On wet wood

Is waterboarding torture?

Of course it is.

Anybody that uses this practice in America's name brings dishonor to himself and his nation. To fail to "keep the honor clean of the U.S. Marine" is a dereliction of leadership which leads to a crisis of morale.

Low morale often leads to stories like these.

Waterboarding is torture and the legal justification for that assertion is straightforward. The U.S. government is a signatory to the "Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment". We signed it and are therefore obligated by law to uphold it.

We are not, and the president Bush has no Constitutional authority to break treaties. He may escape his due Justice due to Nancy Pelosi's exasperating sense of duty, but engaging in waterboarding (aka Chinese water torture) makes the United States of America a liar and a criminal.

Why pretend otherwise?

When you share the moral stage with Communist agents, Nazi war criminals, and witch hunters it is base to expect applause.

So why give it?