Perhaps what we need in the United States is a new “Watergate”. I don’t mean a recorded Presidential scandal resulting in impeachment proceedings, although I understand there are a few supporters of something like that. I am talking about an investigation into the whole waterboarding blame game. The reason I propose this is based upon the intense focus this topic seems to elicit and the passion with which waterboarding gets discussed in congress, the news, at home, and across the internet.
What exactly is waterboarding?
Well, if you can lay down in the shower, put a towel over your face and allow the shower to cascade water onto your face through the towel, that is a very simple example of the method. The difference being that an actual prisoner would be tied to a board and the board would be tilted head down. A claustrophobic response, mixed with the helplessness of being restrained, combined with inhaling small amounts of water creates a feeling of drowning. It is reported as have no lasting physical effects, however the psychological effects are impossible to measure consistently. The purpose of this practice is to create a great deal of stress in order to elicit someone, as an example, to tell us where bad guys are or what they are planning.
