- Also called:
- water torture, simulated drowning, interrupted drowning, and controlled drowning
- Related Topics:
- torture
Waterboarding
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What is waterboarding?
Waterboarding is a torture method where water is poured into the mouth and nose of a victim lying on their back with their feet elevated. This induces a drowning sensation, triggering panic and terror, and the gag reflex causes the victim to expel air from their lungs, leaving them unable to exhale and inhale without aspirating water.
Waterboarding has been practiced for centuries and is illegal under the law of war according to the Geneva Convention. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used waterboarding on al-Qaeda members in 2002-2003. While some defended it as legal and necessary, critics deemed it illegal, unreliable, and damaging to the country's human rights reputation.
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Why is waterboarding considered a form of torture?
Waterboarding is considered a form of torture because it inflicts severe physical and psychological distress. During the procedure, water is poured into the victim's nose and mouth, causing an intense gag reflex that simulates drowning. This triggers extreme physical suffering, panic, and terror, sometimes in seconds.
The illegality of waterboarding as torture is recognized under the Geneva Conventions. These conventions require humane treatment of prisoners of war and civilians, explicitly prohibiting torture and cruel treatment. The UN Convention against Torture also prohibits torture in all circumstances, obligating states to criminalize, investigate, and prosecute acts of torture.
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What physical and mental effects can waterboarding have on a person?
Waterboarding is a torture method that involves pouring water into the nose and mouth of a victim who is lying on their back with their feet elevated. This causes the gag reflex to activate, forcing the person to expel air and creating the sensation of drowning.
Waterboarding causes extreme physical suffering and an uncontrollable feeling of panic and terror, usually within seconds. Bob Barr, former US House Representative, stated that waterboarding causes excruciating physical pain as the immobilized victim’s lungs fill with water. At the same time, the process inflicts profound psychological pain by creating the very real impression in the victim’s mind that he faces imminent death by drowning.
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In what situations or contexts has waterboarding been used in history?
Waterboarding is a torture method involving pouring water over a person's mouth and nose to simulate drowning. It has been used in various forms throughout history.
Waterboarding was used by the Spanish Inquisition in the 16th century, by Dutch traders against the British in the 17th century, during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48), by the U.S. Army in the Philippines following the Spanish-American War (1898), by the Japanese Army during World War II, and by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia (1975–78).
After the September 11 attacks in 2001, the George W. Bush administration authorized the CIA to use waterboarding on suspected terrorists, who were held at Guantánamo Bay detention camp and in secret prisons. The agency confirmed it had waterboarded members of al-Qaeda in 2002–2003.
The Geneva Convention of 1929 outlawed waterboarding, and the United Nations has since condemned it as torture.
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What are the main arguments for and against the use of waterboarding?
Waterboarding is a torture method where water is poured over a person's mouth and nose to simulate drowning. Arguments for its use often center on the claim that it can extract valuable information from detainees, while arguments against it emphasize its illegality, inhumanity, and unreliability.
Arguments in favor: Proponents argue waterboarding is effective in eliciting confessions and intelligence, asserting it causes no lasting physical harm. Some claim it is a necessary tool to prevent imminent threats, thus justifying its use in specific high-stakes scenarios.
Arguments against: Opponents argue that waterboarding constitutes torture, violating domestic and international laws. They point to the severe physical suffering and psychological trauma it inflicts, as well as its unreliability, as victims may say anything to stop the procedure. Critics also argue that its use damages a country's reputation and moral standing.
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Waterboarding, method of torture in which water is poured into the nose and mouth of a victim who lies on his back on an inclined platform, with his feet above his head. As the victim’s sinus cavities and mouth fill with water, his gag reflex causes him to expel air from his lungs, leaving him unable to exhale and unable to inhale without aspirating water. Although water usually enters the lungs, it does not immediately fill them, owing to their elevated position with respect to the head and neck. In this way the victim can be made to drown for short periods without suffering asphyxiation. The victim’s mouth and nose are often covered with a cloth, which allows water to enter but prevents it from being expelled; alternatively, his mouth may be covered with cellophane or held shut for this purpose. The torture is eventually halted and the victim put in an upright position to allow him to cough and vomit (water usually enters the esophagus and stomach) or to revive him if he has become unconscious, after which the torture may be resumed. Waterboarding produces extreme physical suffering and an uncontrollable feeling of panic and terror, usually within seconds.
Waterboarding in various forms has been practiced for centuries. It was used by the Spanish Inquisition from the 16th century, by Dutch traders against the British in the 17th century, during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48), by the U.S. Army in the Philippines following the Spanish-American War (1898), by the Japanese Army during World War II, and by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia (1975–78). As a form of torture, waterboarding became illegal under the law of war with the adoption of the third Geneva Convention of 1929, which required that prisoners of war be treated humanely, and the third and fourth Geneva Conventions of 1949, which explicitly prohibited the torture and cruel treatment of prisoners of war and civilians, respectively. On the basis of the 1929 convention the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE; 1946–48) convicted 25 Japanese leaders of responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity, specifically including torture by waterboarding (referred to by the IMTFE as the “water treatment”).
Following the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, the U.S. Department of Justice under the George W. Bush administration issued secret opinions (in 2002 and 2005) finding that waterboarding and other so-called enhanced interrogation techniques did not constitute torture. On the basis of the 2002 opinion (subsequently rescinded), it authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to use such techniques against suspected terrorists held at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and in secret prisons in other countries. In 2002–03 the CIA repeatedly waterboarded three captured members of al-Qaeda, the Islamic terrorist organization responsible for the attacks. After the agency publicly confirmed its use of waterboarding in 2005, members of the Bush administration defended the technique as legal and necessary and insisted that it had yielded valuable intelligence regarding al-Qaeda’s membership and operations. Critics in the United States and abroad charged that waterboarding was illegal under domestic and international law, that it is generally unreliable because the victim will say anything to make it stop, that the information it had produced was already known, and that its use had damaged the country’s reputation as a defender of human rights.
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