Students protest CIA torture

On Wednesday a group of students from the University of California Santa Barbara sabotaged a CIA recruiting presentation to protest covert U.S. torture and rendition policies and waterboarding in particular. Dressed as clowns, one of the group was placed on a table in front of the recruiter, who subsequently made a quick exit, their hands bound and water poured over their head to simulate waterboarding, the controversial mock-drowning strategy practiced by the CIA.

Furthermore, an anti-torture rally at UC Berkley went even further, seeing a man pulled from the crowd and used as the subject in a real life waterboarding demonstration. The event was clearly effective and shocked the audience significantly. In the words of one student:

"I was aware of it on a purely intellectual level but actually seeing it in person is a whole different thing. It’s one thing to know its torture and say that’s really bad, that really sucks. But to see somebody screaming and coughing and choking in front of you, it’s a very emotional experience."

With the nomination of Michael Mukasey as the new U.S. Attorney General following the departure of Alberto Gonzales, which was opposed by Citizens for Global Solutions due to his inability to state categorically on the record that waterboarding constitutes torture, California students are clearly ensuring that this issue stays on the agenda, which is an encouraging sign.

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