Waterboarding
(Reader Discretion Advised)

The nomination of Michael Mukasey to be U. S. Attorney General ran into trouble on the Senate Judiciary Committee over his refusal to designate the practice of "waterboarding" as illegal torture. Mukasey seemed otherwise to be an acceptable candidate to Democrats as well as Republicans, but the controversy had many people wondering exactly what "waterboarding" is.

This is what it is, according to an Internet description authored by Malcolm W. Nance, a master instructor in survival techniques for the Navy. Nance’s desription was included in a recent Los Angeles Times column by Tim Rutten.

Nance’s account is based on a conversation with a survivor of the procedure, as administered by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia:

"Unless you have been strapped down to the board, have endured the agonizing feeling of the water overpowering your gag reflex, and then feel your throat open and allow pint after pint of water to involuntarily fill your longs, you will not know the meaning of the word (torture). Waterboarding is a controlled drowning that, in the American model occurs under the watch of a doctor, a psychologist, and interrogator, and a trained strap in/strap-out team.

"It does not simulate drowning, as the lungs are actually filling with water. There is no way to simulate that. The victim is drowning. How much the victim is to drown depends on the desired result and the obstinacy of the subject. A team doctor watches the quantity of water that is ingested and for the physiological signs which show when the drowning effect goes from painful psychological experience, to horrific suffocating punishment, to the final death spiral.

"Waterboarding is slow-motion suffocation with enough time to contemplate the inevitability of black-out and expiration—usually the person goes into hysterics on the board. For the uninitiated, it is horrifying to watch, and if it goes wrong, it can lead straight to terminal hypoxia. When done right, it is controlled death. Its lack of physical scarring allows the victim to recover and be threatened with its use again and again."