Hitch Submits To Waterboarding

Christopher Hitchens (wiki bio), one of the worlds leading intellectuals, agreed to be waterboarded for Vanity Fair after the editor suggested it make make for a interesting read.  Despite a healthy fear of drowning, a 15,000\year cigarette habit and being the not so young age 59, Hitch agreed.  While Hitch only lasted a few seconds under the hands of his interrogators, the article is as always a great read (full article here) .  Some quotes:

You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it “simulates” the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning—or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure. The “board” is the instrument, not the method. You are not being boarded. You are being watered. This was very rapidly brought home to me when, on top of the hood, which still admitted a few flashes of random and worrying strobe light to my vision, three layers of enveloping towel were added.

Also, in case it’s of interest, I have since woken up trying to push the bedcovers off my face, and if I do anything that makes me short of breath I find myself clawing at the air with a horrible sensation of smothering and claustrophobia. No doubt this will pass. As if detecting my misery and shame, one of my interrogators comfortingly said, “Any time is a long time when you’re breathing water.” I could have hugged him for saying so, and just then I was hit with a ghastly sense of the sadomasochistic dimension that underlies the relationship between the torturer and the tortured. I apply the Abraham Lincoln test for moral casuistry: “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” Well, then, if waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.

You have to give credit to a guy who can write so honestly after breaking so quickly (no, I couldn't have done better myself, I too have a fear of drowning) .  But more than just write about it, Hitch agreed to have the waterboarding session taped and that video can be seen here.   It all makes for some interesting viewing and a great read.