Well, I was water boarded today, and it SUCKED. The feeling of water running down your nose into (what feels like your friggin' brain) nasal cavity was horrible and nauseating.
BUT...
What it generally feels like is the feeling you get when you dive into the water funny and water runs up into your nose. Me personally, I've always been a bit of a water bug, so the feeling didn't affect me like it might somebody who has had an experience where he almost drowned (such as Mancow). Also, you can't discredit the psychological panic that somebody who didn't know what was going on would feel and thus react to by seizing or shaking. But all in all, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I did this because I wasn't sure if it was torture or not, and to some degree I can see why it is called "torture". However I still think that to put it into the same category of other horrible acts is like calling an alligator a dinosaur. Sure, they belong to the same species, but they are so far away on the overall spectrum that it really isn't that same. I think that's the best way to describe water boarding. I was water boarded twice (the first being given preparation time, the second counting down from 10 and not knowing when they were going to start) and I went 20 seconds the first time and 14 the second. Granted, that's no 45 seconds, but if a gun was put to my head I could probably have done it. Plus, the thing that I noticed with the water boarding, is the relief is INSTANTANEOUS. As soon as you sit up, your like "Darn. I could have went a little longer." You feel better that quickly. Unless I have some sort of uncontrollable nightmares where I dream of drowning and wet the bed, there is no lasting psychological or physical symptoms.
What does that mean, to me at least? Where do I fall into, categorical wise? I think that water boarding is torture, yes, however I believe it to be an acceptable, "watered down" (buda cha) form of torture, and I have no problem with it. And it sucks. Sucks big time.
