Mincing Words

The Washington Post today describes the probable torture of terrorism suspects by the CIA:

According to reports in The Post, pain medication for Abu Zubaida, who suffered from a gunshot wound in the groin, was manipulated to obtain his cooperation, while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was subjected to "water boarding," which causes the sensation of drowning.

Just to be clear, this is a process whereby a suspect's nose and mouth are covered, and water is poured over him until he is sufficiently oxygen-deprived and has ingested enough water that if the waterboarding process isn't ended he will die.

It isn't that the suspect has the "sensation of drowning" - the suspect is drowning, or is at least suffocating, and if not extracted from the waterboard will die.

Whatever you think of the government's use of torture, why not be honest about what it involves?