She's doing it again....

Cross-posting, that is.

From Global Comment: Waterboarding is Torture

Eric Holder answered the important questions right in his confirmation hearing. In his sworn testimony, under questioning from Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, Holder stated unequivocally that “waterboarding is torture.”

Waterboarding, where a person is strapped to a board and water is poured over their face, filling the lungs, has been written off as “simulated” drowning. In fact, as Malcolm Nance, who has been waterboarded and performed waterboarding at the US Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School, wrote:

“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 with its use again and again.”

After years of Bush administration doublespeak on the matter, with the official line being “The United States does not torture,” while officials defended CIA “enhanced interrogation techniques, it is refreshing to hear the nominee for Attorney General speak so clearly on the subject.

Read On.