Pawlenty: I support torture

TORTURE means inflicting severe pain, agony or anguish (physical or mental) to force information or confession. "Waterboarding" is an interrogation technique designed to cause the sensation of drowning (a captive is immobilized and water is poured over his or her face). It was used by the Gestapo as a form of torture during WWII. President Bush authorized waterboarding after 9/11 as part of a suite of enhanced interrogation techniques for use against captured terrorists. President Obama outlawed it in Jan. 2009 citing US law and the Geneva Convention (Common Law 3, which bans "cruel treatment" and torture of any kind). Two years ago, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said that waterboarding not only damages the victim "but to our values more broadly." However, during a Republican presidential candidate debate yesterday, Pawlenty said: “I support the use of enhanced interrogation techniques in limited circumstances." TPaw's pandering is pathetic. But his stated support for the use of torture is frightening. Is this really what the GOP has come to?