Archive for posts ‘Edward Kennedy’

|

Mukasey: Waterboarding Me Would be Torture

It’s finally here! All throughout Michael Mukasey’s confirmation hearings, the Attorney General-to-be refused to tell Senators whether or not he thought waterboarding was torture. But today, finally, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Kennedy was able to evoke an answer from Mukasey.

[KENNEDY:] So I won’t even bother to ask you whether waterboarding counts as torture under out laws because I know from your letter that we won’t get a straight answer, so let me ask you this: Would waterboarding be torture if it was done to you?

MUKASEY: I would feel that it was.

So there you have it. If the United States government tied up Michael Mukasey, blindfolded him, and poured water over his face to convince him that he was drowning, that would be torture. But to do the same thing to anyone else:

Waterboarding Demonstration

Well, it might be torture, it might not be. He can’t say. You know, national security and all that business.

Of course, Mukasey’s answer is hardly original. You might recall Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell’s comments a few weeks ago:

“If I had water draining into my nose, oh God, I just can’t imagine how painful!” McConnell said in the article. “Whether it’s torture by anybody else’s definition, for me it would be torture.”

But he rejected a suggestion that he personally condemned the practice.

Of course, a few days later, McConnell would clarify his comments by reminding us that The United States Does Not Torture™ so there really isn’t anything for us to worry about and we should stop wasting our time with these silly things.

Mukasey continues to regurgitate administration talking points, and the United States will continue to torture.

1/30/08 11:49 am | Comment (2) | Permalink | Tags: , , ,

Take Mukasey Up On His Offer

In justifying his vote to support torture Michael Mukasey, Chuck Schumer said Mukasey:

 made clear to me [in private] that, were Congress to pass a law banning certain interrogation techniques, we would clearly be acting within our constitutional authority. And he flatly told me that the President would have absolutely no legal authority to ignore such a law, not even under some theory of inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution. He also pledged to enforce such a law and repeated his willingness to leave office rather than participate in a violation of law.

Sen. Kennedy is taking Mukasey up on his offer with S.1943, which will prohibit the following:

(1) Forcing an individual to be naked, perform sexual acts, or pose in a sexual manner.

(2) Placing a hood or sack over the head of an individual, or using or placing duct tape over the eyes of an individual.

(3) Applying a beating, electric shock, burns, or other forms of physical pain to an individual.

(4) Subjecting an individual to the procedure known as ‘waterboarding’.

(5) Subjecting an individual to threats or attack from a military working dog.

(6) Inducing hypothermia or heat injury in an individual.

(7) Conducting a mock execution of an individual.

(8) Depriving an individual of necessary food, water, or medical care.

For some reason, only five Senators are cosponsoring this badly needed legislation (Why? Are the rest afraid that the least-liked president in American history will say mean things about them), and, of those, Joe Biden is the only presidential candidate supporting it.

Let’s see the presidential contenders show some real leadership. Contact information for each of the candidates who are current Senators is below. My vote will depend on whether or not they will take an affirmative stand against this Administration’s views on illegal torture. Let them know that yours will too.

  • Hillary Clinton: (202) 224-4451, email
  • Chris Dodd: (202) 224-2823, email
  • Barack Obama: (202) 224-2854, email
  • John McCain: (202) 224-2235, email

11/7/07 8:16 pm | Comments disabled. | Permalink | Tags: , , , , , , ,

|