A striking contrast is present in the rhetoric of presidential candidates and the director of the CIA about enhanced interrogation techniques.
Even though torture has not been a major subject during the course of the presidential election season this year, CIA Director John Brennan recently made it very clear that the CIA would not engage in waterboarding, even upon a direct order from a future president. Brennan’s statements come following an election season where candidates like Donald Trump have had the opportunity to make it clear that he would “authorize torture” and “absolutely authorize something beyond waterboarding.”
Although the “worseness” of torture can be highly subjective, here are some of the less pleasant examples of horrific torture instruments.
Back in the 1600s — when torture was a socially acceptable method of extracting confessions and verbal evidence — officials all over the world had a great time making people squeal under terrible duress. Quite often, many of these “enhanced interrogation” techniques were done in the name of snooping out witchcraft and in the name of religion. One of the more popular methods in the seeds of early America was pressing.
Essentially, a potential suspect or non-cooperating witness would be asked in a not-quite-gentle manner to lie down. Afterward, heavy slabs of rock would be laid one by one on top of the victim. In between the addition of each heavy slab, the victim would have the opportunity to confess to a crime or testify. However, in the famed Salem witch trials of the 1690s, Giles Corey refused to testify and was squashed to death uttering “more weight,” which is probably one of the most testosterone-filled quotations in history.
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Besides an obsession with crushing, the 17th century also had an infatuation with splitting and slicing. Take the Spanish donkey, for example. Despite its cuddly name, this device was anything but adorable. A poor man or woman would be placed on a long triangular prism with one leg on either side of the triangle. Weights would be slowly added to the victim’s feet until the sharp edge of the triangle went through the entirety of the victim’s body. Once again, a wonderful tool utilized by the Spanish Inquisition, in the name of Catholic orthodoxy.
Of course, not all torture ended fatally back in the good ol’ days. One of the other popular methods of torture and punishment was neck torture. Usually, neck torture involved extremely sharp, tight, pointy neck appendages that made it impossible to do anything comfortably. One wrong move would result in piercings, slices and painful jabs that would drive any normal person insane. You just have to love the Middle Ages.
With all this mind, it becomes fairly obvious that Mr. Trump is making a point. Who doesn’t enjoy a bit of cruel and unusual punishment and infringing on Constitutional rights? Although waterboarding is already a horrendous method of treating someone, “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding” is exactly what we need to make America great again.
Richard Hwang is a student at Athens High School. What do you think of Donald Trump's comments? Email him at rhwang999@gmail.com.
