'A rose is a rose by any name....'

by David Grand
December 19, 2007

Although President Bush, Condoeezza Rice and then Attorney General John Ashcroft may have referred to waterboarding, euphemistically, as an "enhanced interrogation technique," when giving the CIA the go-ahead to use it when interrogating suspected terrorists in 2002, it, too, is still a form of torture by any name.

Listening to those who refuse to label it as such reminds me of those doubting Thomas' who believe that the moon landing by a U.S. manned spacecraft in 1969 was actually staged on a movie set, that global warming is mostly science fiction, and that man is not descended from apes.

In researching the history of waterboarding, I found it dates back to the 1500's, when it was but one form of water torture. Among which were:

• Forced ingestion. Water is forced down the throat into the stomach until  osmosis causes the cells to explode. Japanese used it against Americans and Chinese during World War 11, and was used against Filipinos by American forces in the Philippine-American War.
• Dripping water. What is called the "Chinese water torture," which purportedly drove its victim insane by the stress of water dripping on a part of the forehead over a prolonged period.
• Whipping. Very cold water poured over the face or head to make a whipping more painful and with the water making it easier to pierce the skin.
• Dunking. A victim would be repeatedly immersed in water and pulled out and asked to confess to a crime.

But those methods of torture pale by comparison to the most horrible tortures ever devised by the human mind during the Middle Ages; such as: the rack (commonly referred to as the most painful medieval torture of them all), the coffin torture (aka Iron Maiden), the head crusher, foot roasting, the lead sprinkler (pouring molten metals into different parts of the body), sawing a person hanging upside down in half, being burned at the stake and "skinning" a person alive.

By now, you've probably concluded that I must have a sadistic streak to bring up such an unseemly subject during the holiday season. But then again, perhaps it is a good time to be reminded of the history of man's inhumanity to man and how much we've advanced as a civilization by no longer engaging in such cruel, barbaric forms of torture--except that is for waterboarding.

Plus, I wanted to get it off my chest before the start of the new year, so that I can then write about more lighthearted subjects, like the carnival-like atmosphere surrounding the presidential campaigns; the ever-widening steroid scandal in the world of baseball; and the heated debate about who should be the "top gun" in the county, the sheriff, an elected official, or a chief of  police appointed by the commissioners.