Christopher Hitchens has been known to be controversial for his views on politics and especially religion. He has been called many names from both sides of the political spectrum, but one thing he certainly cannot be called is 'chicken'. Recently, in the name of journalism, Hitchens decided to see for himself if waterboarding is torture.
From RawStory:
Christopher Hitchens, the British journalist who is among the staunchest defenders of the war in Iraq, was waterboarded for a recent article in Vanity Fair.
"Believe Me, It's Torture" is the article's title.
In it and an accompanying video Hitchens outlines a trip to North Carolina where interrogators experienced in the Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE) training that Special Forces soldiers participate in to resist torture at the hands of enemies.
"I apply the Abraham Lincoln test for moral casuistry: 'If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.' Well, then, if waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture," Hitchens wrote after enduring the procedure.
Of course, anyone with common sense and the ability to watch prior video of the practice knows that this procedure is torture. It is a shame that Mr. Hitchens had to feel it literally before proclaiming that proverbial duck is truly a duck. Nevertheless, Hitchens' stunt keeps the government's practice in the spotlight....although I sincerely doubt any of the chickenhawks in Congress or the White House will stand down from their assertions that waterboarding is hunky dory.
|