The US executed Japanese soldiers for waterboarding in WWII

John McCain recently reminded the nation of this fact:

" ... following World War II war crime trials were convened. The Japanese were tried and convicted and hung for war crimes committed against American POWs. Among those charges for which they were convicted was waterboarding."

John McCain on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 in a campaign event in St. Petersburg [3]

But  Mark Hemingway of The National Review Online disputed this fact thinking the reference was to the case of Yukio Asano in 1947.  It was not.[4]

Politifact had this to say:

"McCain is referencing the Tokyo Trials, officially known as the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. After World War II, an international coalition convened to prosecute Japanese soldiers charged with torture. At the top of the list of techniques was water-based interrogation, known variously then as 'water cure,' 'water torture' and 'waterboarding,' according to the charging documents. It simulates drowning." Politifact went on to report, "A number of the Japanese soldiers convicted by American judges were hanged, while others received lengthy prison sentences or time in labor camps." [1][2]

Sources:

1. Politifact Interview with R. John Pritchard, author of The Tokyo War Crimes Trial: The Complete Transcripts of the Proceedings of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, 1981

2. Politifact Interview with Yuma Totani, history professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, "Drop by Drop: Forgetting the History of Water Torture in U.S. Courts," May 2007

3.  

   www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/29/politics/main3554687.shtml?source=RSSattr=Politics_3554687

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