Waterboarding debate surfaced a century ago

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1100&u_sid=10271804

Published Saturday | March 1, 2008

BY JAKE THOMPSON
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

WASHINGTON — Today's debate over waterboarding as a technique for interrogating terrorism suspects eerily echoes one that's a century old.

During the U.S. Army's battles with the Filipino insurrection, an Omaha soldier's letter published by The World-Herald on May 13, 1900, described the "water cure" being used on prisoners.

"They swell up like toads," A.F. Miller wrote. "I'll tell you it is a terrible torture."



Miller's letter from the Philippines to a friend in the United States explained how soldiers would force prisoners to disclose the location of hidden weapons.

"Now this is the way we give them the water cure: Lay them on their backs, a man standing on each hand and each foot, then put a round stick in the mouth, and pour a pail of water in the mouth and nose, and if they don't give up pour in another pail," he wrote.

The Omahan's account was cited in a recent New Yorker magazine article that recounts the debate over torture and insurgency that occurred in America at the dawn of the 20th century.

FULL story at link.