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REGION: North America
TOPIC: Law
Online NewsHour
FORUM
Posted: November 14, 2007

Ask Questions on Waterboarding

 Forum Introduction
Interrogation room The interrogation tactic known as waterboarding, or simulated drowning, has grabbed headlines in recent weeks and stirred legal and ethical debates. Malcolm Nance, a former Navy Seals instructor and Neil Livingstone, CEO of Executive Action, answered your questions on the controversial technique.
QUESTIONS
Hasn't torture historically provoked anger?
How should the U.S. respond if our service-members were subjected to waterboarding?
Have pop culture's depictions of torture influenced our view of it?
Isn't it better to have information even if it came from duress?
What is the difference between imitation torture and actual torture?
Have there been any studies on the efficacy of waterboarding to get information?
Why is waterboarding being employed now when we have faced greater threats in the past?
Are there any non-coercive means of gaining information?
Roger Pepin of Blackstone, Mass., asks:
How should the U.S. respond if some of our service-members are captured and subjected to the "waterboarding" interrogation techniques?
ANSWERS
Neil Livingstone responds:
Neil Livingstone responds:

If a signatory to the Geneva conventions uses waterboarding against our troops or citizens they will not be in compliance with the conventions, nor would we if we used the same techniques against their troops. The conventions are silent regarding illegal combatants.

Malcolm Nance responds:
Malcolm Nance responds:

Unless we do a national level rejection of this policy and convince the world of it, we will have no grounds to object to abuse to our service members. We have to be pre-emptive about returning the protections of global outrage against torturing nations which we used as our shield in the modern world.

Next Question and Answer
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