Water Boarding Essay

853 Words4 Pages
Water boarding is a technique used in interrogation and/or torture to extract information from an individual. When one experiences water boarding, they're head is tilted back and water is poured into the upturned mouth or nose and they experience the sensation of drowning while avoiding total suffocation (Flint, paragraph 1).The technique of water boarding has been used since the middle ages and it causes severe mental and physical trauma and nowadays there are laws prohibiting its use for any reason. Its been implemented by many countries all around the world and most recently the united states has been criticized for using it. Some people consider water boarding to be an interrogation method like so many others while some consider it to be plain torture. The term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him information or a confession(Flint paragraph 1).In my opinion I consider water boarding to be a torture method because it causes the individual to have a near death experience due to the sensation of drowning and in some cases it is responsible for deaths like in "The Kilmer Rouge", which is responsible for approximately 1.5 million Cambodian deaths during the 1970's.(Serrano,2009,parag.3). Water boarding has many negative aspects, one of its physical aspects is when the victim goes through a state of struggle ,panic, breath holding, swallowing and vomiting. Even though its not extremely painful one becomes unconscious as if they are drowning in the water(Wallach 2007).However another aspect of water boarding is that it leaves few permanent physical marks but the psychological impact on torture victims mind is lasting.(Walsh,2009,parag 1&2). According to Allen Keller, psychologically water boarding can result in significant long term post
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