Waterboarding: Is it Torture?

The Walpole Peace and Justice Group will hold a presentation and discussion entitled "Waterboarding: Is it Torture?" at the Walpole Public Library on Monday, January 28th at 7:30 pm. The acceptance of waterboarding has been a controversial subject since 9/11. It has apparently been used by the CIA on terrorism suspects. The Military Commissions Act, passed in 2006, permits the use of coerced evidence and gives the President the power to define what torture is. Secret government memos attempt to justify it as an allowable interrogation technique. Congress and the Justice Department are currently investigating the CIA's destruction of tapes documenting the harsh interrogation of two Al Qaeda's suspects in 2002, which appears to have included waterboarding. It has become an election issue with some candidates defining it as torture while others have been unwilling to do so.

Join us for an informative presentation and discussion and make your own decision whether waterboarding and other "harsh interrogation" techniques are torture. The presentation will define what waterboarding is and give a history of its use. A brief segment from the video, "Breaking the Silence - Torture Survivors Speak Out" will be shown, where Carlos, a doctor from Paraguay describes his horrendous experience with waterboarding. A form of water torture was used in the Philippine-American War. Japanese military officers were tried as war criminals following World War II for using waterboarding. The presentation will summarize the applicable U.N and international treaties pertaining to torture as well as summarize U.S. laws. We will also review the moral implications and how the press and churches have responded and then end with an open discussion.

This presentation is a follow-up to Demissie A. Gebremedhin's compelling talk earlier this month about his own experience as a torture survivor and the work that Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC) is doing to stop torture. The talk is open to the public.