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Hitchens: “Believe Me, It’s Torture”

At the request of one of its editors, Christopher Hitchens submitted to being waterboarded for the most recent issue of Vanity Fair.

Hitchens is a “writer, polemicist, and fierce proponent of the US-led invasion of Iraq”. In one of his articles for Slate, he implied a distinction between “extreme interrogation” (actions performed by American citizens, including waterboarding) and “outright torture” (the accusation of which was besmirching America’s reputation; he clearly did not think waterboarding was torture).

The Vanity Fair account of his waterboarding is gripping, moving, and convincing.

But you really must watch the video of Hitchens being tortured. The past 8 years will be a permanent and very dark spot on the history of our country.