Historical Lessons on Waterboarding

Last week I had a conversation (if you could call it that) with a staffer for Jim Talent about the TINtAW and the history of it's use against Americans. I doubt that I will get anything but a form letter in response. She couldn't possibly have noted the details of my complaints, as there was no sound of keyboarding and there were no breaks in the conversation.

I called to remind Jim Talent that:

in 1947, the United States charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for carrying out another form of waterboarding on a U.S. civilian. The subject was strapped on a stretcher that was tilted so that his feet were in the air and head near the floor, and small amounts of water were poured over his face, leaving him gasping for air until he agreed to talk.

"Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) told his colleagues last Thursday during the debate on military commissions legislation. "We punished people with 15 years of hard labor when waterboarding was used against Americans in World War II," he said.

I suppose that waterboarding is a war crime when other nations use it, but is ok if Americans do it.

What a typical "America can do no wrong" attitude. I will probably be labeled an "America-hater" for saying that, but what is more patriotic than loving your country so much that you want to live up to the ideals that the Founding Fathers enshrined into the document that defines America.