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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?
Richard Opie of Cleveland, Wis., asks:
In the past there have been greater threats to our national security than terrorists. We had thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at us. What makes waterboarding a necessary tool now, when they did not need it then? Aren't there other techniques?
ANSWERS
Neil Livingstone responds:
Neil Livingstone responds:

This may be the most significant threat ever faced by the U.S. given the possibility of terrorists with chemical, biological or every radiological weapon. Our world is more complex today, and therefore more vulnerable. Murder is mass murder, and I believe we should use any tool, with careful safeguards, within reason to prevent it.

Malcolm Nance responds:
Malcolm Nance responds:

The present administration has based its policies on ideology and fantasy of what works. In most cases, from Hurricane Katrina, to the Iraq war to defending the Constitution, they have chosen bizarre, unprecedented interpretations of what works and what doesn't.

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