The Wall Street Journal would have no problem with Torquemada, one of the most vehement of enforcers of the Inquisition, condoned by the Vatican and enforced by the Spanish monarchy. The WSJ has argued that the practice of “waterboarding” isn’t “anything close” to torture. Torquemada apparently disagreed. Here’s an extract from James Reston Jr’s, book, “Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors.” It describes various methods deployed by Torquemada:
When the rack did not produce the desired result, the churchmen turned to the water torture. In this hideous remedy, the prisoner was tied to a ladder that was sloped downward, so that the head was lower than the feet. The head was held fast in position by a metal band, twigs were placed in the nostrils, and ropes winched tightly around his appendages. The mouth was forced open with a metal piece and a cloth placed over the mouth. Then a pitcher of water was brought, and water poured over the cloth. With each swallow, the cloth was drawn deeper into the throat, until in gagging and choking the victim nearly asphyxiated. The terror of suffocation was extreme, and the process was repeatedly endlessly, bloating the body grotesquely until the victim was ready to confess … From the inquisitor’s standpoint – for he was there to record every detail – the treatment was easy to administer and left no telltale signs.
The distinction, I think, is that the technique used today, as endorsed by our Christian president, does not result in water actually being drawn into the stomach and so bloating it. But the experience of suffocation is identical. (And notice that Torquemada regarded waterboarding as worse than pulling people’s limbs apart on a rack.) From the CIA’s guidance:
“The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner’s face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt.”
So, according to Heather Mac Donald, John Yoo, and the WSJ editorial board, Torquemada was just using a legitimate interrogation technique, against recalcitrant Muslims. He wasn’t a torturer. He was fully in accord with American and conservative values.
The Dish 