Torture apologists have been arguing for months that "waterboarding isn't torture" because it's utilized in the SERE program which trains U.S. servicemen to resist torture. I wrote a long time ago that "the non-simulated use of torture is torture" and this small paragraph on page 45 (summary point 79) of the recently released IG report, about the discrepancy between waterboarding in SERE and waterboarding as the CIA, pretty much says the exact same thing:
One of the psychologists/interrogators acknowledged that the Agency's use of the technique differed from that used in SERE training and explained that the Agency's technique is different because it is “for real” and is more poignant and convincing.
In other words, CIA waterboarding is different from SERE waterboarding because it involves actually torturing people. Imagine that.
-- A. Serwer
