Sometimes I See You In the Water at Night

Reading the coverage of Mukasey's confirmation woes  (and this bizarre post about Rudy's definition of torture), it seems to me that Mukasey is not the only one who's a bit unclear on what actually happens when you waterboard someone; some bloggers and commenters appear to be unfamiliar with the practice as well.

This video from current is outstanding; it features an ex-Special Forces soldier who volunteers to undergo the procedure in order to demonstrate what it entails. Warning: link contains graphic, disturbing footage and Alan Dershowitz saying stupid things.

Whether you watch the video or not, trust me on this - waterboarding is a remarkably shitty thing to do to someone, and it's a spectacularly shitty thing to do to someone who's innocent of any crime. Torture proponents always bring up the "Jack Bauer scenario": would you waterboard someone in order to prevent a nuclear attack on Los Angeles? Thankfully, nuclear attacks on major American cities are still theoretical, but sweeping the innocent up in anti-terror sweeps isn't. It's something I always ask people to bear in mind when they're forming their opinion on torture: much like the death penalty, this shit is happening to innocent people. Right now.