Waterboarding: Historical and Legal Reputations

Waterboarding has been in the news quite a bit lately, with a debate raging as to whether it should qualify as torture or merely enhanced interrogation. In order to definitively understand the technique, and the scandal surrounding its use, it is useful to look at its history of use.

During the Spanish Inquisition of the 1400s, there was a fervor in Spain to root out heretics from their midst. In an effort to forcibly extricate confessions of heresy from suspects, various tortures were devised. Among those was waterboarding, or, as it was referred to then, "the water cure," or "tormenta de toca." It entailed draping a thin cloth over the mouth of the suspect (who was already on the rack), then pouring water onto it. The cloth would force its way down the victim's throat, causing a slow and burning sensation of asphyxiation. It was later modified by Dutch traders in the 17^th century, such that the cloth was draped over the nose while water was slowly dripped into the mouth. This was meant, more specifically, to replicate drowning, rather than suffocation, and was used against their British rivals.

Seen as an attractive technique because of its lack of physical evidence, the Spaniards brought the torture to the New World in the 1500s in further attempts to root out heresy. It took hold, and became a common tool in Salem to look for witches.

However, once the enlightenment hit Europe in 1800, the practice became seen as barbaric. That did not, however, stop its usage underground. It has been used by the Khmer Rouge, the Japanese, the British, and, perhaps most extensively, South American dictatorships, where it is referred to as "Asian torture."

Although it was used, it has been viewed traditionally as a violation of the laws of war, and has been successfully prosecuted in more than one instance. The United States brought a case against Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, in 1947 for his waterboarding of a U.S. civilian. Asano was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. In 1968, a photograph of a U.S. soldier overseeing the waterboarding of a North Vietnamese soldier led to a court martial, and 1983 saw a Texas sheriff tried and convicted for waterboarding suspects. Phillipine Dictator Ferdinand Marcos was also sued and convicted in an American district court for using waterboarding on an American.

One thing that has remained fairly consistent throughout the years is that the technique is largely used in order to get the information the torturers are looking for. Whether it be the Spaniards looking for "confessions" of heresy, or the use of it to force black men in the Deep South to confess to crimes they had not committed, the common thread appears to be that the torturer lets the torturee know exactly what answer will satisfy them and stop the process. For this reason, it has not been seen as a manner by which reliable information can be extracted, legally speaking. In 1926, the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned the conviction of an African-American man of murder because of the use of the technique to get his confession.

Whatever name it goes by--"the cure," "asian torture," or "tormenta de toca"--waterboarding has a long a gruesome history. It has been controversial since its inception, and remains so today.

"Waterboarding: A Tortured History"

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15886834

www.npr.org

"Case Law Establishes Waterboarding As Torture"

http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2007/11/05/waterboarding-case-law/

www.irregulartimes.com

"Waterboarding in Mississippi"

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/11/waterboarding-i.html

www.andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com