torturous.
How much more torturous do you think it was on people the interrogators were told were actual terrorists?
There is no room for moral ambiguity on this....
It was criminal. It was unconstitutional, it was treasonous, and it was damaging to the standing of the United States.
Cheney should go to prison over his Halliburton deals...
For his personal involvement in warranting torture he should face military prosecution and a firing squad.
Rumsfeld, too.