One act of torture worth accepting

The agents then draped a towel over his face and began pouring water onto it for several seconds before Hitchens signalled them to stop. [my emphasis]

I'm glad we finally got a definitive answer from a fat, self-righteous, white, pro-Iraq invasion journalist with know expertise in medicine or international law.

Interesting that they say 'several seconds'. What did my English teacher say in the 8th grade? Several equates to anything more than 3 or 4. Why do I suspect actual torture victims would have had to endure waterboarding for a lot longer than that?