Dick Cheney wants you to keep talking about waterboarding
That sounds counter-intuitive, I know. But think about it.
When considering the crimes committed by the Bush administration, waterboarding is actually the LEAST of it - they did far worse on more occasions.
A technique that 'induces the sensation of drowning', terrifying as it may in fact be, does not actually sound that terrible. What's more, it can be easily characterized as 'pouring water over somebody's face', without actually distorting or misrepresenting the facts.
As long as the 'torture debate' focuses on waterboarding, the Bush-Cheneyites win, because the real horrors they committed in our names go unremarked.
They WANT the discussion to focus on waterboarding.
Anyone who seriously wishes to hold them accountable for their actions should work to reframe this 'debate' (and how absurd and horrifying is it that we've come to a pass where there can actually be a debate about such things) to focus on human dignity - not just that of the prisoners, but that of the perpetrators who are literally ordered to defile themselves by committing inhuman acts against prisoners who, however lethal their intentions may have been, are defenseless.
Thiessen et al. can justify waterboarding in terms that are unlikely to seem outrageous to most people. But they can't as easily defend treatment of detainees that is 'cruel, inhuman or degrading'.
When considering the crimes committed by the Bush administration, waterboarding is actually the LEAST of it - they did far worse on more occasions.
A technique that 'induces the sensation of drowning', terrifying as it may in fact be, does not actually sound that terrible. What's more, it can be easily characterized as 'pouring water over somebody's face', without actually distorting or misrepresenting the facts.
As long as the 'torture debate' focuses on waterboarding, the Bush-Cheneyites win, because the real horrors they committed in our names go unremarked.
They WANT the discussion to focus on waterboarding.
Anyone who seriously wishes to hold them accountable for their actions should work to reframe this 'debate' (and how absurd and horrifying is it that we've come to a pass where there can actually be a debate about such things) to focus on human dignity - not just that of the prisoners, but that of the perpetrators who are literally ordered to defile themselves by committing inhuman acts against prisoners who, however lethal their intentions may have been, are defenseless.
Thiessen et al. can justify waterboarding in terms that are unlikely to seem outrageous to most people. But they can't as easily defend treatment of detainees that is 'cruel, inhuman or degrading'.