The Volokh Conspiracy - Radio Host Waterboarded, Says It's Torture:

Talk radio host Eric "Mancow" Muller had himself waterboarded on his radio program to see whether it constitutes torture.

With a Chicago Fire Department paramedic on hand, Mancow was placed on a 7-foot long table, his legs were elevated, and his feet were tied up.

. . . Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop. He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds.

"It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that's no joke," Mancow said, likening it to a time when he nearly drowned as a child. "It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back . . . It was instantaneous . . . and I don't want to say this: absolutely torture."

"I wanted to prove it wasn't torture," Mancow said. "They cut off our heads, we put water on their face . . . I really thought 'I'm going to laugh this off.' "

In this regard, Mancow's experience was much the same as Christopher Hitchens and former OLC official Dan Levin.

	[Jonathan Adler, May 22, 2009 at 9:30pm] Trackbacks Radio Host Waterboarded, Says It's Torture: Talk radio host Eric "Mancow" Muller had himself waterboarded on his radio program to see whether it constitutes torture. With a Chicago Fire Department paramedic on hand, Mancow was placed on a 7-foot long table, his legs were elevated, and his feet were tied up. . . . Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop. He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds. "It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that's no joke," Mancow said, likening it to a time when he nearly drowned as a child. "It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back . . . It was instantaneous . . . and I don't want to say this: absolutely torture." "I wanted to prove it wasn't torture," Mancow said. "They cut off our heads, we put water on their face . . . I really thought 'I'm going to laugh this off.' " In this regard, Mancow's experience was much the same as Christopher Hitchens and former OLC official Dan Levin.