Bullypulpit
Senior Member
Any proof of this or are we just supposed to trust your word?
Torture is defined as:
<blockquote>For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions. - <a href=http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html>UN Convention Against Torture</a></blockquote>
Given this internationally accepted definition of torture, waterboarding does indeed qualify as torture. Even if it didn't, international law and US treaty obligations prohibit mistreatment which does not meet the definition of torture.
It should also be noted that the new US Army Field Manual
<blockquote>...bans torture and degrading treatment of prisoners, for the first time specifically mentioning forced nakedness, hooding and other infamous procedures used during the five-year-old fight against terrorism.
Delayed more than a year amid criticism of the Defense Department's treatment of prisoners, the revised Army Field Manual released Wednesday updates a 1992 version.
It also explicitly bans beating prisoners, sexually humiliating them, threatening them with dogs, depriving them of food or water, performing mock executions, shocking them with electricity, burning them, causing other pain and a technique called "water boarding" that simulates drowning, said Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence. - <a href=http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/09/06/army-bans-some-interrogation-techniques/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mercurynews.com%2Fmld%2Fmercurynews%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2F15451651.htm&frame=true>The Mercury News</a></blockquote>
Is that sufficient?