On Jan 23, 2009, at 4:45 PM, Chris Doss wrote:
> Is banning waterboarding symbolic? Whew, that's a relief. All this
> time I thought people being waterboarded were being actually
> physically tortured, not just being symbolically attacked.
According to CIA sources, for what those are worth, no one's been waterboarded in years. From today's NYT:
>
"The immediate practical impact of the orders was limited, in part because the most aggressive Bush policies were scaled back long ago. Military interrogators have been required by law to abide by the Army Field Manual since 2005, and since 2003 the C.I.A. has not used waterboarding, the near-drowning technique described as torture by Mr. Obama’s choice as attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr. Only a handful of prisoners have passed through the C.I.A.’s secret overseas detention program since 2005."
So while waterboarding isn't symbolic, suspending the practice may well be.
Doug