Song A Day

  1. #109! For this song, I took language directly from the torture memos. Lyrics below.

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    the detainee is lying on a gurney
    that’s inclined at an angle: 10 to 15 degrees
    a cloth is placed over the detainee’s face
    cold water is poured on the cloth

    the wet cloth creates
    a barrier through which
    it is difficult or in some cases not possible
    for the detainee to breathe

    if the detainee
    makes an effort to defeat the technique
    by twisting his head to the side and breathing
    out the corner of his mouth
    the interrogator may cup his hands around
    the detainees nose and mouth
    in which case it would not be posible for him to breathe!

    As we explained
    in the Section 2340A Memorandum,
    “pain and suffering”
    (as used in Section 2340)
    is best understood as a single concept,
    not distinct concepts
    of “pain” as distinguished from “suffering”…

    The waterboard,
    which inflicts no pain or actual harm whatsoever,does not, in our view inflict “severe pain or suffering”. Even if one were to parse the statute more finely to treat “suffering” as a distinct concept, the waterboard could not be said to inflict severe sufering. The waterboard is simply a controlled acute episode, lacking the connotation of a protracted period of time generally given to suffering.

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