In Case You Missed It

Here are the approved "enhanced interrogation techniques"...the so-called not-torture. This is old news, but should never be forgotten:

THE CIA'S SIX 'ENHANCED' TECHNIQUES

CIA interrogators say they are allowed to use six "enhanced interrogation techniques", each progressively tougher, on top al-Qa'ida detainees. Their superiors have to give separate approval for every prisoner and every method, all claimed to be legal.

THE ATTENTION GRAB: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him. Israel, the only democracy to have openly debated coercion of prisoners, declared this legal in 1987, but the Supreme Court ruled it out in 1999

THE ATTENTION SLAP: Interrogators may deliver "an open-handed slap", which is "aimed at causing pain and triggering fear"

THE BELLY SLAP: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage

STANDING FOR HOURS: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to a ring bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are claimed to be effective in yielding confessions

COLD TREATMENT: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept at around 10C, and constantly doused with cold water. Misapplication of this technique is blamed for the death of a detainee in Kabul

WATERBOARDING: The prisoner is bound to a board, head slightly below the feet. Plastic is wrapped over his face and water is poured over him, or his head is lowered into a bath. The gag reflex is automatic; few can endure more than a matter of seconds

Maybe I'm just old fashioned; not so good at framing. But when I was a kid, we called this stuff "beating the shit out of someone".