Originally Posted by
Oneironaut
Throwing people in a freezing room while periodically throwing cold water on them is pretty extreme. Putting someone that is deathly afraid of dogs into a pen, blindfolded, surrounded by barking, snarling dogs that are just out of range is pretty, psychologically, extreme. (And, to use other examples that probably aren't being done, but fall in the same line...) Putting a fake bullet in a revolver and playing Russian Roulette with a detainee, clicking the hammer and spinning the barrel every time you ask them a question and they do not answer to your liking, is pretty extreme. Sticking them under a pendulum with a rotating saw blade that drops down toward their stomach an inch a minute, until they tell you what you want to here (even if you don't plan on dropping it the final inch) is pretty extreme. Hanging someone off of the Empire State building, by their ankles, and threatening to drop them, if they don't tell you what you want to hear, is pretty extreme.
I'm sorry, UM, but this is torture. Torture is both a physical and psychological concept. Take into account the testimonies of the WWII interrogators in the article posted. Would they felt dishonorable for doing the type of things that are being done, today, if they didn't consider them torturous?