Afghanistan:Mullah Zakir sprung from Gitmo back in charge of Taliban  

Although I have no real beef with those who say that waterboarding is torture, I find it amazingly disheartening that one would say waterboarding makes the US "just another brutal nation."

Some "brutal" torture methods:

Boiling
Moderate to severe beatings
Denailing
Crucifixion
Pulling teeth
Flaying
Hamstringing or kneecapping
Burning
Bamboo chutes

Where does pouring water on someone, with doctors present to ensure no one is injured, fall into the list of "brutal" torture methods?

While it may be torture (I'm sick to death of arguing with people over it), it's far from brutal. It's in the same class as shaming someone or taking advantage of their phobias. Yeah, with your semantics gun ready to fire, even the simplest, most harmless of methods can be considered torture. But to call something "brutal" is another story entirely.

And don't get too comfortable on that tall pony. Rendition is still a viable option that no one seems to think makes the US "brutal."

The last I checked, you were still a murderer if you hired someone to kill your wife.

using any kind of torture is brutal. just because waterboarding uses water doesn't make it any more right. a nation that uses torture appear to me to be uncivilised and pretty nasty, and i don't like the fact that some members of your country seem to think this sort of thing is ok now.

oh and stop trying to say it isn't torture. i'll just go along with the human rights group on that one, anything that causes that amount of physical and psycological distress is torture.

typo, psychological

I said, plainly, that I'm through with arguing over what constitutes actual torture.

ANY discomfort is considered "torture" to some, so it's an argument that cannot be won. Talk to terrorists nicely or not at all. That's the stance taken by anti-waterboarders. You'd rather us make deals with people responsible for killing innocent people. That's your take, misguided as it is, and I hope it helps you feel good about yourself (much like the fight against climate change lol).

However, your definition of "brutal" needs revision. But that's also something that's not worth arguing over.

You have a right to think whatever you want. But when it comes to America (your profile says you don't even live here lmao), just because people get on their uber-liberal bandwagons and claim that it's torture, that doesn't mean it's brutal.

Don't get it twisted. People don't want America to be held accountable for waterboarding. They just want Bush to fry.

If it were truly about "torture" and a country being "brutal," the same decriers of waterboarding would also be up in arms over rendition!

It's not worth arguing because it's not even logical! Some cry, "America, stop being brutal with waterboarding." But torture-for-hire literally flies under their radar!

The hypocrisy is silly, and it's outright meaningless to argue over. Decriers aren't passionate; they're picky!

waterboarding is an interogation method - not a punishment for a known terrorist - how many innocents were eventually released from gitmo by the way? i know the americans hate the usa being critised by foreigners but all i'm doing here is saying that torture is wrong and i hope it has stopped. i have no interest in people being punished for it and as far as i was aware bush had retired gracefully.

jb, then we torture our own troops all the time.

How many "innocents" were released from GITMO? Innocent of what exactly?

How many released from GITMO have gone on to rejoin jihad and kill innocent people? More than the "innocents," I'm sure. :-)

How many people out of all the GITMO detainees were actually waterboarded to begin with?

You can count them on one hand if you've had two fingers blown off.

jb78000
Let say you have a five year old son we will call him Bobby.
One day you took Bobby to the park to play for awhile,you was talking to a old freind that you run in while Bobby was swinging happily a little ways off on the park swing.
Realizing you had not check on Bobby for a five or so minutes caught up in conversation with your freind you quickly glance over to the the swing where Bobby was last seem happily swinging back and forth and the swing was empty and Bobby was no where to be found.
Your heart in your mouth and tears running down your face you go wild looking for your son asking people had they saw Bobby describe him as blue eyed with blond curly hair wearing a pair of blue shorts and white tank top and he was about this tall but no one you talked to remember seeing a little boy that looked like the child you was describing to them.
You call the police and while your frantically waiting for them to respond to your call a women walks up to where your sitting on the grass with you face between your hands and say's to you my little girl was over there on the swing and I think it may had been your little boy swing when we got their.
You jump to your feet, your heart is racing as you ask did you see where my little boy went?
The lady said two men walked over to where your little boy was swinging just about the time he was getting off the swing and said something to him but I did not hear what was said and one man took him by the hand and they left in a older black two door car.
You ask her what make and model was the car she said she really did not know but she had taken a picture of her little girl just about where the car had been parked pointing to her cell phone.
The police had the picture enhanced and came up with a clear plate number running a check on the owner he had a long rap sheet which including misconduct with a minor child under the age of six year's old,your heart almost stops beating in your chest and fear tightens your throat you can't even speak.
The police picked the owner of the car up and took him in for questioning after 15 hours of intense questioning the investigators knew he was lying but the guy was not going to give up any information as to where his buddy had taken Bobby.
The chief of police calls you in to the station and tells you he knows the guy is gulity as hell but he won't give up any information that will lead us to the where about of his freind or Bobby.
The chief of police explains to you every passing hour means life or death for your little boy.
Your unable to control your emotions and break down in deep sobs the chief of police places his hand on your back and say I'm a father I have a son about your boy age if this was my son missing I know what I would do with this dirt bag,you look up in to his eyes and ask the chief what would you do,he say's water broad him.

Rose

rose, i know that personal circumstances like that would make me want to near kill the bloke to get information out of him. however governments have to avoid this. some things are wrong under any circumstances and as i keep on saying torture is one of them.

suicide

Of cours that would be the easy way out of such a situation. Then the rest of the world could accuse the USA of killing off its war prisoners. Imagine what an international scandal that would create.