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Waterboarding is an extreme form of torture, inflicting both physical and psychological agony. It involves forcing water into the sinuses, throat, and windpipe to mimic the sensation of drowning.
When the Bush Administration’s use of waterboarding to extract information from suspected terrorists during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was exposed, it shocked and appalled the global community. In 2008, renowned author and intellectual Christopher Hitchens, writing for Vanity Fair, volunteered to undergo waterboarding. His experience left him horrified, and he famously said, “If waterboarding isn’t torture, there’s no such thing as torture.”
We’ve all experienced that terrifying sensation of near-drowning when we linger underwater too long—our lungs burning for air, our limbs tingling, our mind racing with panic. The ultimate horror comes when water fills the throat. Waterboarding aims to recreate this agonizing feeling, forcing the victim into a state of sheer terror. Below are ten facts about waterboarding, a haunting ordeal of simulated drowning.
10. The Dreadful Reality of Water Torture
Waterboarding has a deep and disturbing history, rooted in a broader category of water-based tortures. Both ancient and modern history are filled with techniques that utilized water. One basic form involves continuously dripping water on a victim for extended periods. Other variations might include forcing a person to submerge themselves repeatedly or even forcing them to swim until exhaustion overcomes them, leading to drowning. Many action or mafia films portray a more direct form, where one person submerges another’s head in a sink, bathtub, or container, essentially drowning them by forcing their head into the liquid. If the torturer seeks information, they may pull the victim out just before death, ask questions, and repeat the process.
While these early forms served as precursors to modern waterboarding, if we define waterboarding as forcing water into the mouth or nose to simulate drowning, many forms of water torture could technically be considered waterboarding. However, the contemporary version is far more terrifying: the water is poured onto the victim’s head and forced into their mouth and nose, creating a perpetual feeling of drowning. Waterboarding was first documented as early as the 14th century.
9. The Spanish Inquisition
In the vast chronicles of human history, where would one begin to search for accounts of waterboarding (or any torture method, for that matter) other than the infamous Spanish Inquisition? Historical records suggest that waterboarding, known as toca, was a prominent method of torture during the Spanish Inquisition, featuring specially crafted devices designed specifically for this brutal purpose.
Spanish torturers would bind their victims to a complex device with the intent of forcing a confession. A cloth would be placed over the victim’s mouth, and water would be poured onto the cloth, seeping through to flood the victim’s mouth, quickly filling it with water. A jar would be kept nearby to collect the water when the victim would vomit in a desperate attempt to breathe, and the water would be poured right back onto the cloth.
By the early 1800s, waterboarding was already being condemned as a barbaric, cruel, and unacceptable form of torture, deemed unfit for use by churches, militaries, or governments due to its horrific nature.
8. The Philippines
Waterboarding made its way to the Philippines during Spain’s colonization of the islands. This is also where the United States first employed the technique on people (outside of domestic prisons) in 1902 during the Philippine-American War. A famous cover of Life magazine from that year depicted US soldiers in the Philippines using waterboarding as a form of torture.
At the time, waterboarding was recognized as an exceptionally brutal form of torture that generated widespread shock and outrage. President Theodore Roosevelt even sent a telegram to the commander of the United States Army, urging him to halt the practice, along with others considered cruel and unusual. Lieutenant Grover Clint famously described the ordeal: 'A man suffers tremendously, there is no doubt about it. His suffering is that of a man who is drowning, yet cannot drown.'
Imagine being trapped in a tormenting in-between state, suspended between not drowning and actually drowning, with this agonizing purgatory lasting for minutes or even hours. More recently, a Saudi Arabian man was reported to have endured repeated waterboarding sessions for over two and a half hours.
7. Vietnam
The Philippines would not mark the final instance of waterboarding during wartime in Asia, nor would it be the beginning of the end for its use by the United States. The Vietnam War ushered in new causes, further bloodshed, and a need for intelligence that had to be extracted, providing new opportunities to practice waterboarding. A front-page image from The Washington Post on January 21, 1968, showed American soldiers waterboarding a captured North Vietnamese fighter, accompanied by a caption describing 'a flooding sense of suffocation and drowning, meant to make [the victim] talk.'
The soldier shown in the image, carrying out the torture, would later face a court-martial. The cruelty of this act was so extreme that even a nation responsible for bombing thousands with napalm decided waterboarding was a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Let that sink in.
6. The Process Explained
In a typical waterboarding event, the person is placed on an adjustable surface, positioning their head slightly below their feet, at an angle of about 15 to 20 degrees to allow water to flow easily onto their face. The person is restrained, often by straps, or sometimes simply held down by multiple individuals. A rag is generally placed over the victim’s face, a practice dating back to the Spanish Inquisition, to help keep the water in place.
Water is then poured onto the cloth or directly into the victim’s throat and nose, cutting off oxygen and creating the sensation of drowning that seems never-ending, while the victim struggles to stop the flow. The cloth or plastic covering the face acts as a one-way valve, permitting exhalation but preventing inhalation.
5. Loss of Consciousness
When someone drowns, they remain aware until the very last moment, at which point they lose consciousness due to a lack of oxygen in the bloodstream. It is in this instant that the drowning victim stops fighting and typically inhales some water.
With waterboarding, however, the loss of consciousness can occur repeatedly. Waterboarding almost always leads to the eventual loss of consciousness, typically when the water flow ceases, and the victim is revived... only for the water to flow once more, along with the overwhelming fear that comes with the sensation of drowning. Can you imagine how that must feel?
4. The Experience
Ramon Navarro was tortured by a Japanese war criminal named Chinsaku Yuki, who subjected him to waterboarding. During Yuki’s 1947 trial, Navarro recounted the effects of the torture. He stated that while it wasn’t physically painful, 'one becomes unconscious—like drowning in water.'
To intensify the bizarre sensations of waterboarding, the water is sometimes chilled or iced, making it more jarring when it hits and enters the body. When strapped to a bed or gurney, many victims suffer injuries to their limbs as they violently struggle against their restraints in an attempt to stop the overwhelming feeling of drowning. Injuries can affect the entire body as the victim uses every muscle to try to break free. Those who endure this describe the water pouring into their noses as both excruciating and terrifying. One can only imagine the horror of being waterboarded.
3. Forbidden Practices
Despite the illegality of waterboarding, some individuals who believe they are above the law continue to use it. In August 2018, reports emerged that two Royal Military Police cadets in England had subjected another person to waterboarding.
US president Donald Trump has proposed the supposed 'need' to revive torture methods, specifically waterboarding, in the fight against terrorism. This suggestion comes even after the extensive scandal surrounding the Bush administration's use of waterboarding both domestically and abroad.
2. Legal Status
The Geneva Conventions are a set of international agreements signed by multiple countries aimed at alleviating the suffering of soldiers and civilians during wartime. These conventions have prohibited acts that are considered too torturous for individuals to endure and return to a life that can resemble anything normal. Under the Geneva Convention of 1929 and again in 1949, waterboarding was officially designated a war crime, and those who practice it are considered war criminals.
Waterboarding has had a controversial and tumultuous history, with its use often sparking public outrage. This ongoing backlash has reinforced its reputation as a severe form of torture, one that should never be utilized.
1. Damage to Internal Organs
In addition to the injuries caused by intense struggling, waterboarding can result in brain damage due to lack of oxygen and potential harm to the lungs. Normally, water is not meant to enter the lungs during waterboarding, but some victims have reported it happening. One individual suffered this when water was poured into his nose while his mouth was blocked by the interrogator’s hand. When the victim could no longer hold his breath, he inhaled, and the water entered his lungs. He described the experience as more painful than traditional waterboarding.
A rarer form of waterboarding involves forcing water into the victim's stomach, leading to extreme pain. Chinsaku Yuki sat on Ramon Navarro’s stomach, forcing the water to expel through his mouth and nostrils—only to restart the process of filling the internal organs with more water. Meanwhile, the sinus cavities would continuously fill with flowing water. If this method is prolonged, the victim will eventually die, even if no water reaches their lungs.
