The military banned waterboarding trainees because it was too brutal — and never announced It

"It was absolutely so painful.” No Images? Click here         The Military Banned Waterboarding Trainees Because It Was Too Brutal — And Never Announced It​ For years, the U.S. military used waterboarding, a centuries-old torture technique, to train American troops to resist interrogation if captured. Torture apologists have long cited this fact in defense of the CIA’s past use of torture to interrogate terrorist suspects. Now Gina Haspel, a veteran CIA officer who reportedly oversaw a secret prison where an alleged terrorist was waterboarded, is President Donald Trump’s pick to become the next director of the agency — and some of her supporters are again citing the military’s use of waterboarding to defend her. Bush-era “enhanced interrogation” techniques “were the same as those used on our own people,” Liz Cheney, a Republican congresswoman and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, tweeted in defense of Haspel earlier this month. Here’s what Cheney, and other torture apologists, don’t mention — and perhaps don’t know: By 2002, several branches of the military had backed away from using waterboarding in training — and in November 2007, the Pentagon quietly banned it altogether.   The military decided waterboarding “provided no instructional or training benefit to the student,” Thomas Crosson, a Department of Defense spokesman, told HuffPost in an email.  The military’s decision made sense, veteran military interrogator and intelligence officer Steven Kleinman told HuffPost. Waterboarding “teaches failure,” he said. “No one succeeds. They can’t teach a strategy during that. Literally, it was absolutely so painful.” READ MORE     WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING? Less than 24 hours after he was fired as Veterans Affairs secretary under the cloud of an ethics scandal, David Shulkin slammed Washington as “toxic, chaotic, disrespectful and subversive” in a scathing op-ed published in The New York Times. READ MORE The Trump administration has abandoned a policy of generally releasing pregnant women from immigrant detention, according to a directive publicly shared by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday. Instead, pregnant women will be released from immigrant detention only on a case-by-case basis. READ MORE Oklahoma’s Senate approved legislation for the first major tax increase in a quarter century to help fund pay raises for teachers and avert a strike. Oklahoma’s teachers rank among the worst paid in the United States. READ MORE    .     ICYMI The NRA is pulling in big bucks after the Parkland shooting. Donations skyrocketed as the gun group issued frothy warnings of the “freedom-hating left.”   Census experts are skeptical of the rationale for adding a citizenship question to the 2020 survey. "It’s essentially setting off with the [Titanic] saying, ‘We’re pretty sure that this won’t create a problem, but just in case, yeah, let’s throw a massive iceberg in the way.’”    The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, as explained by reporter Ashley Feinberg's mom.    . Want more?  Tammy Duckworth Rebukes Red State Blog For Saying ‘She Doesn’t Have A Leg To Stand On’ Joe Biden Regrets Talk Of Fighting Trump, Doesn’t Want To ‘Get Down In Mosh Pit’ Far-Right Activist Thrown Out Of Courthouse At Pulse Nightclub Trial     How will Trump’s administration impact you? Sign up for our email and find out. Did a friend send you this? Subscribe here. Like what you see? Share it. Want more? Here are two other newsletters you'll love: The Morning Email and Must Reads. ©2018 HuffPost | 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 You are receiving this email because you signed up for updates from HuffPost Feedback | Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe    . - - Preferences  |  Unsubscribe