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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
“If you look at the history of the use of that technique used by the Khmer Rouge, used in the inquisition, used by the Japanese and prosecuted by us as war crimes, we prosecuted our own soldiers in Vietnam, I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, waterboarding is torture.”
The above statement made by Eric Holder during his confirmation hearing for Attorney General marked a clean break from the policy of the Bush administration on waterboarding, the interrogation technique used by the CIA on at least three Al-Qaida suspects, and on the general issue of the use of torture in US interrogation.
[1] Holder video here.
[2] Details of the development of the Bush administration's policy on waterboarding are here.
[3] See “Waterboarding Historically Controversial” The Washington Post, Oct, 5, 2006. Page A17.
[4] Congressional Record, Senate, November 8, 2007, p. S. 14166.
[5] “McCain Looks Ahead,” CBS 60 Minutes, March 9, 2008. McCain's live comments on waterboarding are here.
[6] Washington Post, “Waterboarding Used to Be a Crime”
[7] Here
[8] Gustavo Ingles, Memoirs of Pain (Metro Manila: Mauban Heritage Foundation, 1992), p.27.
[9] Lester I. Tenney, My Hitch in Hell (Washington: Brassey's, 1995), pp. 87-88.
[10] See for example, “Water Cure: Debating torture and counterinsurgency- a century ago” by Paul Kramer, New Yorker, February 25, 2008. Kramer chronicled the debate on American soldiers' torturing Filipinos with water during the Philippines-American War. He concluded that although some Americans at that time were outraged by the “cruelty” and “barbarities” exhibited by US soldiers, in the end the nation as a whole chose not to deal with it squarely. Kramer's thoughts on the relevance of this century old debate on “water cure” to today's situation can be found at Japan Focus.
[11] For Prime Minister Aso's admission see Japanese PM Taro Aso's family business used British PoWs. Prime Minister Aso also admitted that there were Korean workers at Aso Mining during the Upper House plenary session on Jan. 7, 2009.
[12] Foreign Minister Nakasone Hirofumi before the Upper House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, Dec. 18, 2008.
[13] Former Australian POW Arthur Gigger who was forced to work at Aso Mining said that food and clothes were inadequate. (See “Proof of POW Forced Labor for Japan's Foreign Minister: The Aso Mines” by William Underwood.) Another former POW Joe Coombs recently told the Radio Australia about the condition of the Aso Mining, “The coal mines were the worst of the lot, I'm sure the mines that we were working in were old mines that had been re-opened. And the coal that we were taking out should have been left there to hold the mine together and we had several major falls while we were working there.”
[14] See “The Japanese Court, Mitsubishi and Corporate Resistance to Chinese Forced Labor Redress” by William Underwood for the account of Japanese corporations' resistance to dealing with the forced labor issue.
[15] See Michael Bazyler's forthcoming article at Japan Focus for discussion of many issues relevant to the present article.
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