Is waterboarding torture?

I’ve got an easy answer for that. Pick five Republican senators and five Democratic senators at random, wheel a kiddie pool into the Capitol Rotunda, strap them to a gurney, and have them try out the technique – no permanent physical harm, we promise! – for 60 seconds.

At the end of the 60 seconds for each of the 10 senators, poll them as to whether it was just “aggressive interrogation” or if they felt they were subjected to a torture technique.

This would accomplish two things. First, the people making the decisions should have first-hand experience of anything that might be done in the name of the people that could be called torture. Second, perhaps we’d have fewer used car salesmen running for office if they knew they might have to experience what they legislate.