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| WATERBOARD THIS |
| 2009-09-14 |
| By Brandon K. Gauthier I willing volunteer to get waterboarded. That’s right-- you read correctly. You hire a professional to waterboard me, and I’ll show up with Nine Inch Nails CDs in hand to the place of your choosing. Hell, we’ll even videotape it and show it on the blog. As an advocate of ‘advanced interrogation methods,’ I am open to a brief rendezvous with the technique. And yet the notion of writing an essay in support of waterboarding is personally disconcerting. Critics’ concerns about waterboarding are indubitably warranted; after all, if our government sanctions simulated drowning, what’s next? Cutting off toes? Electric-shock interrogations? Many fear that once a government crosses that ethical line in the sand a slippery slope of amorality may follow. But in spite of this recognition, it is my belief that the United States is in an extraordinary time in its history. Facing a lengthy ideological conflict against Islamofascism, the United States will confront severe dangers in the coming decade. The government must not forget that Bin Laden and his henchmen desire awe-inspiring destruction in the United States; Islamic fundamentalists are not interested in small suicide attacks in malls and at public events. Their ultimate aim, quite unnervingly, is to bring the United States to its knees by setting off multiple dirty bombs in major American cities. Those who reject such warnings as ridiculous should remember 9/11 and the impressive array of planning and sophistication that went into those attacks. al-Qaeda is a disturbingly capable enemy that is not going away. So, recognizing the above statements, if you ask me whether I would sanction waterboarding on a tiny number of high-level al-Qaeda operatives to stop terrorist attacks that could kill millions of Americans? Absolutely. A tightrope of immorality, waterboarding is the ethical line in the sand. It represents political pragmatism at its worst. But many, however, question whether waterboarding works and if a detainee in distress can even yield credible intelligence. While such concerns are valid, it seems a bit naïve to believe interrogators do not have numerous methods for detecting whether a prisoner is lying. At the very least they have lie detector systems available to them, as well an assuredly vast array of medicines that could aid in bringing out the truth from an enemy operative. Ali Soufan and the New York Times notwithstanding: known records indicate that waterboarding does indeed work and has directly help save American lives. CIA interrogations of Kalik Shied Mohammed , the mastermind of 9/11, generated crucial intelligence that directly led to the “disruption of several plots against the United States...and the capture of other terrorists.” The CIA waterboarded K.S. Mohammed 183 times in these extremely fruitful interrogations. In fact, the planner of 9/11 gave up so much helpful information that the CIA referred to KSM as “the preeminent source on al-Qaeda.” I disagree with critics who claim that waterboarding had nothing to do with Mohammed’s decision to suddenly see the light and confess everything to his American archenemies; when dealing with enemy leaders indoctrinated to destroy you, interrogative psychology and trickery have their limits. It does not seem erroneous to state that ‘enhanced interrogation methods’ were important for protecting the United States in the years after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Obviously the technique is an ugly and distasteful practice to advocate. But in extremely specific circumstances with high-level intelligence-ripe detainees, waterboarding is a practice to implement with approval from the highest-echelons of government. As a result of reluctantly taking a stance in support of waterboarding, I must offer myself to experience the practice. Though the notion of having water poured down my nose for fifteen to thirty seconds is mildly disturbing, it is the only way to sincerely understand the brute means of our American national-security ends. Test my mettle. Waterboard me. |
| Posted by:bgrebel |
| #3 "the rest of us are wondering why we don't reduce the deficit by selling the rights to these interrogations on pay-per-view. The contestants on your average Japanese game show go through more intense ordeals" Simple, Lone Ranger. Jihadis and liberals (but I repeat myself) are weenies. Nobody wants to watch a weenie. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-09-14 19:34 |
| #2 Personally, I like the way the anonymous author ("Doctor Zero") put it, in the essay at: http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2009/08/25/the-ethics-of-ferocity/ : "While liberals wave the Justice Department’s report on CIA interrogation techniques at the rest of the world and tearfully beg them for forgiveness, the rest of us are wondering why we don’t reduce the deficit by selling the rights to these interrogations on pay-per-view. The contestants on your average Japanese game show go through more intense ordeals." |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2009-09-14 19:23 |
| #1 Arggg, the American people hold high moral standards, yet we send a JDAM into a building to kill a bad guy and then scream bloody murder when someone get a little water in the face. The slippery slope this guy speaks of slides both ways. If you want to call waterboarding torture, then you must look at what our local police departments do with questioning people for over eight hours not allowing them use of restrooms, or water. We're talking about scaring someone, not cutting their head off with a dull knife. It is silly to keep bringing this up, we need to let it go and get past this. For Gods sake we don't capture terrorists anymore because of this stuff, we kill them with 500 pound laser guided bombs. Eliminated targets don't need Miranda rights and lawyers! |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2009-09-14 17:22 |