See Debatepedia's Global Climate Change Debate Series with the UN Foundation's The People Speak. Press release.
Argument: Waterboarding is a mild interrogation technique
From Debatepedia
[
]
]Parent debate
[]
]Supporting evidence
- Vasko Kohlmayer. The Case for Waterboarding. FrontPageMagazine.com. September 29, 2006 - "careful consideration shows that waterboarding is in fact one of the least injurious among interrogation techniques. To see why this is so, it is enough to contrast it with the most common approach which involves a combination of sleep deprivation and cold exposure. Frequently requiring days and even weeks to break the captive’s spirit, it carries a real possibility of long-term physical and psychological damage. Worse still, it often fails to achieve the desired effect with the result that the captive is subjected to prolonged hardships, but we still end up without the information we so urgently need.
- Waterboarding, on the other hand, is fleeting in duration with the actual discomfort lasting seldom more than a couple of minutes. And since a man can be safely deprived of oxygen for at least twice as long, there is almost no risk of long-term harm. The possibility of injury is further reduced by the fact that the procedure calls for no direct physical contact between the subject and his interrogators. Not even as much as pushing or chest slapping is required at any time, making waterboarding one of the safest and least confrontational among interrogation methods. Involving the lowest risk of long-term harm and the least amount of cumulative discomfort, it is also the most humane. Most importantly, it is the most effective."
- Jim Meyers. "Waterboarding Is Not Torture." NewsMax. December 10, 2007. - "Furthermore, waterboarding should not be considered torture, as some are claiming. Torture is normally defined as the infliction of severe pain, and while waterboarding induces fear because it simulates drowning, it does not inflict pain.
- In fact, U.S. special forces are subjected to waterboarding as part of their training in case they are captured and experience the procedure."