Mukasey Does the Waterboard Tapdance Again
From the AP, the words of Attorney General Michael Mukasey:
Given that waterboarding is not part of the current program, and may never be added to the program, I do not think it would be appropriate for me to pass definitive judgment on the technique's legality.
How about torture in general? We say “we don’t torture”, but could Mukasey comment on the legality of it? Apparently not since, to Mukasey, the legality of torture is only open to comment when we make it part of the “program”. The common sense burden is still for the AG to explain why waterboarding is not torture. But I’m sure he would have given Hitler a stern warning about Germany’s extermination programs… after the fact. What a mockery of justice.
Waterboarding has happened in three known interrogations of al Qaeda members since 2001.
And the incineration of civilians happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And there was a real health crisis at My Lai. “Mistakes were made”. Felons were hidden by the passive voice.
Galling as it is that our nation’s top proponent for the rule of law would stoop to such mealy mouthed professions of incompetence, the truly chilling part of his statement was that “waterboarding… may never be added to the program”. So apparently it’s under consideration. Geneva Conventions aside, our constitutional obligation to abide by the treaties we ratify aside, we may just go ahead and torture anyway. Presumably then, any foreign government is perfectly justified in detaining and waterboarding US citizens at will. I guess we’re equally sanguine with maniacs beheading captured soldiers. Thanks for the clarification, Mukasey.
