Ex- Navy interrogator: Ban waterboarding

Ex- Navy interrogator: Ban waterboarding
By Laurie Kellman - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Nov 8, 2007 14:47:53 EST

WASHINGTON — A former interrogation instructor for the Navy said the words Thursday that congressional Democrats wanted to hear from Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey: “Waterboarding is torture, period.”

“Waterboarding is torture and should be banned,” Malcolm Wrightson Nance, a former Navy instructor of prisoner of war and terrorist hostage survival programs, told a House constitutional subcommittee. “I believe that we must reject the use of the waterboard for prisoners and captives and cleanse this stain from our national honor.”

Waterboarding is an interrogation technique that simulates drowning.

Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican, said at the panel’s hearing that he is against torture but that “sometimes we have to take measures to protect the innocent that we do not like.”

“Severe interrogations are sometimes part of doing that,” added Franks, the ranking Republican on the panel.

The exchange came as Senate leaders struggled to agree on the timing of a confirmation vote for Mukasey, who has refused to equate waterboarding with illegal torture.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_waterboarding_071108/