Amnesty Unveils Shock ‘Waterboarding’ Film
An American expert in torture techniques has denounced his government for allowing “waterboarding” to be practised against terror suspects, just as a graphic advertisement showing the brutal reality of the technique is unveiled to British cinema-goers.
Malcolm Nance, who trained hundreds of US servicemen and women to resist interrogation by putting them through “waterboarding” exercises, demanded an immediate end to the practice by all US personnel.
He said: “They seem to think it is worth throwing the honour of 220 years of American decency in war out of the window. Waterboarding is out-and-out torture, and I’m deeply ashamed President Bush has authorised its use and dragged the US’s reputation into the mud.”
Mr Bush faced criticism recently when he vetoed a Bill that would have outlawed such methods of “enhanced interrogation” – the White House refuses to describe it as torture.
Mr Nance said: “You have a purpose-built table with straps in a pattern so that people can be strapped and unstrapped quickly. The head is strapped down in such a way so they cannot resist the water. The head is elevated so the water goes down the oesophagus.
Amnesty International’s new anti-waterboarding advert
“The water is poured very carefully over the nose – you keep a constant pour. You are drowning in water but you don’t have the ability to hold your breath. You feel the water going in, you understand that water is filling your lungs.”
Mr Nance, who is now an independent consultant, said the technique was also futile, as well as barbaric, as the prisoner would say anything to survive – regardless of its truth.
Amnesty International is leading the campaign to persuade the US to abandon the practice – a form of torture used as long ago as the Spanish Inquisition – and is stepping up its efforts with the release of a graphic and disturbing advertisement.
The broadcast begins with images of glistening clear liquid, suggesting it could be promoting a new brand of vodka or gin. But the camera pulls back to show water is being poured over the face of a desperate man strapped to a table.
Kate Allen, the UK director of Amnesty International, said: “Our film shows you what the CIA doesn’t want you to see – the disgusting reality of half-drowning a person.
“For a few seconds, our film-makers did it for real. Even for those few seconds, it’s horrifying to watch. The reality – in a secret prison with no one to stop it – is much, much worse.”
The advertisement can be seen at www.unsubscribe-me.org from today and at 50 cinemas from next month onwards.
© 2008 The Independent
At last, and article that does not refer to waterboarding as “simulated” drowning, but instead calls it for what it is: Controlled drowning.
That was just horrible! Remind me not to watch it again. I have enough trouble with phlegm without having nightmares about that.
Remember: One of the earliest American colonies practiced this technique. The place was Salem, and then it was called ‘witch-ducking’.
In both cases, the authoritarian CHRISTIAN government was looking for fictitious enemies to it’s power and stability. ‘Witches and devil-worshipers’ in Salem, ‘Terrorists and Radical Islamists’ in Guantanimo.
The words may change, but the pious, self-righteous Christian death-cultist’s song remains the same…
People who enjoy inflicting pain on others are considered sadists - Bush and his criminal associates fit the description.
Kiefer Sutherland should be in this production.
Bravo! Every eligible voter should be required to watch this, and if anyone, for even one moment thinks this is a justified or warranted means to gain submission from prisoners, they should have to subject themselves to the process as a test of their theory of effectiveness. At the front of this line, I would like to see each member of the Administration, headed by Bush, and Cheney, followed by every member of Congress allowing it to continue by not Impeaching the President and V.P.! Those who would approve this treatment on humans or animals are shameful and sick and should be in a mental hospital.
This powerful presentation needs to be posted on You Tube! What in the world (literally) have we become? We are our own worst enemy, thanks to George Bush, et al. Crimes against humanity, indeed, need to be pursued even after the players leave office. They should never feel comfortable with their actions for the rest of their lives….. The world is watching us. We must stand as one against this abomination.
F-ckin’ Nazis
I am ashamed for my country and of my country. I don’t like being ashamed.
If they are doing it to anyone, it is the same as if they are doing it to me. It is a crime like murder or rape. Here is the official consequence under US law (not being enforced):
>>War Crimes Act of 1996 (as amended)
18 U.S.C. § 2441. War crimes
(a) Offense.–Whoever, whether inside or outside the United States, commits a war crime, in any of the circumstances described in subsection (b), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death.
(b) Circumstances.–The circumstances referred to in subsection (a) are that the person committing such breach or the victim of such war crime is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States or a national of the United States (as defined in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act).
(c) Definition.–As used in this section the term ‘war crime’ means any conduct–
(1) defined as a grave breach in any of the international conventions signed at Geneva 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party;
(2) prohibited by Article 23, 25, 27, or 28 of the Annex to the Hague Convention IV, Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, signed 18 October 1907;
(3) which constitutes a violation of common Article 3 of the international conventions signed at Geneva, 12 August 1949, or any protocol to such convention to which the United States is a party and which deals with non- international armed conflict; or
(4) of a person who, in relation to an armed conflict and contrary to the provisions of the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices as amended at Geneva on 3 May 1996 (Protocol II as amended on 3 May 1996), when the United States is a party to such Protocol, willfully kills or causes serious injury to civilians.
www2.uakron.edu/low/War%20Crimes%20Act%20of%201996.doc
http://162.140.64.234/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=104_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ192.104.pdf
“This powerful presentation needs to be posted on You Tube!”
It is.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ7lSPA9g8s
Bullshit; That looked like fun. The way The School of The America’s taught it was you force a tube down the victims nostril then pour Coca-Cola down the tube, into the nostrils, the lungs.
Or, they’d feed a hooked wire down the nostril into the lungs of their victim then jerk it around.
Because “America’s Standard of Living Is Not Negotiable.”
The video is way too mild to capture what is being done by Americans to people who have not been formally charged with a crime. Here is some food for thought. The hundreds of American soldiers who are day in and day out kicking, stipping, humiliating, waterboarding, peeing on, taunting, and torturing…what will they be like when they return to society, their families and their children. Think about it.
In the future, when “our boys” or women are being tortured, brutalized, raped…..we won’t have a leg to stand on; they probably won’t either.
IF the USA wasn’t “The Great Satan” before…it damned well is now.
… would you like some Chianti and fava beans, with your water …
we executed japanese officers for waterboarding,our men. we called it torture then. what changed? since bush thinks it works and its not torture, maybe it should be done to him, and see if he tells us the truth.
… if its “LEGAL”, but immoral — should we do it to HIM ?
One can never give in to expediency,
or get ready for the chair yourself