JUST AN ARGUMENT ABOUT WHICH TORTURE WE'LL USE:

I Want To See If It`s Torture: One of USA`s conservative champions decided to experience `simulated drowning` himself. (Javno, 5/23/09)

Since the debate on whether a “little water” can truly constitute torture has reached its crescendo, [Erich `Mancow`] Mancow, unlike Hannity, decided to experience it himself and see what makes the “drowning simulation” so horrible. [...]

The setting was prepared, Muller was elevated on a table, his feet were tied up and lifted.

Marine Sergeant Clay, who looks like and speaks like an experienced marine, explained to the audience that “the average person can take this for 14 seconds”.

- He`s going to wiggle, he`s going to scream, he`s going to wish he never did this - said the marine in high spirits.

Watching the recorded footage of the event, one cannot but wonder that this is not such a dreadful ordeal after all. Medical staff was present in the studio as a precaution and it was soon revealed why.

Laid down on the table, Mancow had a rubber cow toy in his hand which he could use to signalise when he has had enough. He was rather self-confident before the treatment and claimed it would be like a walk in the park and that he would make it at least 30 seconds.

The marine then placed a wet towel on his head, covering us his eyes and nose, but not his mouth and then the water rushed…

Mancow lasted six or seven seconds of the “simulated drowning” experience and the video footage clearly shows he threw the “emergency tool” cow instantaneously as the torture began.

Like many, the volunteer martyr believed that the “drowning simulation” was no big deal, but in the end, he summarised his experience:

- It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that`s no joke. It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back...It was instantaneous...and I don't want to say this: absolutely torture – Mancow said.

To make the experiment more interesting, Muller drowned as a child. He testified that the feeling caused by waterboarding was equal to the one he experienced as a child.