Hitchens on Waterboarding: “Believe me, it’s torture.”

Christopher Hitchens, pseudointellectual atheist extraordinaire, as part of an article for this August's Vanity Fair magazine, submitted himself for perhaps a somewhat unique experience – waterboarding.

There has been some back and forth debate among policy makers the past few years about whether or not to categorize waterboarding as torture, as it is one of the interrogation techniques that have been used against our brothers in Guantanomo Bay.

Hitchens writes in his VF article that waterboarding was originally a method of torture Special Forces underwent as part of their SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) Training component in the event they were captured by an enemy who ignored the Geneva Conventions.

Perhaps even more telling was the waiver he was required to sign, which stated the following:

“Water boarding” is a potentially dangerous activity in which the participant can receive serious and permanent (physical, emotional and psychological) injuries and even death, including injuries and death due to the respiratory and neurological systems of the body.

The agreement went on to state that even with the safeguards provided:

…during the ‘water boarding’ process, however, these measures may fail and even if they work properly they may not prevent Hitchens from experiencing serious injury or death.

Hitchens goes on to quote Malcolm Nance, a man who has been involved in the SERE training program for some time, who states:

“Torture advocates hide behind the argument that an open discussion about specific American interrogation techniques will aid the enemy. Yet, convicted Al Qaeda members and innocent captives who were released to their host nations have already debriefed the world through hundreds of interviews, movies and documentaries on exactly what methods they were subjected to and how they endured. Our own missteps have created a cadre of highly experienced lecturers for Al Qaeda’s own virtual SERE school for terrorists.”

I've underlined a serious moral dilemna which the US government and their dogmatic followers have ignored, and that is that Guantanomo prisoners who are innocent by even their own definition of innocent have been tortured using this technique (and others). No surprise here, just a reminder of what we've all known now for some time.

Interesting as this story is, Hitchens does not break new ground per se, as he is re-iterating much of what was stated in this Washington Post article which additionally goes on to state that during WWII, Japanese soldiers were convicted for torturing American POWs due to their use of waterboarding techniques against them (Frustrating, I know). What separates Hitchens' article is his reversal of position on waterboarding due to his firsthand experience.

May Allah subhaana wa ta'aala reward and bless greatly those of our brothers and sisters who have been subjected to such harsh treatment, and give them patience and strength to endure the after effects of such techniques.