Waterboarding

Water boarding is a practice that has been around for centuries.  It was a popular interrogation method used during the Italian Inquisition of the 1500's and was also a common practice in the Cambodian prisons during the brutal Khmer Rouge regime during the 1970's.  In November of 2005, the CIA had this technique approved as an enhanced interrogation technique, only to be used against high value terror suspects.

Water boarding essentially makes a person feel like they are drowning.  The way water boarding is currently done by the CIA involves strapping a person on an inverted board with their feet elevated.  The person being interrogated has their arms and legs bound, and their face covered.  A piece of cloth covers the nose and mouth or cellophane is used.  The interrogator then pours water over the persons face.  Depending on the technique, water may or may not enter the person's mouth or nose, but regardless, an experience of drowning overwhelms the person being interrogated.  The thinking is, if the person's mind believes that he or she is drowning, then a gag reflux kicks in as if he or she was really drowning.

With all of the current debate on water boarding, the CIA admits that they have only used the practice three times.  One of the persons who was interrogated with this method was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who during the process confessed to his role in terrorist plots and also reported several ongoing plots that were foiled and potentially saved many lives.

Water boarding has become a very controversial topic and has been labeled as torture by many human rights groups and a number of leading U.S. officials, including Senator John McCain.  Others say that it is an effective interrogation method that should be used only under extreme circumstances when obtaining information from a reluctant prisoner is imperative.