Torture 2.0

Yesterday, my waterboarding video caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal and a pointilized rendition of my face wound up on the front page. Good Morning America called at 9 AM wondering if I was interested in an all expense paid trip to New York. The media circus continued throughout the day and night and I basked in my 15 minutes of fame. If you haven’t seen the video here is a repost:




In my original blog I was only interested in the experience of waterboarding. In this post I would like to discuss whether or not this is in fact torture.


Is waterboarding torture? Yes. While it doesn’t cause any lasting, physical damage in a controlled setting, it does trick the brain into having the sensation of drowning. I conducted my experiment in a controlled environment. It was my priority to foresee any health risks and minimize the endangerment to my body. The outcome of any waterboarding session is subject to the demeanor of the interrogator . He or she could potentially abuse the method and cause real drowning.
Even if the interrogation only simulates drowning it still causes psychological stress on the victim. Therefore, according to International Humanitarian Law, waterboarding falls under the category of torture.

No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.

The Geneva Convention of 1949
Part III; Captivity: Section 1, Beginning of Captivity; Article 17

What did it feel like when I was waterboarding? I felt blind panic to breath followed by an even higher state of panic when I tried to inhale and realized I could not.

Would I do it again? No! It’s torture. I’m not some fat guy in the circus taking live cannon balls in the gut every night for applause. This isn’t a freak show. I created a spectacle to gather attention to a point. I’m satisfied that the point has been made. It’s torture.

Would I ever suggest using waterboarding to prevent a future 9/11, terrorist type of attack? I’m not a policy maker. I am only a layman who has subjected himself to the experience, but I've been getting this question a lot. My answer has been, "No."
Torture is a technique of warfare. I believe that warfare is only wise if diplomacy fails. Even a brilliant military strategist like Sun Tzu hints at this:

For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.

The Art of War
Part III, Offensive Strategy; Section 3.

If one comes into a position where torture is a necessary option, the problem is not whether the victim will suffer in that moment. That is just a horrible symptom of a deeper rooted, endemic issue of human relations that has previously gone unchecked. There will always be conflict between parties. The solution to the torture debate lies in how we address our initial discord with one another.



Why did I do it? I was tired of hearing politicians and pundits argue about whether or not it was torture when the materials were so accessible that they could do it without leaving home. I did it to show that it could be done. I wanted to add a visceral component to an otherwise abstract debate on the nature of human suffering.

Why did I make a waterboarding video and post it on the Internet? I wanted to document my experience as well as build awareness. The purpose of this blog is to create social change using media. I hope that by subjecting myself to waterboarding it has added a fresh perspective to the dialogue. What follows is a list of links that react to my video.

Military correspondent Yochi Dreazen's Front Page Wall Street Journal article started it all. I think that it's articulately written and the most true to my feelings on the subject of waterboarding.

My friend Trent Toulouse was the guy who poured the water on me. He's posted a guest blog on my site that looks at the experience from the point of view of the torturer.

As things heated up last night I was a guest on Brian Suits show on KFI 640 AM Los Angeles. It lasted about ten minutes and climaxed when Brian asked me, "Would you use waterboarding against me if I locked up your mother in a conex box in the middle of the desert and wouldn't tell you where she was?" My mom was standing right next to me shaking her head. She didn't think that I should torture anyone. I told him "No."

Albuquerque's local CBS affiliate KRQE 13 ran Taste of Torture as the top story on their 10 PM news program. It was a classic, "If it Bleeds it Leads" story. The reporter Kim Holland's angle on the phenomenon was that we were just three dudes, kicking back eating pizza, drinking beer and looking for some fun. Fun that could've cost one local Rio Rancho man his life.

There are also a lot of blogs out there carrying my video. Reading some of the feedback coverage is like walking through a hall of mirrors. Dreazin's WSJ article was an analysis of my blog, the pro bloggers wrote a reaction to his piece, the amateur bloggers respond to the pro bloggers critique and the meaning of the story slowly gets diffused until eventually all that's left is a green image of me spitting up water and some troll in the comment section remarking, "Dumbass." That said, my favorite blog thus far has been www.gawker.com's Waterboarding... So Hot Right Now (The headline was probably inspired by a comment my sister made about puggles on my myspace acount). The comment section of the Gawker article is hilarious. I think they might've pioneered the inevitable waterboarding subculture.

Here are some of the other blogs that picked my video up.
Abu Muqawama
Brijit
Chinese Edition of the Wall Street Journal
Deal Breaker
The Feminist Bloggers Network
The Mahablog
Psyche, Science, and Society
Rite Wing Technopagan
White Coat Underground


Web 2.0 made this possible. My video is only a minute long. It took minimum production to construct and yet brought the issue to the interest of thousands of people. It just goes to show that anyone with a video camera and a free account to Blogger and Youtube can advocate a cause to a mass audience. This is a powerful medium.

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I Waterboarded Myself

The House of Representatives just approved a bill that bans waterboarding this afternoon.

There's been a lot of talk in the news these days about whether or not the technique is considered torture. I thought I would try it out and decide for myself:

What surprised me the most from the experience was how fast my air supply went out. I'm a swimmer and I can hold my breath for quite a while, but I had trouble lasting for even just a few moments. To what should I attribute my lack of endurance? Laying upside down and having my mouth and nostrils quickly fill up with water.

Was it torture? I rigged up the experiment so that I was in full control of the situation, but if it was an actual interrogation, the disorientation, panic, and anxiety would have certainly exasperated the experience. I also think that my captors in a real situation would be more generous with their use of water. History has proved that factor to be fatal.

How do you waterboard? There's not a lot to the technique; you just need some water, a washcloth, and an inclined surface. I found some key points on the advocacy group Waterboard.org:

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• Keep the chest elevated above the head and neck to keep the lungs "above the waterline".

• Incline the head, both to keep the throat open and to present the nostrils for easier filling.

• Force the mouth open so that water can be poured into both the nose and mouth. Saran wrap, damp cloth, or any facial covering is not essential, but sometimes used as a bonus multiplier. If someone coughs to try to blow the water out of their throat or mouth the plastic catches the water and keeps it in. The cloth or plastic also acts as a one-way valve, opening to let more air out and then closing again to prevent inhalation. Eventually you end up with collapsed, empty lungs, no ability to inhale more air, a throat, mouth, and nose that's still full of water, and no capacity to get the water out since you're already fully exhaled. "CIA officers who subjected themselves to the water boarding technique lasted an average of 14 seconds before caving in." (In practice, "14 seconds" is roughly the amount of time one can exhale slowly through the upturned nose. This keep the water out, temporarily. When your breath runs out the water starts flowing in.)

Here are some other people who have also experimented with waterboarding:

This video was taken at an anti-war protest. The victim lasts a long time, but notice that he's not on a very steep inclination.

This video was made on a dare by a bunch of suburban kids. It's pretty hardcore. They experiment with Saran wrap first and then move on to a washcloth. The victim actually breaks the board he's on when the washcloth technique is delivered.

The Democracy Now radio program interviewed a French, waterboard victim. He describes feeling a sensation of death.



Waterboarding torture should not be confused with Chinese Water Torture. That's something that usually goes on at teenage slumber parties.
Chinese Water Torture Video #1
Chinese Water Torture Video #2

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