Many Americans were puzzled by the news, in 1902, that United States soldiers were torturing Filipinos with water. The United States, throughout its emergence as a world power, had spoken the language of liberation, rescue, and freedom.

So began a historical article by the New Yorker. As we observe the US treat prisoners from the “war on terror,” are we not seeing history repeat itself?

The image above sickens me, and makes me wonder: in a time where there was no “urgent need” for torture (such as the need to know where an activated weapon of mass destruction is being hidden), what was the point of the atrocities perpetrated by those sadistic American soldiers?