Reframing 'Waterboarding'

Now, this is the sort of re-framing I can get behind and I am not referring to the lead photo. One commenter comes up with a great term: "Freedom Dunking."

Actually, "water torture" is the accepted, non-euphemistic term for this technique.

During the Spanish Inquisition and the Witch Hunts in northern Europe, it was known euphemisticallly as "the water cure." Later, the French ecclesiastical courts of the 17th c. called it "the extraordinary question." I've no idea how Pol Pot referred to it, but I've no doubt it sounded innocuous enough.

"Waterboarding," whatever you call it, has a history as old and horrific as the rack, the iron maiden, and the Catherine wheel. A truly effective frame would place it securely in the world of medieval horrors where it belongs.

I would have expected -- Democratic Baptism.