Ted Kennedy fabricates a 15 year sentence for "waterboarding" in WWII against Yukio Asano.
"Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) told his colleagues last Thursday during the debate on military commissions legislation. "We punished people with 15 years of hard labor when waterboarding was used against Americans in World War II," he said.
In fact, the charge was "water torture", not waterboarding. And there were numerous other charges considered much more severe.
58The charge and specifications against Asano were:
Charge: That between 1 April, 1943 and 31 August, 1944, , at Fukoka Prisoner of War Branch Camp Number 3, Kyushu, Japan, the accused Yukio Asana, then a civilian serving as an interpreter with the Armed Forces of Japan, a nation then at war with the United States of America and its Allies, did violate the Laws and Customs of War.
Specification 1: That in or about July or August, 1943, the accused Yukio Asano, did willfully and unlawfully, brutally mistreat and torture Morris O. Killough, an American Prisoner of War, by beating and kicking him; by fastening him on a stretcher and pouring water up his nostrils.
Specification 2: That on or about 15 May, 1944, at Fukoka Prisoner of War Branch Camp
Number 3, Kyushu, Japan, the accused Yukio Asano, did, willfully and unlawfully, brutally mistreat and torture Thomas B. Armitage, William O Cash and Munroe Dave Woodall, American Prisoners of War by beating and kicking them, by forcing water into their mouths and noses; and by pressing lighted cigarettes against their bodies.
Specification 5. That between 1 April, 1943 and 31 December, 1943, the accused Yukio Asano, did, willfully and unlawfully, brutally mistreat and torture John Henry Burton, an American Prisoner of War, by beating him; and by fastening him head downward on a stretcher and forcing water into his nose...
... [We] were strapped to stretchers and warm water poured down our nostrils until we were about ready to pass out65
[They] strapped him to a stretcher and elevated his feet and then poured on his face so that it was almost impossible for him to get his breath.66
[The victim] was then taken into the corridor, strapped to a stretcher, which was tilted so that his head was toward the floor and feet resting on a nearby sink. Water was then poured down his nose and mouth for about twenty minutes...67
...None of the specifications were on water torture per se, but specifications 2 and 9 refer to forcing prisoners into a tank of water, 2 is 5 unknown pows, 9 is throwing American POW James E Martin into a tank of water. The testimony discussed infra ties those specifications into water torture...
...After taking me down into the hallway, they laid me out on a stretcher and strapped me on. The stretcher was then stood on end with my head almost touching the floor and my feet in the air. By this time, practically the entire Japanese personnel of the camp were present. I saw the Japanese Major who was the Commanding Officer and also the 1st Lt. Who was his assistant. This 1st Lt. Told me while I was strapped to the stretcher that he didn’t think I did it, but it was his duty to punish me anyway.
They then began pouring water over my face and at times it was almost impossible for me to breath without sucking in water. This torture continued for what must have been a half hour or an hour. Finally I was placed in a horizontal position and unstrapped. It was imopossible for me to arise so one of the prisoners...helped me.
Affidavit of John Henry Burton, Los Angeles, CA, 26 April, 1946, (civilian captured on Wake Island).
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