| 1. | the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty. |
In today's usage, the word torture is largely a propaganda term.
To a teenager, denial of the family car for Saturday nite is torture.
To Puritans, the drowning of a witch was merely a truth check.
Whether it is 'expedited interrogation', 'aided recall', or 'accelerated information retrieval', it is technically not torture without 'excruciating pain'.
Sleep deprivation, prolonged standing, exposure to cold - even waterboarding - do not rise to the level of splinters under the finger nails, plucking of eyeballs, shoulder drops, partial dismemberment and similar.
Rather than just blow bilious smoke at everything, I would look at a) what information could this enemy have and b) how likely is it that they in fact possess it.
If it is possible that they know the dates of linen changes and towel trades, the use of almost any form of assisted inquiry is an abuse and uncalled for.
If they may have the dates and codes of the next 9-11, then my only question is 'where is that damn field generator?'
Playing by the rules with those who do not play by the rules is a fool's game.
And the PC response of 'you would have America play not nice-nice?' is the kind of liberal fantasy that has no place in a world of assassins and bombers.
i.e. Your daughter is wrapped up in a bomb with a timer at an undisclosed location. You have the person responsible tied in a chair in front of you. Each time you have asked nicely for the location of your daughter, he has spit in your face.
You now:
- Continue asking nicely
- Threaten to put the enemy outside on a chilly night
- Pick up his Koran and tease it with a match
- Threaten to leave him alone in a small, dark room overnight
- Waterboard the the s.o.b.
- Use your sidearm to blow out one of the m.f.'s kneecaps and establish your bona fides.
Hint: you DO NOT want to call the ACLU.
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