Lets talk Waterboarding....
This is a dumb story, but it's applicable. When I was little (maybe 6 or so) - I was learning to do underwater somersaults in my local pool. I opened my eyes and saw blue and thought I was facing toward the surface, so I went what I thought was up and started to take a breath - soon it was OBVIOUS that I was not headed up. I was disoriented, I couldn't breathe, I was freaking out - I seriously thought I was drowning. I was struggling trying to figure out which was was up - finally, someone grabbed me and pulled me out. That type of reaction is instinctual.
At some point, humans decided that this type of panic could be exploited. The Japanese were tried for war crimes for doing it.
I guess it's a "nothing new under the sun" moment for our intelligence gathers.
The memos reveal that the CIA was concerned about the effects of repeated Waterboarding, that they suggested that a saline solution be used instead. You might be asking - why at this point. The CIA hired doctors realized that the potential for water poisoning existed. THIS CAN KILL PEOPLE. You might remember a few years back, a woman died after a radio show promotion that involved chugging water (she was trying to win a Wii) - the human body can only process so much water before the balance of minerals are upset. Water intoxication/poisoning can happen after ingesting around 2.6 gallons of water in a short amount of time.
Think about that for a minute - they were concerned that the detainees could ingest enough water to be poisoned by it. This doesn't sound like a harmless technique to me.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was waterboarded 183 times in 1 month.
Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in 1 month.
These abuses of power CANNOT go unpunished! Our nation claims to be a fair, civilized nation (notice I said claims...) - we cannot afford to lose further credibility by sweeping this under the rug. It's unacceptable, against international law and is un-American.
