Hi All,
Too often politicians spin terms to advance their agendas. Even to the point that, in a country created by the most liberal constitution known in history, the term "liberal" was turned to a nasty word.
A rose by any other name still smells as sweetly as a rose and calling torture “enhanced interrogation” still is inhumane and remains torture. The “enhanced interrogation technique” now known as “water boarding” that was not only permitted but also now known demanded under the Bush/Cheney administration is nothing less than “torture”. Politicians in the United States of America, since the time of John F. Kennedy, have learned to buy and sell the mass media. Allowing politicians to misguide the public by spinning words to reduce or increase the “sting” of the word. The current attempt of politicians to rename “torture”, as “enhanced interrogation, is a continuance of the deceptive policy of redefining terminology. Other “enhanced interrogation techniques” aside, the water torture now called “water boarding” is without doubt a form of torture. The attempt to define ‘water-boarding’ as ‘enhanced interrogation’ and not as ‘torture’ is purely political. It is an attempt to steer the public from the fact that the United States government under the auspice of the Bush/Cheney administration knowingly committed war crimes. Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz (Boston Globe 5-15-2004) probably coins the phrase, “water-boarding” in reference to a form of “water-torture”. Water boarding is, of course, actually a form of surfboarding. A great thing for the spinning of words for politicians, giving a form of water tortures the connotation of a sporting event. The United States of America was instrumental in drafting, defining and ratifying the terms of the 1948 documents outlawing wartime crimes. The United States was most adamant in this because of the inhuman treatment suffered by an astronomical amount of brave American soldiers, especially in the World Wars. War crimes under the Geneva Convention include, "...willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment (cruel treatment), including biological experiments, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health." Article 3 of the Geneva Convention extends the articles of the treatise to include those not classified as “prisoners of war”. Hence, the attempted spinning of “war prisoners” to “detainees” will not protect one from committing a war crime. The water torture now called "water-boarding" surpasses "inhuman treatment" and "willfully causing great suffering", which is also illegal under the convention standards. Water boarding is nothing less than "torture", if it were not so, it would still be a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. Torture is defined as an inflicting of physical punishment which causes someone extreme pain, physical or mental anguish. Water boarding is a water torture that causes extreme pain, physical anguish and mental anguish. Water boarding is a torture. Our own Federal Criminal Code defines torture as “the intentional infliction of severe mental pain or suffering," In the United States, that called ‘water-boarding’ has long been considered and defined as “torture. The water torture now called water boarding has been an illegal war activity for many years. John McCain, past Presidential nominee and torture victim during the Vietnam War, said of the water boarding technique that it is a “very exquisite torture”. In Vietnam, United States Generals reiterated that water boarding was illegal and they were serious. A U.S. soldier found guilty of water boarding in Vietnam and sent to prison. Water boarding has long been considered an illegal wartime crime of torture whereby the United States holds its own accountable. A definition of water boarding as torture that goes back as far as 1901. A United States Army major, in the Spanish/American War, when found guilty of water boarding received a sentence of 10 years at hard labor. Only in the past few years has this been an issue. When it leaked that the United States had water boarded “detainees” at Guantanamo. The “spin” began water torture became water boarding, like the sport. Water boarding became an “enhanced interrogation technique” as opposed to the torture that it is. It is a hard pill to swallow, the idea of holding, especially before the world, one’s own responsible for such actions. However, this is a very resilient country, one of pride, which should not become a false pride by the subversion of words. To ignore our own morality and ideals, those that we have projected to the World, will be far worse than calling torture what it is, torture.
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