Apparently the Bush Administration's survey of the legal literature of torture missed something.
From Antemedius:
George W. Bush's Justice Department said subjecting a person to the near drowning of waterboarding was not a crime and didn't even cause pain, but Ronald Reagan's Justice Department thought otherwise, prosecuting a Texas sheriff and three deputies for using the practice to get confessions.
Federal prosecutors secured a 10-year sentence against the sheriff and four years in prison for the deputies. But that 1983 case - which would seem to be directly on point for a legal analysis on waterboarding two decades later - was never mentioned in the four Bush administration opinions released last week.
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Waterboarding. This is the topic for debate in our modern world. We go on and on about progress in civilization, yet we're talking about torture. Here are three recent views on the subject: This Modern World, The Onion, and Doonesbury. It's the torture satire trifecta.
I am in utter awe of the brilliant reframing of 'waterboarding' by the Kenosha Kid:
Waterboarding = Partial Drowning Interrogation
Fucking brilliant.
Someone was willing to try waterboarding on himself — he was in complete control, but he still found it a terrifying experience.
What's the big deal about putting a few bad guys into "stressful" positions (assuming you know for sure they really are bad guys)? You call that torture?