David H. Rittgers: Did waterboarding work?
David H. Rittgers, a legal policy analyst at the Cato Institute, served three tours in Afghanistan as a Special Forces officer and continues to serve as a reserve judge advocate. The views expressed in this Op-Ed do not necessarily reflect those of the Defense Department or the Army.
The successful raid on Osama bin Laden's safe house in Pakistan has reinvigorated debate over the role that "enhanced interrogation techniques" have played in fighting Al Qaeda. No one is switching sides, which has turned the argument into a theological one between two sets of true believers. Each views the other as heretics.
Get over it. The whole of the debate is pointless posturing. There is no way to prove or disprove the real worth of America's experiment with waterboarding and coercive techniques. More important, enhanced interrogation isn't coming back.
The legal framework underlying waterboarding collapsed during President George W. Bush's tenure. The White HouseOffice of Legal Counsel in 2004 withdrew the memoranda that authorized waterboarding. The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, sponsored by former POW and torture victim Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), barred "cruel, inhuman, and degrading" treatment of any detainee in military custody. There may be an argument that waterboarding isn't torture, but there's no argument that it's not cruel, inhuman and degrading.
That hasn't stopped the pro-waterboarding faction from pushing for a return to techniques that were ended by Bush, not President Obama...