Chicago Conservative Talk Show Host Waterboarded, now says Torture

[SpencerH]

Having eaten NY and Chicago pizzas, I can honestly say that I prefer my own.

[Arrian]

NY Pizza

It should be noted that this guy, having VOLUNTEERED for this, knew full well that they wouldn't kill him or do lasting damage, and that they would stop whenever he asked. Not comparable to the waterboarding of a Gitmo detainee.

-Arrian

[Riesstiu IV]

Waterboarding is fun!

[Imran Siddiqui]

The 2nd part of the show he ate a slice of NY pizza. He described it as worse torture than waterboarding.

Now I know not to trust his judgement.

NY pizza >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Chicago pizza

QFT

[Theben]

See, Drake? The terrorists agree with you. I bet you have a poster of Kim-Il and Osama in an alcove shrine in your basement!!

[BeBMan]

I just want to ask - shouldn't we assume those conservative talk guys are notorious liars? That would mean he just said it's torture to say it actually isn't!

WTF?

[DaShi]

Years back, Mancow wasn't very political, sort of the Chicago version of Howard Stern with a morning zoo-type show on a rock station here. He is mostly known for being a sensationalist asshat and has been successfully sued several times.

I didn't even know he was still on the air.

I prefer Moleman in the Morning. Good moleman to you.

[Drake Tungsten]

Yesterday we showed you video of Erich "Mancow" Muller, a Chicago-based right-wing shockjock, appearing as a guest on Keith Olbermann's show to discuss his being waterboarded. He claimed it led to an ideological conversion! But now a tipster has provided information that suggests the whole thing may be a hoax...

Now, we're obviously no experts on the art of waterboarding, but we've done a bit of research on it and also went back and watched the video of Christopher Hitchens' waterboarding in 2008 to compare and contrast his waterboarding against Mancow's, and we couldn't help but notice some rather striking differences.

In the Hitchens video, everything is carried out pretty much according to universal waterboarding protocol as we've come to understand it. His limbs and torso are tightly bound by restraints. The platform on which he lays appears to be tilted slightly downward so that his head is positioned below his heart. His head is also completely covered and the water used looks as though it's poured directly into his breathing passages.

In contrast, Mancow isn't bound by restraints at all, he doesn't appear to have his body positioned at a decline, only a portion of his face from the nose up is covered, and the water is being poured on him inappropriately.

In short, when we watched the Mancow video for the first time it struck us in a "well that doesn't look TOO awful" sort of way. For a brief moment it even made us want to call some friends over so we could all waterboard each other and see what all the fuss is about. On the other hand, the Hitchens video is somewhat nightmarish, making us want to never have anything to do with a waterboarding, ever.

http://gawker.com/5271813/did-erich-mancow-muller-fake-his-waterboarding-for-publicity

[a.kitman]

the mancow waterboarding is not fake, mancow himself obviously is of course. doing his best to squise out a bit more fame out of this.

[SpencerH]

I would've thought it was obvious. Is waterboarding torture? Of course it is. It's a form of psychological torture that has been used for millenia including (at least) more than a hundred years by the american military (against the filipino guerrilas).

[Drake Tungsten]

the mancow waterboarding is not fake

Mancow's 'Waterboarding' Was Completely Fake

Last evening our night watchman Cajun Boy reported that Chicago radio talker Erich "Mancow" Muller may have faked his waterboarding for publicity. We talked to both Muller and his waterboarder this morning, and the whole thing is a farce. Muller wasn't waterboarded.

"We went into this thinking it was going to be a joke," Muller said very quickly when we called him. "But it was not a joke—it was horrible. 'Hoax' is probably not the right word, but we did think it was going to be a joke."

According to e-mails from Muller's publicist obtained by Cajun Boy, on the day before the heavily promoted stunt was supposed to happen, Muller was frantically looking for anybody to perform the waterboarding:

It is going to have to look "real" but of course would be simulated with Mancow acting like he is drowning. It will be a hoax but have to look real. Would be great if they could dress in fatigues and bring whatever is needed. We will supply the water.

"It was a marine who did it," Muller said. "I don't know his training. Is he a professional interrogator? I don't think so. But he knew what to do. If I wanted to fake it, it would have lasted for six minutes—I lasted six seconds. I'm on the air, bud, I'm on the air." Then he hung up.

So we called Klay South, the marine Mancow found at the last minute to perform the waterboarding. He says he had no idea what he was doing! To wit:

I know nothing about waterboarding. I had never done it before, I have no formal training in it, and I've never had it done to me. The only thing I knew was what I saw on the internet. I went to waterboarding.org and looked it up. I just did what I was told—poured the water on his face and that was it. I'm probably the last person they should have had do it. I didn't know what I was doing.

That settles it for us! South is the founder of Veterans of Valor, a nonprofit that helps out wounded vets, and he said he agreed to the gig just to gain a donation and publicity for the organization, a noble enough reason.

http://gawker.com/5272691/

[a.kitman]

Come on, your source is redicoulous. I wouldnt doubt for a second it was fake if you have a crediable source.
I watched the vid and it looks really stupied, but the only real diffrenace between the mancow and the Hitchens vid is that he is tied down.
Maybe my near drowning expariance as a child is acting up here but haveing that done to me for an extanded period of time would drive me nuts.

[Drake Tungsten]

Mancow and the Marine who did the "waterboarding" aren't credible sources?

Maybe my near drowning expariance as a child is acting up here

Some residual brain damage might explain your spelling.

[Boris Godunov]

Of course, the logic of Mancow's waterboarding being "fake" is silly. He's a conservative who previously claimed it wasn't torture. So he undergoes a version that is less stressful than how it is really carried out, and he still comes out saying it was torture. Wouldn't that imply real waterboarding is even more tortuous?

[Drake Tungsten]

Of course, the logic of Mancow's waterboarding being "fake" is silly.

This makes no sense; it was either a real waterboarding performed by someone who knows what they're doing or it wasn't. I don't know about you, but we care about facts and truth in the reality-based community.