Whether or not waterboarding is torture is apparently up for debate. What isn’t up for debate, however, is whether or
not the CIA feared waterboarding would give Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) a heart attack. In a new book released by former CIA official Jose Rodriguez, he disclosed that the senator requested to be waterboarded, claiming the Senator “wanted to find out for himself how it felt.”
CIA Denied Sen. Bill Nelson His Right to be Waterboarded
The CIA, while standing by their stance that waterboarding is not torture, insisted that Nelson could die from a heart attack due to the “unpleasantness” associated with the procedure. Rodriguez suggested that if the senator died, it would be great fodder for conspiracy theorists. He pointed out “had tragically died, his successor would have been appointed by … Jeb Bush, the president’s brother. The conspiracy theorists would have gone wild.”
Would it have been irresponsible for the CIA to submit to the senators request?
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You just can’t make this stuff up.
Hat’s off to the Senator for wanting to take his research to a personal level.