Green Beret and former UFC fighter Tim Kennedy tried to prove to people that waterboarding is not torture by a crazy tactic – he subjected himself for waterboarding for 40 minutes and posted video online.
We did this yesterday for almost 45 minutes. The average pour was anywhere from 10 to 60 sec. You can try to hold your breath but the water pools at the back of your sinuses running down your eyes and nose. Plain and simple. It’s not torture. #CIA #GinaHaspel #waterboarding pic.twitter.com/XtFLYoUgsw
— Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) May 12, 2018
Here’s the full Facebook video:
Wow.
More from the Hill:
“The reason we are doing this … is for us to have a conversation. Right now, an amazing hero has been appointed to be director of the CIA and because of that, some of the things she has done are being attacked,” Kennedy said about Haspel.
Haspel’s nomination has repeatedly come under fire because of her role overseeing “enhanced interrogation techniques” — which have widely been considered torture — on detainees at a CIA black site.
Between sessions, Kennedy argued that being waterboarded wasn’t torture and was simply uncomfortable.
“If I can change one person’s mind about what torture is and what I would do to protect American freedom, I will do this for years,” Kennedy said about waterboarding.
So, he has a point, right? Why would someone subject themselves to “torture”? Now, it’s extremely uncomfortable, I wouldn’t want it done to me, but that’s different from torture.
This is why it’s really annoying to me when I hear people try to defend enhanced interrogation techniques by saying, “screw it, torture them all!!” They don’t understand that they’re throwing our law enforcement officials under the bus when they do that – they never considered it torture when they did it, and they most likely would not have done it if it was considered so. But we live in the age of irrational hot take outbursts, so forget it, let’s all #MAGA!!!
BUT, I understand the response. It’s against these kind of jackasses who irrationally condemn our officers by comparing them to real torturers:
Too bad the United States executed those Japanese officers for, among other things, waterboarding American soldiers before Tim and the boys got a chance to weigh in. https://t.co/qxBw7y8Gyi
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) May 12, 2018
Me, dumb: torture includes techniques intended to inflict severe physical and mental suffering; historical methods have included water torture, mock executions, and the rack
You, taking video of your gym buddies pulling on your legs: bro, this is just a good stretch
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) May 12, 2018
That is total and complete bull$#it and it shows how ignorant people are about what happened in that war. The Japanese were allowed to commit the most horrible atrocities that no one would doubt were torture, and they took glee in it. You cannot compare it to what our operators did unless you’re a scummy dishonest piece of $#it. Also, #MAGA!!