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Christopher Hitchens Get Waterboarded

How does it feel to be "aggressively interrogated"? Christopher Hitchens found out for himself, submitting to a brutal waterboarding session in an effort to understand the human cost of America's use of harsh tactics at Guantánamo and elsewhere. VF.com has the footage. Related: "Believe Me, It's Torture," from the August 2008 issue http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808

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15 Comments

Current View: 15 / Show all Comments

BaconSoda : LVL 12: VP 2.1: said:

BaconSoda

22 votes NegativePositive

180 days 10 hours ago...

I take my hat off for him having the balls to go through with this, even more so because of the reason he did it.

Christopher Hitchens is a trooper. He jumps into the thick of rightwing fundamentalists and fights an infinitely hopeless battle trying to implement logic.

I don`t know about the rest of you, but I find it unbelieveably frustrating that there hasn`t been any focus on these videos. This video alone should`ve been enough to prove that waterboarding IS TORTURE.

If there ever was a man I`d like to meet it`d be him.

Violetninja420 : LVL 38: VP 4.6: said:

Violetninja420

36 votes NegativePositive

180 days 7 hours ago...

I would have been begging for mercy the second they hit play on the cd player. :S

DoctorRandomercam : LVL 40: VP 4.8: said:

DoctorRandomercam

19 votes NegativePositive

180 days 3 hours ago...

Yeah Hitch did this ages ago. It`s funny how everyone`s on about that radio douche getting waterboarded and Olbermann`s all "Fuck you Hannity you could`ve been first!" I was like, Hitch did it. What, you didn`t believe him? Fuck you. Assholes. Gotta have a square face to be anyone in this country.

fullauto223cal : LVL 31: VP 4: said:

fullauto223cal

Hidden (Show Comment) -41 votes

179 days 16 hours ago...

"TORTURE makes you say anything!" I`m sure it will but what our guys did was ask questions to which we already knew the answers. When the enemy began telling the truth to those questions we started asking things we didn`t know. Oh, and lets not forget that the intelligence we gained from the few that underwent this process SAVED LIVES!! My GOD people, IT IS WAR! TRUE torture involves breaking bones, removing fingernails, impaling hands with nails, or beatings; anything that almost takes you to death without actually killing you. Stimulating the nervous system to make you brain THINK it is drowning is not torture, I`m sorry, I`m sure none of us would last longer than him but, ugh, that`s the point!

tonyaod : LVL 32: VP 4.1: said:

tonyaod

26 votes NegativePositive

179 days 15 hours ago...

I think you`d need to think longer and harder about the definition and purpose of torture, fullauto.

Torture is infliction of pain and fear. If I were to hypothetically break every single bone in your body and then heal it so that there were no lasting effects and then repeat, would that be torture? What if I only simulated it? Putting electrodes to send pain signals to your brain but no real physical damage to your body, is that torture? Why should one be considered torture while the other is not?

Torture involves repeatedly inflicting pain until you mentally breakdown and is essentially brainwashed. I don`t see how physical contact would have to be involved to considered torture.

In our own legal system we categorized assault and battery as the same thing. Assault it the attempt at causing bodily harm while battery is having committed actual bodily harm. I don`t see why we should treat torture differently.

Using your scenario, suppose we think someone knows something so we inflict fear and pain into him/her and start asking questions we`d already know the answer. He/she really is innocent and finally cracks and start giving answers just to make it stop. What do we do then? Say, "Gee, I guess you really don`t have anything. Sorry about that. Here, have a slurpy and enjoy your day."?

What if he gave us the answers we knew and then asking the questions we didn`t know the answer, how do we know he`s not making up what he didn`t. Suppose I torture you and kept asking the name of your father. Once you gave me his true name I then ask you, where is Bin Laden, you don`t know so you make one up. Better ye, you say I don`t know. Since we know you gave the right answer before we assume you must know but just needs a little more convincing...see the slippery slope here?

Does war justify any means? What do we, as Americans, stand for? Truth, justice, and the American-way? Do we represent the culmination of advances in democracy and a role-model in which the rest of the world can aspire to, or are we just another savage nation serving our own selfish interest bent on world domination a la Nazi Germany? If we are the latter then is the attacks carried out by extremist on 911 justified, after all, they too are bent on world domination to serve their own selfish interests. Who are we to point fingers?

I can understand your gut reaction at self-preservation at any means, it is a very human response. However, you need to examine the implications and the ramifications of what you are justifying.

thedude7 : LVL 18: VP 2.7: said:

thedude7

8 votes NegativePositive

179 days 12 hours ago...

brilliant ^

i second that.

freedog : LVL 11: VP 2: said:

freedog

0 votes NegativePositive

179 days 11 hours ago...

These waterboarding videos sure are popular.

Gusthebus : LVL 28: VP 3.7: said:

Gusthebus

3 votes NegativePositive

179 days 11 hours ago...

I thought they were just trying to get the towel a little wet in preparation for the exercise. They barely poured a pint. Scary shit.

mdebolt : LVL 5: VP 1.4: said:

mdebolt

Hidden (Show Comment) -15 votes

179 days 7 hours ago...

You fucking liberals irritate the shit outta me! First, we have only done this to 3 people, and guess what? Those 3 people are still breathing with all their limbs intact. I don`t remember this much backlash against the terrorists that were sawing peoples heads off and posting the sick shit all over the internet. Talk about disturbing, that shit haunted my dreams for months. As far as I can see, waterboarding makes it hard to breath for a few seconds. Getting your fucking head slowly sawed off has a permanant effect on breathing. When they torture prisoners either they come back missing a few limbs or not at all. How else are we supposed to get the information we need to save lives, not just American lives but lives the world over? Get over yourselves and let the brave men and women that keep us safe continue to do so.

3zer0 : LVL 13: VP 2.2: said:

3zer0

4 votes NegativePositive

179 days 7 hours ago...

The music was torture enough.

Wonfis : LVL 32: VP 4.1: said:

Wonfis

2 votes NegativePositive

179 days 5 hours ago...

mdebolt, the American people are not responsible for the actions of terrorists, but officers under the employ of the federal government... in theory every citizen holds responsibility.

The question is not "How else do we get the information?" but "Is this information, given that there`s a high degree of unreliability, worth the moral and ethical cost of torture?" The answer is almost invariably `no` when the public are asked.

Sca1ar : LVL 33: VP 4.2: said:

Sca1ar

-3 votes NegativePositive

179 days 5 hours ago...

pussy

Nose Nuggets : LVL 11: VP 2: said:

Nose Nuggets

6 votes NegativePositive

179 days 5 hours ago...

i love how everyone takes it down to

a) it has worked and saved lives

b) its war, anything goes!


um, its illegal, and to some immoral. i dont think too much more is required. if we are slightly less safe without torturing (which is ludicrous as torture is never a good way to get info) then so be it. its the price we pay to live in a free country under the rule of law. i pay it gladly.

RageAgainstTheAmish : LVL 26: VP 3.5: said:

RageAgainstTheAmish

-2 votes NegativePositive

179 days 5 hours ago...

Pussy.

tonyaod : LVL 32: VP 4.1: said:

tonyaod

1 votes NegativePositive

179 days 5 hours ago...

How you know how many people we have done this to? Do you have the highest security clearance? Are you on the president`s security council? How many people are waterboarded is irrelevant. The point is that we are condoning it. Do we stand for something nobler? Do we strive to be just or are we no different from these terrorists?

Once you condone these tactics then you have no right to claim you are saving lives, you most definitely aren`t saving Iraqi and Afghan lives. You have claimed more lives then you have saved. And you most certainly have no right to criticize authoritarian regimes like those in N. Korea, Cuba, Iran and human rights abuses in China.

Once we condone then we can`t have a holier-then-thou attitude because we wouldn`t have the moral high-ground on which to stand upon.

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