With all the subtly of an eighth grader the White House evidently won't rule out continuing the use of "waterboarding" as a mean of interrogating terrorist suspects because they don't want the terrorists to know "which practices they might face."  While this no doubt has dealt a serious emotional and professional blow to a few serious independent-minded, honorable, ....... Republican senators, Walter Pincus's article in the Washington Post points out the U.S. government and military have gone back and forth over the issue of using "waterboarding" for decades. 

 Lets look at the shorter version:

• 1947: U.S declares "waterboarding" a war crime and prosecutes Japanese officer for using it against an American civilian.
• Korean War:  Similar "touchless" water interrogation technique used by Chinese and North Koreans against U.S Airmen.
• 1963:  CIA looks at uses during Korean War and adds a similar interrogation technique relying on water tanks and sensory deprivation to its KUBARK Counterintelligence interrogation manual.
• 1968:  Washington Post front page photo of an American supervising the "waterboarding" of a captured NVA soldier leads to an official investigation.  Accompanying article notes technique is widely used because it is "unpleasant" but rarely causes permanent injury.
  
• Post-Vietnam:  Navy SEALs and Special Forces use in training to prepare their soldiers to resist interrogation.  Program discontinued when they realized the effectiveness of waterboarding in breaking trainees needlessly hurt their morale.
• Post-9/11:  Officially sanctioned by the U.S. government and cleared by Justice Department as an "approved interrogation technique".  Used to break Khalid Sheik Muhammad among others.

Okay, if you're still not sure what they're talking about when "waterboarding" comes up in the news then how about a few more pictures:

These are a couple pictures of an actual waterboarding table.  Note the shackles and the watering can.  And here's another picture illustrating its use by....

the Khmer Rouge. (via David Corn)