Rove "proud" of waterboarding

This post is a crosspost from Jayeless, and has been backdated to the date on which I posted it. It discusses the BBC article Rove "proud" of waterboarding, can be found in its original location at Jayeless » Rove "proud" of waterboarding.

This is disgusting. I'm not surprised that he'd feel this way, but surprised that he would admit it so publicly and blatantly, that he'd boast about it (although I guess that shouldn't surprise me either). And it is disgusting.

The article says this:

In a BBC interview, Karl Rove, who was known as "Bush's brain", said he "was proud we used techniques that broke the will of these terrorists".

Okay. So basically what he is admitting is that waterboarding is an (apparently non-torturous) technique that breaks the will of people. This technique breaks the will of people by instilling in them a sense of terror so great that they can't bear it any more. Obviously waterboarding cannot persuade people the opposite way, by convincing them that the interrogators are good people with correct arguments whom they want to provide help to. I would call this kind of technique "torture". Rove doesn't have to, because he seems to agree with the "instilling terror to break people" thing.

So then, what is really strange is this little tidbit:

Mr Rove said US soldiers were subjected to waterboarding as a regular part of their training.

A less severe form of the technique was used on the three suspects interrogated at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, he added.

So wait... the less severe form of the technique torments victims into breaking down with (Rove seems keen to suggest) great effectiveness.

So what the hell is being done to the USA's own soldiers?! Do they want to break them, too, to carry out the US government's agenda? Or is Rove suggesting that they torture use this technique on their own people in order for them to be able to resist breaking if subjected to it in the future?

Either way, what the hell, man? It's not like torture even works, so this is just obscene and cruel. Honestly, if I were a terrorist, I would come up with a plausible lie beforehand that I could tell my torturers to make them stop. This whole thing is vile.