{"id":9529,"date":"2011-11-24T11:50:34","date_gmt":"2011-11-24T16:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/?p=9529"},"modified":"2012-12-26T20:59:08","modified_gmt":"2012-12-27T01:59:08","slug":"the-gops-primal-affection-for-waterboarding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prosebeforehos.com\/government_employee\/11\/24\/the-gops-primal-affection-for-waterboarding\/","title":{"rendered":"The GOP’s Primal Affection For Waterboarding"},"content":{"rendered":"

As if the cheers that followed Rick Perry\u2019s pro-death penalty stance weren\u2019t alarming enough, the recent GOP debate on foreign policy provided even more reasons to believe that today\u2019s Republican candidates may have a lot in common with the Spanish Inquisition tribunal. When asked their stance on waterboarding, it was only candidates Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman who agreed that it is in fact torture and should not be used under any circumstances. Suffice it to say that the proceeding yee-haws were very few. It wasn\u2019t until Michele Bachmann made the rather specious claim that as President she would implement waterboarding for its \u201ceffectiveness\u201d in gaining critical security information that the rather torpid audience burst into uproarious applause.<\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

With Herman Cain\u2019s recent statement that he \u201cisn\u2019t supposed to know about foreign policy<\/a>\u201d and Bachmann\u2019s absurd claim that the ACLU runs the CIA, it is wholly unsurprising that the majority of GOP candidates, none of whom have much foreign policy experience (save for Jon Huntsman, the apparent candidate non grata) displayed such arrant ignorance throughout the debate. <\/p>\n

Regardless, what Cain may not understand about Obama\u2019s intervention in Libya or what Mitt Romney may misinterpret regarding United States relations with China pales in comparison to their unnerving endorsements of waterboarding. The fact that a \u201cserious\u201d presidential candidate would vocalize his or her support for waterboarding in hopes of strutting his or her bellicose conservative swagger is much more indicative of our own immorality and lawlessness than an alleged enemy\u2019s.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Catholic Barbarism And The Modern GOP<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Interrogation<\/p>\n

Despite its many headlines in the past decade, waterboarding is not a novel concept nor is it an ever-innovative American method of gaining intelligence from supposed enemies. Rather, its origins can be found in 15th century Spain as a torture method utilized by some rather combative Catholic monarchs during the Spanish Inquisition. Formerly known as la toca<\/em>, the hapless victim\u2019s mouth was stuffed with a cloth and eventually filled with water as it spilled from a jar to simulate drowning. While the Spaniards claimed that la toca<\/em> had religious significance, they also conceded that it was torture. After all, that was why they did it. Yet some 500 years later, many foolhardy American leaders still do not come to the same conclusion.<\/p>\n

As such, what the United States relationship with waterboarding lacks in consistency it gains in hypocrisy. In 1852, many American dignitaries deemed it \u201chydropathic torture\u201d yet the US Army utilized it in the 1898 Spanish-American War in the Philippines. In the 20th century, American court tribunals tried and hanged several Japanese commanders that used water torture against Americans during World War II on the grounds that it was a \u201cwar crime.\u201d <\/p>\n

Waterboarding: The Damage Springs Eternal<\/strong><\/p>\n