WATERBOARDING.

For those who think Waterboarding is no big deal, I'd recommend reading this account by a self-described tough guy who gave it a shot under soft, controlled, conditions. His initial impression is that the technique is light, survivable. But then he begins to amp up the danger, moving closer to the conditions used by our torturers interrogators. After traying it through saran wrap, this is what he says:

The water fills the hole in the saran wrap so that there is either water or vaccum in your mouth. The water pours into your sinuses and throat. You struggle to expel water periodically by building enough pressure in your lungs. With the saran wrap though each time I expelled water, I was able to draw in less air. Finally the lungs can no longer expel water and you begin to draw it up into your respiratory tract.It seems that there is a point that is hardwired in us. When we draw water into our respiratory tract to this point we are no longer in control. All hell breaks loose. Instinct tells us we are dying.I have never been more panicked in my whole life. Once your lungs are empty and collapsed and they start to draw fluid it is simply all over. You [b]know[b] you are dead and it's too late. Involuntary and total panic.[...]So, is it torture?I'll put it this way. If I had the choice of being waterboarded by a third party or having my fingers smashed one at a time by a sledgehammer, I'd take the fingers, no question.It's horrible, terrible, inhuman torture. I can hardly imagine worse. I'd prefer permanent damage and disability to experiencing it again. I'd give up anything, say anything, do anything.The Spanish Inquisition knew this. It was one of their favorite methods.It's torture. No question. Terrible terrible torture. To experience it and understand it and then do it to another human being is to leave the realm of sanity and humanity forever. No question in my mind.

And as he notes, this is terror locked within a rational understanding that he is in control, that he will not be hurt, that he will not die. When a prisoner is tortured, when he knows his family can't find him and lacks the power to free him, when his captors are screaming at him and radiating hate, the fear must be unimaginable. This is, without a doubt, torture. We are torturers.