waterboarded
Tortured with cloth
Waterboarded is the past tense of waterboard, an interrogation technique in which a person is immobilized, their face covered with cloth, and water poured over it to simulate drowning.
The practice gained notoriety in debates over U.S. treatment of detainees after 2001: The CIA waterboarded prisoners at black sites.
Whether waterboarding constitutes torture remains contested in political discourse, though most human rights organizations classify it as such.
Formal, probing examination
- detentionTemporary official holding
- CIAU.S. foreign intelligence service
- GuantanamoUS base in Cuba
- enhanced interrogationEuphemism for abusive questioning
confession · prisoner · detainee · black site · suffocation · restraint · cellophane · wet cloth
Wartime humanitarian law treaties
- human rightsInalienable personal freedoms
- war crimeIllegal act in combat
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
- testimonySworn statement as evidence
accountability · violation · international law · tribunal · investigation · amnesty · whistleblower · classified
Prolonged public disagreement
- scandalDisgraceful public affair
- CheneyFormer U.S. vice president
- Bush administrationU.S. executive branch tenure
- policyAdopted principle of action
debate · authorization · disclosure · cover-up · reform · oversight · congressional hearing · bipartisan
interrogation
Formal, probing examination
- detentionTemporary official holding
- CIAU.S. foreign intelligence service
- GuantanamoUS base in Cuba
enhanced interrogation · confession · prisoner · detainee · black site · suffocation · restraint · cellophane · wet cloth · coercion
Geneva Convention
Wartime humanitarian law treaties
- human rightsInalienable personal freedoms
- war crimeIllegal act in combat
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
testimony · accountability · violation · international law · tribunal · investigation · amnesty · whistleblower · classified · redacted
controversy
Prolonged public disagreement
- scandalDisgraceful public affair
- CheneyFormer U.S. vice president
- Bush administrationU.S. executive branch tenure
policy · debate · authorization · disclosure · cover-up · reform · oversight · congressional hearing · bipartisan · moratorium