Shock Jock Who Got Waterboarded Apparently Staged It
A week ago I posted video of radio shock jock Mancow getting waterboarded. After it happened, many in the liberal blogosphere went nuts saying that the “conservative” Mancow got waterboarded and decided that it was, in fact, torture.
But then today Gawker posted that it was all a hoax. One of the producers involved wrote a memo talking about how they’d have to stage it to make it look realistic, and the Marine on hand to do the waterboarding has admitted to not knowing a thing about how to do it:
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.
In response to these accusations, Mancow has released the following statement saying it was real:
BORED BLOGGERS ARE ALL WET
By Mancow Muller May 29, 2008I am not a magician. Many news cameras were there!
Obviously, it was on the radio and I wasn’t in prison. I’m also not a radicalized Muslim terrorist. But it was not a hoax! I repeat: NOT A HOAX.
We kept telling management, the insurance companies, and the local Chicago cops we weren’t really going to do it - until we did. Otherwise, they weren’t gonna let us do it! We got a U.S. Marine that told us he had studied how to do it and he volunteered to waterboard me in return for a mention of his charity.
I was on a decline and I was waterboarded. Was I in chains? No. Does that make it less real? I am failing to get the point attempted by my detractors. We never claimed it was an exact recreation.
The CIA technique is exactly what we did:
1. Keep the chest elevated above the head and neck to keep the lungs “above the waterline.”
2. Incline the head, both to keep the throat open and to present the nostrils for easier filling.
3. Force the mouth open so that water can be poured into both the nose and mouth.
Sorry, I thought for years it wasn’t torture and now I do. The video is there for all to see.
The left has taken my message and distorted it as well. Would I wanterboard to save my daughters (or any American children)? Yes!
The three terrorists that were waterboarded at Guantanamo were done so by military professionals. And it was done to save lives with America’s best interests at heart. Mine was a silly radio time filler in comparison. Its apples & hand grenades!
It would be insane to equate what I did with anything that happens in prison. I am simply a free man in a radio studio that always tries to get inside the big issues. This is an ugly issue with no easy answers. But I now see it’s easier for some to dismiss me than to do any real soul searching on this very heady issue.
My reaction, besides “meh,” is…the Chicago Cops were really going to stop this idiot from waterboarding himself? Is it a crime to waterboard yourself?
As for whether or not Mancow really was waterboarded, I don’t really care. Liberal protesters have waterboarded themselves to protest waterboarding. Mancow apparently did it for ratings. If it were really “torture” would so many people do it so willingly?
If all those people are willing to face waterboarding in order to prove a point, why are we not willing to waterboard to, say, save Los Angeles? The liberals are shocked and horrified that we’ve waterboarded terrorists to gain actionable intelligence to ward off terror attacks, but they’re not shocked and horrified when they believe Mancow waterboarded himself?
If anything, this little teapot tempest illustrates the absurdity of this entire debate.
