Believe Me, It’s Torture

The author catches his breath after undergoing his first waterboarding session. Photographs by Gasper Tringale.

From Vanity Fair:

What more can be added to the debate over U.S. interrogation methods, and whether waterboarding is torture? Try firsthand experience. The author undergoes the controversial drowning technique, at the hands of men who once trained American soldiers to resist—not inflict—it.

Here is the most chilling way I can find of stating the matter. Until recently, “waterboarding” was something that Americans did to other Americans. It was inflicted, and endured, by those members of the Special Forces who underwent the advanced form of training known as sere (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape). In these harsh exercises, brave men and women were introduced to the sorts of barbarism that they might expect to meet at the hands of a lawless foe who disregarded the Geneva Conventions. But it was something that Americans were being trained to resist, not to inflict.

Read more ....

My Comment:
I read this story a few weeks ago, and I have been wanting to comment on it ever since. I must give credit to Mr. Hitchens to undergo the procedure and to write about it. His article is also informative and well written.

For readers who are interested in more info, I have found the following ebook on the Gigapedia website that elaborates further on what Christopher Hitchen's went through.

Interrorgation: The CIA's Secret Manual On Coercive Questioning [KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation Manual] by Elliston, Jon (ed)