Waterboarding

Is waterboarding torture? It seems to be an issue in the USA at the moment. It does no good to confuse interrogation with torture. Neil James is a former Australian army interrogator and wrote about torture for the ADA's journal Defender.

He defines torture this way;

the infliction on an individual of severe physical or mental pain, either for punishment or to extract information.

Interrogation s defined:

The common working definition of interrogation is the systematic extraction of information from an individual, either willing or unwilling, by the use of psychological attack only. It is essentially an intellectual process not a physical one. The subject is convinced to co-operate.

He adds:

It is normal and reasonable for those being questioned in such circumstances to experience degrees of discomfort and annoyance, and that detention and questioning methods that result in discomfort or annoyance are not necessarily abusive of a prisoner’s human rights. Furthermore, measures or conditions of discomfort or annoyance designed to encourage co-operation during questioning, such as the strictly controlled and temporary use of isolation, or sensory or sleep deprivation, are not unreasonable in the circumstances

Now I don't know if waterboarding is a legitimate integration technique. In Australia's case I'm happy to let professional interrogators decide. However here is a video of it be used. Assuming the video is accurate, I would much rather have a dose of waterboarding then go bungee jumping.