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Line 1: − '''Waterboarding''' is a method of coercion that dates back to the time of the Italian Inquisition in the 1500s. A tightly bound prisoner has porous cloth placed over his mouth and nose. Water is poured over his face in such a manner as to convince the prisoner that he is drowning. <ref>http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1356870</ref> Anonymous sources claim the practice was revived in the wake of [[9/11]] which then quickly attracted harsh criticism. + − − In 1901, Major Edwin Glenn was court-martialed and sentenced to 10 years hard labour for waterboarding an insurgent in the [[Philippines]] during the [[Spanish-American War]]. <ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1933315,00.html</ref><ref>http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1356870</ref> In 1947, Yukio Asano - a Japanese officer - was charged with war crimes and received 15 years hard labour for waterboarding a US civilian. It was declared illegal by US generals in Vietnam and a US soldier was court-martialed after ''The Washington Post'' (21.1.1968) published a front page photograph of him supervising the waterboarding of a captured North Vietnamese soldier. <ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100402005.html</ref> <ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1933315,00.html</ref> − − CIA sources describe the technique as used in [[coercive interrogation]] thus: − − ''"The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt."'' <ref>http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/print?id=1322866</ref> − − According to the same sources, CIA officers who submitted to the technique in training lasted an average of 14 seconds before "surrendering." − − == Controversy == − − Opponents of the US use of the technique call it "torture" and want official definitons of [[torture]] changed so as to outlaw the technique. Top US officials say the technique is not "torture" and rebuffed attempts to reclassify or ban it. − − == References == − <references/>
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