Reminder: This Is Waterboarding
With the technique back in the spotlight, video of the late Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens undergoing the procedure is illustrative.
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For all the gruesome new interrogation details contained in the Senate Intelligence Committee's Report on the CIA's Use of Torture, the agency's use of waterboarding remains a focal point of debate.
After the Justice Department gave the Bush administration the green light to use the technique in 2002, the CIA began using it extensively on prisoners held at secret detention centers scattered throughout the world. Terror suspects were routinely waterboarded, the Senate report found, more than previously believed. One detainee, Abu Zubaydah, was said to have waterboarded more than 80 times while in captivity in Thailand, causing some CIA agents to question the legality of the practice and request transfers.