re: #94 Charles

The fact is that waterboarding triggers the drowning reflex. It has nothing to do with how long you can hold your breath; when your senses tell you you’re drowning, a primal instinct of panic kicks in and you cannot control it.

That’s why it’s torture. It’s pointless to argue that it isn’t. The only real question is whether it’s justified in extreme cases.

Why? Because it induces panic? Triggers primal instincts? Is beyond one’s control? Triggers reflexes? You haven’t really given a useable definition before you say “…that’s why…”

I’m not troubled by any kind of emotional pain or panic for the people that plan 9-11 or like attacks. Especially if it means stopping future ones.
I don’t like to imagine the toll that administering this takes on our agents, though.