The centuries old water torture, used by the Inquisition and the Yanqui Imperialists in the Philippines

Confronting Imperialism: Essays on Mark Twain and the Anti-Imperialist League
By Jim Zwick .Infinity Publishing, November 2007

The U.S. military's use of waterboarding began during the Philippine-American War. Euphemistically called the "water cure," it was said to be a form of torture the U.S. military "inherited" from the Spanish. They had used it since the Inquisition. In his 1902 essay "A Defense of General Funston," Mark Twain wrote:

Funston's example has bred many imitators, and many ghastly additions to our history: the torturing of Filipinos by the awful "water-cure," for instance, to make them confess -- what? Truth? Or lies? How can one know which it is they are telling? For under unendurable pain a man confesses anything that is required of him, true or false, and his evidence is worthless.

Mark Twain and other anti-imperialists were protesting the U.S. military's use of waterboarding and other forms of torture one hundred years before their recent use in the "war on terror."

Just a reminder on the day when Military prosecutors have issued the first charges relating to the September 11 attacks, saying they would seek the death penalty against six detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, including the alleged mastermind of the plot, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who was illegally "waterboarded" according CIA Director Michael Hayden - who has indicated that waterboarding maybe illegal:

Larry Cox, executivedirector of Amnesty International USA has said ....

"Everyone in the world knows that waterboarding is torture and illegal.The U.S. government admits having done it. Yet, the highest law enforcementofficial in the land refuses to investigate this scandal.

"No hairsplitting, no legal mumbo jumbo, no excuses and no more delays.It is now
crystal clear that the only way out of this morass is to finallyopen up a full,
independent criminal investigation at once--not tomorrow,but this
afternoon."

For more information, please visit http://www.amnestyusa.org.