Mobile – An Alabama veteran's account of being waterboarded at a Navy survival training school in 1975 has the backing of a former instructor at the school who says he also underwent the simulated drowning.
The former instructor told the Mobile Press-Register in a story today that the account given by 60-year-old Arthur McCants the Third of Eight Mile is so accurate that "only somebody who went through it would know that."
McCants said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the being waterboarded. Critics say the interrogation procedure is a form of torture.
Malcolm Nance, a retired Navy senior chief petty officer who lives in the Washington, D.C., area, said the authenticity of McCants' account was evident when he read it.
The newspaper said Veterans Administration analyst has diagnosed McCants as having PTSD, but the agency rejected a full disability for him, contending that he cannot prove he was waterboarded. McCants plans an appeal to a VA board.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)