Water boarding -- disable captives by restraining them with rope or chain and secure them on their knees in front of a water-filled basin or trough. Ask a question, dunk their heads and hold. Release before asphyxiation. Variations include covering the head with thick black cloth, pouring water over their head while beating, or tying the captive to a wooden board and flipping them face down into water.

The technique has been called a "gray area" in the torture debate, and it was one of the first topics of tackled at a Brigham Young University panel discussion on Monday called "Vice President Cheney and the Global War on Terror." Political science professors read statements, then took questions. Cheney has been a hot topic on the campus since he was announced as this month's commencement speaker.

Professor Darren G. Hawkins called torture immoral, but said that there are times in which people must choose between "the lesser of two evils." Hawkins said that the vice president may be right that torture has a place; however, he criticized Cheney for refusing to elaborate on the whos, whens and whys that surround torture.

"What is wrong with the way Mr. Cheney frames this argumentfi" Hawkins asked. He answered himself, "The war on terror deals with ideas." Hawkins argued that Cheney's approach to torture gave the United States a black eye in terms of its human rights record.

Professor Ralph C. Hancock said he supports the Bush administration and the war on terror -- which is, according to him, a minority position among BYU faculty.

There is "a spiritual cancer spreading in the Middle East, and the power of the West may be needed to contain it," he said. He said he wasn't referring to Islam as a whole, and said that the United States can't set an Iraq withdrawal date because it will only empower the enemy.

However, he said that there are problems in Iraq.

And Professor Scott Cooper criticized both sides in the debate.

He said that the left often criticizes Cheney for his ties to Halliburton, a company that earns millions in wartime contracts. "It only makes since if you believe that the Bush administration is completely unconcerned with lives ... and American national interests," he said.

Cooper criticized some of the left's arguments as being "so cynical" that it's hard to argue against them. "It's like arguing against UFO's."

Cooper also lambasted the right, who he says are equally guilty, because they give Cheney and the administration a free pass.

"Citizens are less free today because of Middle East policy," Cooper said. Bush supporters say that they elected him, so they must support him. He thinks Utahns would be less likely to have that view if Bill Clinton were in office.

BYU political science student Joseph Vasicek said that he wished that the discussion was focused more on Dick Cheney coming to campus, though fellow student Tristin Call said he thought that debate was long over. Call said the issue now is Cheney and the administration's policies.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.