What is waterboarding?

Shamelessly stolen from Drifting through the Grift.

A reporter for Creative Loafing in Tampa agreed to be waterboarded for a story:

MacWherter crams a rag in my mouth and places a towel over my head. I take a deep breath. The first few cold drops of water hit my upper lip. Then it’s like my face is under a faucet. For what seems like 15 seconds, water covers my face and fills my nasal cavity. Then I feel a particularly cold blast shoot up my nose into my throat. Holding my breath doesn’t work. Panic sets in and I shoot up, gasping for air. I look back and MacWherter is laughing.

“You only used a tenth of the bucket,” he says.