Talk:Waterboarding

Frequently asked questions

Does the lead with the phrase "Waterboarding is a form of torture" follow Wikipedia's neutrality guidelines?

There have been extensive discussions on this topic over several months, and the consensus view is that according to the sources that exist, the phrase "waterboarding is a form of torture" is an accurate assertion, supported by an overwhelming majority of sources. For further details on how this conclusion was reached, the interested reader is referred to the discussion archives.

Isn't the current debate enough to call the status into question?

Wikipedia tries to fairly represent the published views of relevant experts in an area. In this case, the vast majority of experts found so far have been of the opinion that waterboarding is torture. Almost no experts have stated the opposite position, while a few have expressed the view that it might not be torture in all circumstances. See here for a list of all sources that we have collected on this topic.

I still do not agree that this article's lead is neutral—how can I change it?

If you wish to change the assertion that waterboarding is a form of torture, please first propose to revise the lead on the talk page. You should support your proposal with high quality reliable sources, such as from medical or legal scholars, supporting why it would not be an accurate description. Even a single new high quality source would be enough to revisit the debate. Then please add that source to here and mention the addition on this talk page.

Waterboarding is a former featured article candidate. Please view the links under Article milestones below to see why the nomination was archived. For older candidates, please check the archive.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
December 20, 2007	Good article nominee	Not listed
March 17, 2008	Featured article candidate	Not promoted

Current status: Former featured article candidate

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This article has been mentioned by a media organization:

Loretta Keller (16 Nov 2007). "Torture harms more than the victim
[dead link]". Pasadena Star-News.

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Torture was ‘the norm’ in the North[ern Ireland], says university lecturer

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/torture-was-the-norm-in-the-north-says-university-lecturer-1.3185382

Lede

I just spent a good portion of my evening rewriting the lede, which was seven paragraphs long and featured a confusing chronology, a factual inaccuracy, excessive detail, a challenged assertion that had been tagged since June 2015, and a near-complete focus on the 21st century U.S. debate over waterboarding. The lede is dramatically improved, but could still use more work.
Editors have generated pages' worth of archived talk page debates and discussions about this >15-year-old article. It's disappointing that no one had expended an equivalent amount of time and effort to write a coherent lede. SunCrow (talk) 08:25, 2 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 21 December 2020

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Please delete this instance of the word "the": "and said that the its use could yield unreliable information" 81.100.37.20 (talk) 11:31, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Done – Thjarkur (talk) 11:41, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Waterboarding doesn't cause a sensation of drowning

As it says in the lead, you will die if they don't stop pouring water. You would never say that somebody who nearly drowned experienced the sensation of drowning. You say "they were drowning." Why make an exception in this case? "Sensation" here appears to me to be a weasel word.

Waterboarding is frequently described as mock execution, as mentioned in the article. But it's not. There's no mocking about it. You are drowning. 89.253.73.146 (talk) 16:30, 25 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Obama lied.

From the article: "President Barack Obama banned the use of waterboarding and several other interrogation methods in January 2009."

The United States may no longer use "waterboarding and several other interrogation methods," but it still tortures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvTY1gk1pXk 89.253.73.146 (talk) 16:39, 25 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

MythBusters Waterboarding Demonstration

I was surprised I didn't see a mention of the MythBusters Water Torture episode under demonstrations. For those who don't know which episode I'm talking about, here's a link to the section on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFFslAjUyj4

While it doesn't involve a mask or face covering, it's still pretty similar. Would it make sense to add it to the article under that header? 2601:1C0:8500:1161:E802:4299:719A:734A (talk) 2601:1C0:8500:1161:E802:4299:719A:734A (talk) 06:06, 19 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]