Waterboarding is a form of torture that was started with the Spanish Inquisition and was then practiced at Guantanamo Bay. The interrogation victim is placed on a board at an incline and water is poured onto their face covered in a wet towel. Water enters the nose cavity and mouth restricting both airways and causing a gag reflex.
The water pour could last up to 20 seconds, then be paused, then another 20 seconds, paused, then 40 seconds. The subject is slowly drowning. Typically, the subject spasms, expels water and snot, sometimes vomit, thrashes and flops on the gurney as if having a seizure.
The incline keeps water from entering the lungs which avoids drowning. Every breath becomes a horrific gurgling struggle. This is very much the same struggle that is achieved by COVID-19 infecting the lungs. People drown in their own lung fluids. Waterboarding was forbidden in 2006.
Pentagon chief spokesman John Kirby said in a tweet January 30, 2021 that the Defense Department would be “pausing” the plan to give vaccinations to those held at Guantanamo while it reviews measures to protect troops who work there.
The base has 1,500 U.S. troops who work at the prison, and 40 prisoners, among them the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attack. Some public health experts and criminal justice advocates have argued that incarcerated people should be high on the priority list to receive the vaccine, as many are detained in tight quarters and are in close contact with prison staff, creating ripe conditions for a widespread Covid-19 breakout. The Pentagon in March 2020 prohibited commanders from publicly reporting new coronavirus cases among their personnel.
The U.S. opened the detention center in January 2002 to hold detainees suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban. Those who remain include five men facing a trial by military commission for their alleged roles planning and aiding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The pandemic delayed military commission proceedings at Guantánamo, including the joint death-penalty trial for the men accused of plotting the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, which had initially been scheduled to begin January 11, 2021.