
Torture by another name: CIA used 'water dousing' on detainees - cryoshon
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/oct/16/cia-torture-water-dousing-waterboard-like-technique
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NiftyFifty
In other news, the sky is blue. Not to sound to trivial about this, but I
think the track record of the CIA and torture is very ... well, established.

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jjoonathan
It is. But that wasn't their point.

> Interrogators used a technique that elicits a drowning sensation and lowers
> body temperature on many more detainees than the agency admits to
> waterboarding

They're bringing attention to a "definition dodge" play that the CIA is
making. It's not a surprising play, especially for people who are aware of the
definition dodge regarding drone fatalities, but I bet that it will be highly
effective at exploiting many reasonable peoples' desire to "hear both sides"
or, more cynically, rationalize away their government's actions. Bringing
attention to it is the only defense mechanism I can think of.

It won't be very effective, but it's the most anyone knows how to do. If
you've got a better suggestion... it is difficult to overstate how
fantastically excited I (and many others) would be to hear it.

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cryoshon
Yes, you hit the nail on the head exactly.

It's the same kind of intentionally obtuse ultra-narrow definitions that we
saw the NSA using when their programs were under pressure. Normal words with
colloquial dictionary supported and commonly understood meanings are hijacked
and re-defined in secret, such that probes directed at the organization can be
defused by confusion over terms or led astray by pursuing the wrong term. This
deception also leaves room for clandestine organizations to deceive their own
political apparatus if the people above them grow to be too nosy or
inconvenient.

The best example of this strategem is in Clapper's usage of the word
"collected". Complete propaganda, of course. The CIA has been caught redhanded
doing the exact same stuff in the past, not to mention the original article's
most recent example.

