Hurray for torture?
Coulter continues to advocate torture of American prisoners. This is a viewpoint she has held previously, calling for its use a few weeks ago on the Jon Caldera Show. In her column this week, she criticizes Matt Lauer for questioning President Bush about waterboarding.
While normal people would be happy if we were using cattle prods on the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Lauer was testy about the possible use of waterboarding against him.
Apparently, not supporting the use of cattle prods against Guantanamo detainees is not "normal," according to Coulter.
Waterboarding is when a prisoner is tied to a board, inclined so his head is below the rest of the body, and water is poured into his mouth to mimic the sensation of drowning and to make the prisoner think he is about to die. According to Senator and former POW John McCain, waterboarding a person "is no different than holding a pistol to his head and firing a blank. I believe that it is torture, very exquisite torture."
Coulter trivializes this practice thusly:
…we strap people to wooden boards and make them feel like they're drowning all the time in this country. Mostly at theme parks like Six Flags.
Calling waterboarding the same as a log flume ride is like calling Jack the Ripper's killings a form of acupuncture.
In her column and in the radio show appearance, Coulter only focused on Khalid Shiek Mohammed, even though we know that a number of people – including American citizens – have been detained as being terrorists and later released when it has become clear they were not.
The true depths of the depravity of what Coulter proposes are seen in how she concludes this column:
I think waterboarding should be a reward for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: OK, you've been good, Mohammed, we're only going to waterboard you today. Let's get you out of those cold electrodes and onto a nice, warm waterboard, OK?
In her mind, torture isn't even an interrogation technique. It's a form of relentless, unending, merciless punishment.
Sources:
Torture as punishment is the old fashioned use for torture. It was punishment and it was a deterrent- in the conservative mind, people who do bad things have to be punished in order to set others straight. Why would you do something bad if knew another guy got tortured for doing it? It's a privative way of keeping people civilized, and kings used to write with admiration of their torturers, fearing the day that society stopped using torture.
Just a brief history lesson. :P
Comment by Dave M. | December 15, 2006