25 replies to this topic

[MaiAndy]

There have been disputes about waterboarding being torture or not being torture. For a form of torture, pouring water down a person's mouth and nose while tied down sounds mediocre compared to other torture techniques. President Obama has recently classified waterboarding as torture but Former Vice President Cheney has been campaigning in an attempt to remove waterboarding from the torture list. That's what radio host Erich Muller thought attemptig to take on the challenge of being waterboarded. Guess what he said in the end. You'll have to find out.

[©Milton]

There's almost nothing more scarier than not being able to breathe.

[PinKkFloyDd]

Physical torture is a pretty ineffective means of obtaining information. And I think many times it is used in circumstances where we are unsure if the detainee has any information or is even involved with terrorism. If they ARE indeed terrorists, then I feel little to no remorse if they are tortured; but like I said, it's ineffective, so if torture is to be stopped, it should be for that.

[ClEMeNt]

Mental torture attacks the mind. It creates chaos and panic, causing ill judgement which can lead to "spilling the beans". Threatening can also prove effective.

I say that waterboarding can continue but physical should stop.

[z2z007]

ClEMeNt, on May 28 2009, 11:25 AM, said:

I say that waterboarding can continue but physical should stop.

I don't get your point when waterboarding is physical torture just as drowning would be.

[ClEMeNt]

z2z007, on May 28 2009, 11:32 AM, said:

I don't get your point when waterboarding is physical torture just as drowning would be.

Sorry, I worded it wrong.
I meant that waterboarding is like an attack to the mind, it scares you as it feels like you're not going to be able to breathe. And if I worded that explanation wrong, I might as well stop trying. My brain feels sluggish right now...
EDIT: For 'physical', I meant whipping, or actual pain.

[MaiAndy]

Waterboarding could be both. You can actually die but torturers will stop it just before you die because a dead person is useless information. It is also mental where it feels like your going to drown.

[©Milton]

When you waterboard someone, they are drowning, but it is stopped just before you die.

[leo2car]

You aren't drowned. You feel like you are drowned. There is a different definition.

[Charles]

You are drowning while you are being waterboarded. If you continue waterboarding someone for long enough they will drown.

[MaiAndy]

Yes you are being drowned. Water entering your nose and mouth.

[kngnothin]

PinKkFloyDd, on 27 May 2009 - 04:09 PM, said:

Physical torture is a pretty ineffective means of obtaining information. And I think many times it is used in circumstances where we are unsure if the detainee has any information or is even involved with terrorism. If they ARE indeed terrorists, then I feel little to no remorse if they are tortured; but like I said, it's ineffective, so if torture is to be stopped, it should be for that.

Not at all. Clearly, you have not looked into this subject. Every person has a breaking point. If you can't get information from someone when using torture, then it is only a matter of ineffective torture. Vets from Nam that were tortured can tell you that and will tell you that. Russians arrested by the their regime and thrown into the Gulags can tell you that and will tell you that as well.

I remember reading about those interrogators in the USSR that wanted to squeeze a false confession from their victims (they needed to meet a quota), and they would make the victim stand awake for weeks in a small box, banging the box on intervals. Sometimes they would find his greatest fear and stick the naked victim in a dark, cold box and release that fear(snakes, spiders, whatever); sometimes it was the real thing and sometimes it wasn't. Other times they would simply break his balls. Torture is only limited to how creative you are... or how much your countrymen whine about it...

I say, leave torture as an option,particularly when there is imminent danger. There is no doubt that popular opinion is against torture, but if the guys in Gitmo were fortunate enough to get Korans, then I don't think their stay could have been that bad.

[Sulate]

Torture that I think is most interesting is the one where they lock you down and a single drop of water falls on your forehead at random intervals. People say it starts to feel like it is drilling a hole in your head. Don't remember the name :/

[kngnothin]

Sulate, on 22 August 2010 - 09:43 AM, said:

Torture that I think is most interesting is the one where they lock you down and a single drop of water falls on your forehead at random intervals. People say it starts to feel like it is drilling a hole in your head. Don't remember the name :/

That's Chinese watertorture:



It looks to me like the only part of it that's torturous is wanting to go to the bathroom.

[Sulate]

And that's why they all started goin crazy after a few hours?

[SoLR]

The water drop thing isn't meant to only last for an hour or two, when they do it in a real situation it goes on for days.

[Sulate]

Yep, I'd say it's an effective torture without any real physical harm

[kngnothin]

Sulate, on 22 August 2010 - 11:23 PM, said:

And that's why they all started goin crazy after a few hours?

In all seriousness, repetitive action (like playing repetitive music/tunes) can be used as torture. And, those droplets are repetitive but also random, and that is what drives people crazy, not knowing when the next tiny drop will hit but knowing that it will repeat on and on and on.

[Sulate]

"drop of water falls on your forehead at random intervals." Yeah , I wrote that :P

But speaking of the music, anyone see A Clockwork Orange? In the movie, the main character gets brainwashed so that whenever he hears beethoven, it's like torture

[ironlak]

what they did to alex was effed up.