(NOTE: Please read the update to this alert.) The New York
Times, revealing the interrogation techniques the CIA is using
against Al-Qaeda suspects, seemed unable to find a source who
would call torture by its proper name. The May 13 article,
headlined "Harsh CIA Methods Cited in Top Qaeda Interrogation,"
described "coercive interrogation methods" endorsed by the CIA
and the Justice Department, including hooding, food and light
deprivation, withholding medications, and "a technique known as
'water boarding,' in which a prisoner is strapped down, forcibly
pushed under water and made to believe he might drown." The
article took pains to explain why, according to U.S. officials,
such techniques do not constitute torture: "Defenders of the
operation said the methods stopped short of torture, did not
violate American anti-torture statutes, and were necessary to
fight a war against a nebulous enemy whose strength and
intentions could only be gleaned by extracting information from
often uncooperative detainees." The