News Flash From the Future
One of the bloggers at the must read Balkinization imagines the tables turned and Al Qaeda using president Bush’s “enhanced” questioning techniques. (via Andrew Sullivan):
Several of our American soldiers were apprehended by terrorists and interrogated for hours on end. Al Qaeda operatives slapped them repeatedly in the face and the stomach to cause pain, then they shook them violently over and over again to disorient them. Then, after softening them up, they deprived the Americans of sleep and forced them to stand for over 40 hours at a time. Reports indicated that Al Qaeda regarded this technique as particularly effective in breaking down the Americans’ will. Then, for those who had not already cracked, Al Qaeda stripped the Americans naked, put them in cold rooms kept at around 50 degrees and repeatedly doused them with cold water.A few American soldiers wouldn’t crack even under this treatment. For them Al Qaeda had a special technique: They strapped the Americans to a horizontal board with their heads tilted downward slightly. Then they covered the American soldiers’ faces with cellophane and continuously poured water over them to make the Americans think they were drowning. This technique caused an unbearable gag reflex. The Al Qaeda interrogators were particularly impressed with how this quickly reduced even the bravest Americans into abject submission.