"an overwhelming experience that induces horror"

No, I'm not referring to the de facto Bush Administration as "an overwhelming experience that induces horror" - although come to think of it, that's pretty accurate. That is part of a quote from Malcolm Wrightson Nance, who used to teach US Navy personnel how to endure torture. As part of his education, Nance was waterboarded. Here is how he described it before the House hearing on torture:

"In my case, the technique was so fast and professional that I didn't know what was happening until the water entered my nose and throat. It then pushes down into the trachea and starts the process of respiratory degradation. It is an overwhelming experience that induces horror and triggers frantic survival instincts. As the event unfolded, I was fully conscious of what was happening: I was being tortured."

But hey, bad guys deserve it and besides, that's how we get the information we need to let Jack Bauer save the US of A, right?

Wrong. "Nance and Air Force Colonel Steven Kleinman, a senior intelligence officer with decades of experience, said waterboarding is an ineffective tool for gathering information. Nance said that waterboarding sets off a fear of impending death and that people will say anything to get out of it."

It's a broken record but it needs to be repeated to counter the ceaseless stream of lies and evasions from the Bush Administration's minions. Waterboarding is torture, and therefore illegal. Torture is also immoral. And it is ineffective. And it ruins our international reputation, in Iraq and everywhere else. And (although a much lesser concern) it either warps those who perform torture, or even worse is enjoyed by the sadists who find themselves in the place to do torture on behalf of the state.

It degrades America. It is wrong. It must be stopped.

So maybe Congress can quit passing pork-laden water bills (what a waste as the first over-ride of a Bush veto) and pass a bill making this even MORE explicit. And dare Bush to veto that.