I think Limbaugh and Scarborough and the pro-torture gang are getting a little confused with their logic. On one hand, they're downplaying the discomfort -- it's just slapstick or dribbling water, they say -- but on the other hand, they're praising its effectiveness.
It can't be both. It can't be harmless fun and effective at the same time. "Effective," by the torturer's logic, indicates that the prisoner is under such duress that he'd betray everything he stands for. Harmless fun wouldn't, by the torturer's logic, get any results at all.
The truth is that neither is effective. The Washington Post:
In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida -- chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates -- was obtained before waterboarding was introduced, they said.
Zubaida was waterboarded 83 times in a single month. Didn't give up information on a "single significant plot." Effective!