I don't consider waterboarding to be torture, mistreatment or abuse. Have they ever been specifically and legally defined as such? If so, by whom? If not, case closed.
“Have they ever been specifically and legally defined as such? If so, by whom?”
Unfortunately, there is a strong case to be made that Waterboarding is “torture,” as per 18 U.S.C. 2340, which defines “torture,” for the purposes of U.S. law, to include the infliction of severe mental pain or suffering. It defines “severe mental pain or suffering” to include mental harm caused by or resulting from, among other things, the threat of imminent death.
Since waterboarding, to the extent that it is effective, is effective precisely because it inflicts a threat of imminent death, it is arguably torture under this definition, and, as such, would be prohibited under 18 U.S.C. 2341, which prohibits any U.S. persons from engaging in the activity described, regardless of where such activity occurs.
Exactly.
Well, the United States did convict a Japanese officer as a war criminal for engaging in the practice.
Times change, don’t they?