Reactions to Christopher Hitchens' Waterboarding Experience

Hitchens on Display - by George Packer
-The New Yorker July 03, 2008
"I came back from Colombia to find Christopher Hitchens everywhere on the Web in the same position: prone, on a raised flat surface, helpless, humiliatingly exposed, with specialists standing over his mound of a belly, doing unspeakable things to him. First he had himself photographed receiving a Brazilian wax; then he had himself videotaped being waterboarded. Up next: his sigmoidoscopy on YouTube."

Waterboarding Hitchens: how brave is "stunt journalism"? -by Phil Bronstein
-SF Chronicle July 03, 2008
"There's the serious debate, discussion and outrage over water boarding (Is it torture that should be forbidden? "Just" mentally excruciating but not the same as cigarette burns, bamboo shoots under the nails or joints being crushed one by one?)."

Hitchens' Tortured Explanation: After having been waterboarded, Christopher Hitchens recognises that it is torture. But still defends its use. -by Michael Otterman
-Guardian UK July 03, 2008
"Now, neoconservative pundit Christopher Hitchens has waded into the debate. In a new article for Vanity Fair, Hitchens - like several other journalists before him - underwent the procedure. "If waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture," noted Hitchens, who lasted roughly 10 seconds under the spout."

Stupid Is As Hitchens Does -by Phillip Carter
-Washington Post July 02, 2008
"Columnist Christopher Hitchens decided to try out for a Darwin Award (or whatever the equivalent honor is when you survive an incredibly dumb act) by recruiting a team of special operations troops to waterboard him. He then wrote an article about what it felt like for Vanity Fair."

Jonathan Kay on Christopher Hitchens, waterboarding, and the rewards of preaching your own gospel - by Jonathan Kay
-National Post July 09, 2008
"To this day, the question of whether waterboarding constitutes torture remains a live issue in the United States. Based on his experience on the board, Hitchens concludes unequivocally in the current issue of Vanity Fair: Yes, it’s torture."