For the record, it wasn't the waterboarding that made him drop the bars, it was that gay music playing in the background. That shit was torture!

wow that didnt take long did it?

I wonder if Hitchens exercised regularly, if he'd be better able to manage the experience. That is, if a person is physically fit, would that increase their tolerance of the procedure? Regardless, this practice appears to be powerful enough to break anyone's will, regardless of their stamina or fitness.

And I'm sure that the information that it produces is highly reliable and always leads the good guys to bring down evildoers.

I'm surprised at how little water it took. I was always under the impression that they pour a bucket of water over the hood. I'd be interested to try it in a controlled situation; but at the same time, I'd rather not be stricken with the recurring nightmares/feelings of being smothered.

I was saving his article for bedtime reading tonight: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808

He didn't last long it seems, in part because he has "a fear of drowning that comes from a bad childhood moment on the Isle of Wight."

Oh, and BTW, has anyone seriously examined whether the Christian Baptism isn't now, or wasn't at some time in history, a form of waterboarding?

16 seconds.

I think that you're right. Read this guy's account:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=448717

Here's a guy who is marathon fit, and has trained in the past for free-diving, which is to say, diving as deeply as possible without SCUBA gear.

He waterboarded himself and got MUCH further than Hitchens, but once he got to the stage with the plastic wrap, it was game over, instantly. Unconditional, total surrender.

>> ^Trancecoach:
I wonder if Hitchens exercised regularly, if he'd be better able to manage the experience. That is, if a person is physically fit, would that increase their tolerance of the procedure? Regardless, this practice appears to be powerful enough to break anyone's will, regardless of their stamina or fitness.

Well, something tells me that the experience is different when you aren't given instructions, or little metal bars to drop so they will stop...

He's not a neoconservative. He only agrees with the neoconservatives on parts of foreign policy.

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They should have kept going (he is a big supporter of the iraq war)

If you can manage the thought of dieing, or have no care about dieing with your secrets then you would have no problem with this.

The guys doing it, looked at him after only 2 pours they expected him to fall out faster than that. This form of torture does not get you the information that you need, it gets you lies. There are other means of torture that do not involve water, most people will simply crack after being in a low lit room with no clock.

If you want good intel you have to target the Interviewee's soft spots. Its a mind game, find out what Symbol the person cares about the most and then rip it from them and taunt them with it. They will give you what you need.

For some this symbol is family, country, a cross, or a ring any thing like this. Thats the first step to breaking them down, after you hit them hard like that it should be easy to finish the job with out torture.

You never threatened their lives, so they have no real reason to lie to you to save their life. So in this case you could get better intelligence from the minds break down instead of the threat of death.

I know that I would not give them the information they desired just because I was threatened with death. I would give them any thing and every thing. Then let them sort out what is real and what isn't. The odds that they will find the right piece of information in the Lies is small.

So now you know why enemies and people choose to die rather than go to prison.
>> ^videosiftbannedme:
I'm surprised at how little water it took. I was always under the impression that they pour a bucket of water over the hood. I'd be interested to try it in a controlled situation; but at the same time, I'd rather not be stricken with the recurring nightmares/feelings of being smothered.

>> ^BillPayer:
They should have kept going (he is a big supporter of the iraq war)


He also condemns Bush and Cheney's actions(including the use of torture). He's not a neo-con apologist, he's someone who's spent a great deal of time with people in the worst parts of the world who happens to support the war as a result. He's been to North Korea as a visiting professor, he's had the grand son of Ayatollah Khamenei over to his house for supper, and has many good Kurdish friends whom he's spent time with before and after the war. When asked about terrorists in Iraq before the war, he didn't use talking points, he said "When I went to interview Abu Nidal, then the most wanted terrorist in the world, in Baghdad, he was operating out of an Iraqi government office."

Agreeing with the iraq war is not the same as agreeing with torture.
I'm surprised at how quickly he breaks.

"If you can manage the thought of dieing, or have no care about dieing with your secrets then you would have no problem with this. "

That someone not afraid to die for their country for not compromise secret information would have no problem being waterboarded is absolutely untrue. A suicidal person would not be able to endure excruciating torture, for example, just because they don't want to live.

This technique will make anyone try to stop it as much as they can, **to some extent**.

This person might blow their brain out at the drop of a hat, but most certainly would be unable to resist an unresistable feeling like acute pain or drowning.

I'm not saying that it's impossible for someone to resist giving out secrets. I just think that it takes a particularly extraordinary person to be able to withstand months/years of torture without cracking. It's just not that simple.

As someone who hasn't been waterboarded, I reckon I would last about as long. The drowning sensation induces panic very quickly and you'll do anything to avoid that.

i applaud political conservative Hitchens for at least having the backbone to experience it first hand and to film it.

Wish to god that this could be done to Dick Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz and George W. Bush.

Hey Condoleezza, care to step up to the board you gutless twat.

16 seconds. I understand this abomination went on for days with some guantanamo victims.

Hitchens is not a conservative.

This is grossly unfair to Hitchens. Experience his experiences and then criticise his opinions. Christ.

^no, a better rule is to criticise him only within the boundaries of your own experience and research. but always criticise. and always experience. and always research.

otherwise what, you only get a vote if you've been president before? You can only dislike music played on instruments you know how to play?

You do that enough to me, I'll tell you I was on the grassy knoll.

The codeword should've been: let's get out of Iraq. Or at least they should've made him confess killing Lincoln.

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Yes, he was in Forbes as one of the "25 most influential liberals in U.S. media" and he calls himself a radical.

Not sure where "neo-con" came from.

Forbes 25 Most Influential Liberals


>> ^jwray:
Hitchens is not a conservative.

>> ^deedub81:

Yes, he was in Forbes as one of the "25 most influential liberals in U.S. media" and he calls himself a radical.
Not sure where "neo-con" came from.
Forbes 25 Most Influential Liberals

>> ^jwray:
Hitchens is not a conservative.



His numerous editorials in support of the Iraq War caused some to label him a neoconservative, while Hitchens insists he is not "a conservative of any kind." -wiki