Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Christopher Hitchens Proves the Whiney Bitch We Always Thought He'd Be
Christopher Hitchens, Brit ex-pat, Trotskyite writer for all lefty, all the time, Vanity Fair has a piece in the next issue where he describes undergoing waterboarding, the Viet Nam era variety, wet cloth over the face. And he didn't like it much. But as usual he is all over the place. Compare these two statements:
I'm sticking with my earlier pronouncement--waterboarding for 30 seconds, not torture; waterboarding for 30 minutes, torture. Something tells me Diomedes is on (water)board with that distinction a well
Here is the key sentence to take away from Mr. Hitchens:
Look in the photo how little water was used. And then read again what a fuss he makes about it. Wuss doesn't begin to cover it. I am sure, however, that I'd do no better and indeed would do worse if they locked me in a tight place. Do that to Julia.
When contrasted to actual torture, waterboarding is more like foreplay.
...if waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.
I'm sticking with my earlier pronouncement--waterboarding for 30 seconds, not torture; waterboarding for 30 minutes, torture. Something tells me Diomedes is on (water)board with that distinction a well
Here is the key sentence to take away from Mr. Hitchens:
One used to be told—and surely with truth—that the lethal fanatics of al-Qaeda were schooled to lie, and instructed to claim that they had been tortured and maltreated whether they had been tortured and maltreated or not.
Look in the photo how little water was used. And then read again what a fuss he makes about it. Wuss doesn't begin to cover it. I am sure, however, that I'd do no better and indeed would do worse if they locked me in a tight place. Do that to Julia.
UPDATE: You can go here for a video of it. By my reckoning, they used about two cups of water (they had prepared two gallons) and Chris Hitchens lasted about 6 seconds. So waterboarding must be like Pauley Shore, freakin' awful, but innocuous.
Labels: Christopher Hitchens; Waterboarding
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 9:23 AM 
