Wednesday, July 02, 2008

A Window Into Waterboarding - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog

67. July 2nd, 2008 5:54 pm

We can look at it archaeologically and historically in New York City. In the American Revolution, where over 11,000 perished in dis-masted prison ships, there was a prison, today next to the current City Hall, (designed by McComb, I hope his lighthouse commissioned by President Washington survives “earmarks”) that was reported by the NY Times to have been “blacker than any Black Hole of Calcutta” (1903). There was particularly a British Major Cunningham who was infamous for torture, said to have tortured Ethan Allen among others there. Today at the NY State Urban Cultural Park in Ossining, NY there is an exhibit of artifacts from the historic “Sing-Sing” prison (labor from there also used in the Croton Aqueduct). In it is a stone seat that fit around the prisoners throat and head in which water was poured, a basin, where he could almost drown as punishment or for other reasons, (confession?) a practice since outlawed. The major difference, the victim was sitting up.

— Posted by George Myers A Window Into Waterboarding - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog

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