Waterboarding: A grand old U.S. tradition

[salvorhardin]

Historian William Loren Katz has an essay on HNN drawing from his own book The Cruel Years and Stuart Creighton Miller's, Benevolent Assimilation: The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899-1903 in which he outlines the use of the use of waterboarding in history. In particular, he discusses the use of waterboarding by the U.S. military during the invasion of the Philippines with the approval of President Teddy Roosevelt. In the past the Bush Administration has tried to compare itself and President Bush to Teddy Roosevelt. At least in torture the two are quite similar even down to the euphemisms. At the turn of the 20th C. waterboarding was then termed, "the water cure". Highly recommended reading.

The “water cure” was probably first instituted when U.S. forces encountered local resistance. Professor Miller states that General Frederick Funston in 1901 may have used it to capture the Filipino General Emilio Aguinaldo. A New York World article described the “water cure” as forcing “water with handfuls of salt thrown in to make it more efficacious, is forced down the throats of patients until their bodies become distended to the point of bursting . . ..” This may have been only one on the versions used.

The water cure became front-page news when William Howard Taft, appointed U.S. Governor of the Philippines, testified under oath before Congress and let the cat out of the bag. The “so called water cure,” he admitted, was used “on some occasions to extract information.” The Arena, an opposition paper, called his words “a most humiliating admission that should strike horror in the mind of every American.” Around the same time as Taft's admission a soldier boasted in a letter made public that he had used the water cure on 160 people and only 26 had survived. The man was compelled by the War Department to retract his damaging confession. But then another officer stated the “water cure” was being widely used when he reported, “the problem of the 'water cure' is in knowing how to apply it.” Such statements leave unclear how often the form of torture was used for interrogation and how often it became a way to exhibit racial animosity or display contempt.

...

President Theodore Roosevelt reprimanded Funston and ordered him to cease his inflammatory rhetoric. Facing a political challenge from General Nelson Miles based in the Philippines, TR, who rode into the White House on his heroic exploits at San Juan Hill, did not intend to nourish more competition. The President privately assured a friend the water cure was “an old Filipino method of mild torture” and claimed when Americans administered it “no body was seriously damaged.” But publicly TR was silent about the “water cure.”
Much more at: http://hnn.us/articles/44411.html

[cali]

1. fascinating snip of history

thanks for posting it.

[salvorhardin]

2. Thanks

This was completely unknown to me before I read the essay. George W. Bush: Setting the country back 100 years.

[fasttense]

3. What the bushes have given Americans is torture without shame.

Up until now, the use of torture was hidden and when its use was exposed we heard comments like, "A most humiliating admission that should strike horror in the mind of every American.”

But not any more. Fox touts the wonders of torture openly and no one seems upset that it is used routinely by American interrogators and mercenaries. Its usefulness is reenacted on 24 and television cop shows. Torture is out of the closet and shamelessly sold by right wing political pundits.

What the bushes have given America is a new motto - In Torture we trust.

[USA_1]

4. Waterboarding Was Used Before That ....

Here are the Sons of Liberty waterboarding and then hanging a British tax collector:





Yes, it's an old Yankee tradition. But at least we were the good guys back then.