Waterboarding is one of those terms that feels like it belongs in a dark, dusty history book about the Inquisition, yet it dominated global headlines for much of the early 2000s. You've heard the word. You probably know it’s "enhanced interrogation." But what does waterboarding do, exactly, when the cloth hits the face and the water starts pouring?
It isn't just about getting wet. It’s a physiological hack.
Essentially, the process involves strapping a person to a board, usually with their feet elevated above their head—the "Trendelenburg position." A cloth covers their mouth and nose. Then, water is poured over the cloth. This isn't a splash in the face. It’s a controlled, systematic drowning simulation. The brain doesn't know the difference between "simulated" and "real" when the airway is blocked by a saturated rag. It panics.
The Biology of a Drowning Reflex
When you ask what does waterboarding do to a human being, you have to start with the gag reflex and the mammalian dive reflex. They collide in the worst way possible. As water fills the nasal passages and the back of the throat, the body’s pharyngeal reflex kicks in. You want to swallow. You want to cough. But because you are tilted backward, the water pools in the nasopharynx.
The brain receives a frantic signal: Oxygen is gone. Dr. Allen Keller, the director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, has been incredibly vocal about this. He notes that the physical sensation is "agony." It's not just the fear of death; it's the physical struggle of the lungs trying to expand against a liquid barrier. Your diaphragm spasms. It’s a violent, involuntary shucking of the torso as the body tries to find air that isn't there.
Interestingly, the "Trendelenburg" tilt is intentional. By keeping the head lower than the feet, the interrogators ensure that water doesn't just go into the stomach; it stays in the upper respiratory tract. This maximizes the sensation of drowning while technically trying to avoid actual death by asphyxiation—though that line is incredibly thin.
It Breaks the Mind Long Before the Body
If you look at the accounts from the CIA’s "Black Sites," specifically regarding detainees like Abu Zubaydah, the psychological impact is often more permanent than the physical. Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in a single month. Think about that.
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What does waterboarding do to the psyche? It induces "learned helplessness."
Psychologist Martin Seligman originally coined this term to describe how animals stop trying to escape once they realize no action they take can stop the pain. In humans, this manifests as a total collapse of the will. However, there is a massive flaw in this "logic" of interrogation. When a person is in a state of sheer, primal panic, the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for memory and logic—shuts down.
The person isn't "thinking" about what secrets to give up. They are hallucinating. They are desperate. They will say anything—literally anything—just to make the water stop for five seconds. This is why many intelligence experts, including former FBI interrogator Ali Soufan, have argued that the practice produces "noise" rather than actionable intelligence. If you torture someone enough, they will tell you that the moon is made of green cheese if they think that’s what you want to hear.
The Long-Term Medical Fallout
The water stops. The cloth is removed. Is it over? Not really.
Physically, the risks are high. You can develop aspiration pneumonia. This happens when water (often dirty or flavored with salt to induce vomiting) is inhaled into the lungs, leading to severe infection. There’s also the risk of "dry drowning," where the larynx spasms and stays shut even after the water is gone.
Then there are the broken bones. Because the body fights so hard against the restraints, it’s not uncommon for people to suffer from torn ligaments or even fractures in the wrists and ankles.
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Chronic PTSD and Brain Trauma
Most survivors—whether they were subjected to this in a military SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training environment or in a more sinister setting—report long-term neurological issues. We’re talking:
- Panic attacks triggered by the smell of wet cloth or the sound of running water.
- Chronic insomnia because the act of lying flat mimics the position of the board.
- Severe memory gaps and cognitive "fog."
SERE instructors, who are actually trained to endure this for short bursts, have sometimes come away with psychological scars despite knowing they were in a safe environment. Now, imagine being a prisoner who doesn't know if they will ever see the sun again. The trauma is exponential.
Why the Legal Definition Matters
There has been a lot of "word salad" in Washington over the decades. Is it torture? Is it "enhanced interrogation"?
The UN Convention Against Torture defines torture as any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person. For a long time, the "Bybee Memo" (the infamous Torture Memo) argued that for it to be torture, the pain had to be equivalent to organ failure or death.
But medical science doesn't back that distinction. The physiological response to waterboarding—the heart rate spikes, the cortisol flood, the oxygen deprivation—is, by any clinical standard, severe suffering.
The Reality of the "Ticking Time Bomb" Myth
We see it in movies like Zero Dark Thirty or shows like 24. There is a bomb. It’s going to go off in an hour. We have the guy. Should we waterboard him?
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In reality, this scenario almost never exists. Interrogation is a slow, methodical process of building rapport. What does waterboarding do in this context? It ruins the rapport. It turns the source into a broken machine that spits out random data.
Sen. John McCain, who knew a thing or two about being a prisoner of war, was one of the loudest voices against the practice. He argued that it wasn't just about the victim; it was about the interrogator. It debases the person doing it. It lowers the moral standing of the nation authorized to use it.
A Quick Summary of Effects:
- Immediate: Violent gagging, CO2 buildup in the blood, extreme tachycardia (fast heart rate).
- Intermediate: Lung inflammation, vomiting, potential seizures from hyponatremia (if too much water is ingested).
- Long-term: PTSD, depression, chronic respiratory issues, and total loss of trust in any authority figure.
What to Understand Moving Forward
Understanding what waterboarding does requires looking past the political debates and focusing on the biology. It is a method of controlled suffocation that exploits the most basic survival instincts of the human animal.
If you are researching this for academic purposes or to understand the history of international law, the most important takeaway is the consensus among experts: the human brain under extreme duress is an unreliable witness. The "truth" obtained through such methods is often just the sound of a person trying not to die.
Actionable Insights for Further Research:
- Review the Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture: This is the most comprehensive document (though heavily redacted) regarding the actual use of these techniques in the post-9/11 era.
- Study the SERE Program: Look into how the U.S. military trains its own soldiers to resist these techniques; it provides a "controlled" look at the physiological effects.
- Consult the UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT): Read the specific articles that define "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment" to see how international law classifies drowning simulations.
- Follow the work of the Center for Victims of Torture: They provide clinical data on the long-term recovery process for survivors of various interrogation methods.