Making torture official (Register-Guard Editorial)

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Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.)
October 27, 2006
Editorial
Making torture official

The absolute worst thing about Vice President Dick Cheney's bald-faced acknowledgement Tuesday that the Bush administration considers the use of waterboarding an appropriate interrogation technique is that it neither shocked nor surprised anyone. No one who had the stomach to examine the overwhelming evidence to the contrary ever believed President Bush's repeated insistence that "We do not torture." But Bush continued to maintain that "We do not torture," and he did so with the indignation of an innocent man falsely accused, leaving a kernel of doubt - at least among those still willing to grant him the benefit of that misgiving. Now even that last shred of skepticism has been removed by the vice president - the man who has arguably been the staunchest advocate for "unrestrained" interrogation of enemies of the state.

The acknowledgement came almost casually in a radio interview with a conservative talk show host. Scott Hennen, of WDAY Radio in Fargo, N.D., told Cheney that listeners had asked him to "let the vice president know that if it takes dunking a terrorist in water, we're all for it, if it saves American lives." Hennen then served up a fat pitch, which Cheney proceeded to belt out of the park. "Would you agree that a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?" Hennen asked. Cheney replied, "It's a no-brainer for me, but for a while there, I was criticized as being the vice president 'for torture.' " Cheney's enthusiastic embrace of one of the Khmer Rouge's favorite interrogation techniques ensures that he'll never escape his richly deserved title as vice president for torture. Though administration apologists adamantly maintain that waterboarding isn't torture or even "torture lite," few experts in the laws of war, human rights or the U.S. military support them.

Most news accounts briefly describe waterboarding as a controversial technique that creates a sensation of drowning. More specifically, waterboarding involves strapping a prisoner to an inclined board - feet up, head down - and covering his face with cloth or cellophane. Water is poured over the prisoner's face, inducing an immediate gag reflex and a terrifying fear of drowning. CIA officers who subjected themselves to the waterboarding technique lasted an average of 14 seconds before caving in. "The person believes they are being killed, and as such, it really amounts to a mock execution, which is illegal under international law," said John Sifton of Human Rights Watch. Walter Pincus of The Washington Post reported that in 1947, the United States charged a Japanese officer with war crimes for waterboarding a U.S. civilian. The officer was convicted and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

The Khmer Rouge, one of the most bloodthirsty regimes in history, were partial to waterboarding - not as a means of gathering intelligence but to extract confessions. Jonah Blank, a former senior editor at U.S. News and World Report who photographed waterboarding rooms in Phnom Penh prisons, said, "(The Khmer Rouge) - like so many brutal regimes - made waterboarding one of their primary tools for a simple reason: It is one of the most viciously effective forms of torture ever devised." Now the president no longer has to lie to the American people. It's official: The United States will waterboard - torture - any prisoner chosen by the Bush administration for harsh interrogation. The Nov. 7 elections offer Americans an opportunity to repudiate this barbaric and disgraceful policy. There's no need to advise voters how to cast their ballots. It's a no-brainer.

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/10/27/ed.edit.torture.1027.p1.php?section=opinion