Water Boarding and the Attorney General Nominee

Democrats find themselves in a difficult political and moral position with President Bush’s nominee for Attorney General, Judge Michael Mukasey.  His approval by the Senate seemed a slam dunk just a couple of weeks ago.  Now, approval is less certain. 

            Mukasey’s problems came up when he was asked if the interrogation technique of  "water boarding" was torture.  Mukasey had told the Senate committee considering his appointment that it is “…unconstitutional for the United States to engage in torture in any form…”  However, when he was asked to clarify his response, with respect to the technique of water boarding, he would not say whether or not that technique was illegal.  The question for Mukasey seems to be whether or not water boarding is to be defined as torture.   You may know that water boarding is the practice of strapping a person to a board covering his nose and poring water into his throat until he believes he will drown.  Waterboarding, long considered a form of torture by the United States, produces a gag reflex and makes the victim believe death is imminent. The technique leaves no visible physical damage.

After World War II, U.S. military commissions prosecuted several Japanese soldiers for subjecting U.S. soldiers to waterboarding, according to Human Rights Watch. In 1968, a U.S. soldier was court-martialed for water boarding a Vietnamese prisoner.

But in October 2006, Vice President Dick Cheney confirmed the United States had used the controversial technique to interrogate senior Al Qaeda suspects, and he said the White House did not consider waterboarding a form of torture.

So here’s Mukasey’s problem.  If he says that water boarding is torture – and thereby illegal for the U.S. to do – he will be saying that President Bush approved an illegal and unconstitutional act.  On the other hand, if he equivocates on the question, as he has done, he looks a great deal like his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales.  In other words, he looks like a man without the moral clarity one would expect to find in the Attorney General.

Democrats and some Republicans too have a problem.  There seems to be no doubt that, outside this one issue, Judge Mukasey is well qualified for the office of Attorney General.  So, if a senators vote to approve his nomination, they may indirectly be giving the Bush administration tacit approval of water boarding.  If, on the other hand, they vote to reject Mukasey’s nomination, they will be voting to reject an otherwise well qualified candidate. 

To be sure, it is a difficult decision, but that’s why senators get the big bucks.  They are supposed to make difficult decisions.  Water boarding is torture, plain and simple, and thus an illegal act.  As attorney general, Mukasey should have the courage to say so.  If he is unwilling to call a spade a spade, he does not belong in the office.  Well we don’t need another wishy-washy attorney general.  Send him home and let’s look for someone with courage.     

Technorati Tags: Undefined Interrogation Mukasey Senate Judiciary Committee Torture Water Boarding