re: #111 lrsshadow

re: #74 iceweasel

Oh you mean the memo that “memo concludes that torture is defined as “acts inflicting…severe pain or suffering, whether mental or physical.” Physical pain “must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death.” Mental pain “must result in significant psychological harm of significant duration, e.g., lasting for months or even years,” as well as be the result of one of the specific causes of mental pain contained in 18 USC 2340, “namely: threats of imminent death; threats of infliction of the kind of pain that would amount to physical torture; infliction of such physical pain as a means of psychological torture; use of drugs or other procedures designed to deeply disrupt the senses, or fundamentally alter an individual’s personality; or threatening to do any of these things to a third party.”“

Sounds to me like the memo said if you did any of the above things then it would be illegal. Doesn’t match up with you point,

These are the techniques we are talking about;

1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes them
2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap to the face aimed at causing pain and triggering fear
3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the abdomen. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage
4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor, for more than 40 hours
5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius)
6. Waterboarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Material is wrapped over the prisoner’s face and water is poured over them. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt

1, 2 and 3 may merely count as ‘knocking your prisoners around’.

4, 5 and 6 are time honored torture techniques.