How Long Can Kondracke Tread Water?

Republican verbal waterboarding just keeps on pouring down our throats with the usual assist from POX News . . . Their October 29th Special Report featured the following reasoned discussion between Mort Kondracke and Brit Hume, once again proving that they really will say ANYTHING:

See, waterboarding’s not really too bad. After all, as fearless Brit Hume views it, you’re “safe,” although admittedly not as safe as in a POX newsroom, but, you do get to lay on your back, it’s not like you’re required to sit upright in a chair for an hour at a time like a POX pundit . . . and who doesn’t have fond memories of seesaws? And there’s even more good news!

KONDRACKE: “. . . I’m sure it feels like torture, you know, it doesn’t result in any lasting damage, but it feels like torture. The question — it’s never — it’s not illegal.

HUME: It is used, by the way, isn’t it, by our — on our own servicemen.

KONDRACKE: Yeah, pilots, pilots, Special Forces trainees, those people who might be captured are routinely trained under this with this technique.

HUME: So we do it to our own people.

KONDRACKE: Yeah, we do it to our own people.”

Although not as expert in Republican semantic sleight-of-hand as Morton Kondracke or Brit Hume, Dr. Allen S. Keller, M.D., director of the Bellevue Hospital Center/New York University Program for Survivors of Torture provides another view of waterboarding, a view apparently invisible to those outside the reality-based community:

[Warning: Facts occur in the following excerpts. Those unable to tolerate facts may suffer extreme, even torturous, discomfort.]

Dr. Keller reports (see his full Senate Intelligence Committee written testimony) :

“Water-boarding or mock drowning, where a prisoner is bound to an inclined board and water is poured over their face, inducing a terrifying fear of drowning clearly can result in immediate and long-term health consequences. As the prisoner gags and chokes, the terror of imminent death is pervasive, with all of the physiologic and psychological responses expected, including an intense stress response, manifested by tachycardia, rapid heart beat and gasping for breath. There is a real risk of death from actually drowning or suffering a heart attack or damage to the lungs from inhalation of water. Long term effects include panic attacks, depression and PTSD. I remind you of the patient I described earlier who would panic and gasp for breath whenever it rained even years after his abuse.”

Similarly invisible to the members of the Fantasy Based class is the firsthand knowledge of waterboarding of Malcolm Nance, a former Master Instructor and Chief of Training at the US Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE). Mr. Nance personally performed and supervised training exercises that involved waterboading of SERE staff as part of their training .

And yes, as Brit Hume fearlessly reported, “we do it to our own people,” but, as Mr. Nance writes, waterbhoarding, as employed in SERE training, “was designed to show how an evil totalitarian, enemy would use torture at the slightest whim.” Note: Waterboarding. Torture. Evil. Totalitarian. Enemy.

Mr. Nance continues:

“Waterboarding is a controlled drowning that, in the American model, occurs under the watch of a doctor, a psychologist, an interrogator and a trained strap-in/strap-out team. It does not simulate drowning, as the lungs are actually filling with water. There is no way to simulate that. The victim is drowning. How much the victim is to drown depends on the desired result (in the form of answers to questions shouted into the victim’s face) and the obstinacy of the subject. A team doctor watches the quantity of water that is ingested and for the physiological signs which show when the drowning effect goes from painful psychological experience, to horrific suffocating punishment to the final death spiral.

Waterboarding is slow motion suffocation with enough time to contemplate the inevitability of black out and expiration –usually the person goes into hysterics on the board. For the uninitiated, it is horrifying to watch and if it goes wrong, it can lead straight to terminal hypoxia. When done right it is controlled death. Its lack of physical scarring allows the victim to recover and be threaten[ed] with its use again and again.” To see Mr. Nance’s complete narrative at Small Wars Journal

So, do you feel better now? It’s safe, it only “feels like” torture, and we “do it to our own people.” Oh, and for the lawyers in the house, Mr. Kondracke’s Kategorical, “it’s never — it’s not illegal.” Well, on that point they once again will say ANYTHING; the facts are that at many points in our history we have prosecuted individuals, including our enemies, our own servicemembers, and police officers, for waterboarding. Examples of prosecutions

This show isn’t over yet, but given the promised “yea” votes in the Judiciary Committee of Democratic Senators Feinstein and Shumer, it now appears certain that Mukasey’s confirmation will move to a confirmatory vote in the full Senate. We’re bound to hear more about waterboarding, and more attempts at POX News and elsewhere in NutjobNation to drown reason, dissent, and the rule of law. Unfortunately, Feinstein and Schumer have chosen to join in . . .