Street Corner Society

Torture Memos: Waterboarding
by Jonathan Mann

The detainee
is lying on a gurney
that is inclined at an angle
10 to 15 degrees.
A cloth is placed
over the detainee’s face,
cold water is poured on the cloth.
The wet cloth creates
a barrier through which
it is difficult
or in some cases
not possible
for the detainee to breathe.

If the detainee
makes an effort to defeat
the technique
by twisting his head
to the side
and breathing out the
corner of his mouth,
the interrogator
may cup his hands around
the detainee’s nose and mouth
in which case it would not be possible
for the detainee to breathe.
(Oh, to breathe!)

But as we explained
in the section 2340A
Memorandum,
“pain and
suffering”
is best understood
as a single concept
not distinct concepts
of “pain”
as distinguished from “suffering”.
(Oh, suffering!)

The waterboard
which inflicts no pain
or actual
harm whatsoever,
does not in our view
inflict “severe pain
or suffering”.
Even if one were
to parse the statute
more finely
to treat suffering
as a distinct concept
the waterboard could not
be said to inflict
severe suffering.

The waterboard is simply (Ohhh suffering!)
a controlled acute episode
lacking the connotation (Severe suffering!)
of a protracted period of time
generally given to suffering. (Severe suffering!)

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 9:46 pm and is filed under conscience & law, in the news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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