[Grunch]

What countries/regimes practice(d) waterboarding? Off the top of my head: the Khmer Rouge and George W. Bush's administration, and why is this the intersection for such (supposedly) disparate regimes?

[ThereBeDragons]

The United States is a nominally Communist dictatorship, that's what.

Serious answer: Because both regimes want(ed) to get information out of uncooperative people, and waterboarding is one method of doing so.

[Dan]

What countries/regimes practice(d) waterboarding?

The Dutch, the Spanish, the French, the Americans, and the Cambodians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding#Historical_uses

why is this the intersection for such (supposedly) disparate regimes?

Simple. They both believed there was information or cooperation they could gain from its use.

[QatzelOk]

The Dutch, the Spanish, the French, the Americans, and the Cambodians.

Importantly, they have all stopped except one dead-ender of a country.

[Oxymoron]

What countries/regimes practice(d) waterboarding? Off the top of my head: the Khmer Rouge and George W. Bush's administration, and why is this the intersection for such (supposedly) disparate regimes?

Correct question is what new and improved torture techiniques are other inteligence and security agencies using.

[Maas]

The Dutch, the Spanish, the French, the Americans, and the Cambodians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboard ... rical_uses

Dutch: in 1623!

[QatzelOk]

Dutch: in 1623!

Hey, we're still reclaiming the holy land here in North America. As well as fighting communism.

[Maas]

Actually it was done by a company called VOC.
It was a trading company with it's own (quiet big) private army and navy. I don't think the Dutch government had much of a say in what they did.... and certanly not in the parts of asia the company conquered. That's very different than the torture manual approved by the US government.

[sazerac]

Importantly, they have all stopped except one dead-ender of a country.

Oh, really?

It's not important to you that America stopped "genociding" the natives.

It's not important to you that America stopped using nuclear bombs against Japan.

It's not important to you that America stopped slavery.

So are you just a hypocrite?

[QatzelOk]

It's not important to you that America stopped slavery.

Yes, that's important to me. That Americans stopped owning slaves a century after everyone else. Perhaps America will start curbing its fossil fuels consumption in 2105?

[sazerac]

The British Empire abolished slavery in 1833. The US abolished it in 1865.

Montreal had most of the slaves in Canada. I forgive you.

[Falx]

It's not important to you that America stopped "genociding" the natives.

Ask a Filipino, Thai, other yellow person.

It's not important to you that America stopped using nuclear bombs against Japan.

*Ran out.

It's not important to you that America stopped slavery.

Driving force for slave demand for the better part of a hundred years. Especially around you backwater of an underwater city/state.

[Noelnada]

Dutch: in 1623!

Hey maybe if the Dutch wouldn't have stopped waterboarding, they would not have lost the colonies in the new world, including New Amsterdam, and the people living there could be free to go to the coffee-shop whenever they want.

So maybe that waterboarding is the only solution to protect freedom of consumption against barbarian societies...

[Lensky1917]

The question of what oher countries are doing to obtain information is an interesting one. In Tom Clancy's "Cardinal of the Kremlin" the Soviets used a deprivation tank which deprived the crimial of their senses. (Perhaps) to ease psychological burdens they made it all seem like a dream. Although this is a work of fiction, Clancy's novels are quite realistic and this does seem to be within the realm of possibilities.

[Nets]

Yes, that's important to me. That Americans stopped owning slaves a century after everyone else. Perhaps America will start curbing its fossil fuels consumption in 2105?

Ahem, bullshit. While Europe may have abolished slavery before us domestically, they continued to use slave labor in their African colonies until the 20th century.

[Maas]

Hey maybe if the Dutch wouldn't have stopped waterboarding, they would not have lost the colonies in the new world, including New Amsterdam, and the people living there could be free to go to the coffee-shop whenever they want.

We sort of swapped New Amsterdam for Suriname with the British.

While Europe may have abolished slavery before us domestically, they continued to use slave labor in their African colonies until the 20th century.

Probably on the same level as slavery still exsist in Africa today... illegally. It's more the ideology that you should stop that counts with laws to back it up.

[Far-Right Sage]

Dutch: in 1623!

The Dutch mattered in 1623. So did the Spanish, for that matter.

The United States matters now.

[Grunch]

The Dutch mattered in 1623. So did the Spanish, for that matter.

The United States matters now.

That becomes less and less true with every day.