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Published on November 6, 2007
From the New York Times . . .
November 5, 2007,
Generals Agree: Waterboarding Is Torture
By The Editorial Board
President Bush’s nominee for Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, has had trouble deciding that waterboarding — a method of interrogation that is designed to make a prisoner believe that he is drowning — is torture.
It isn’t a trick question.
Two retired generals and two retired admirals have written a letter (pdf) to Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, stating that “waterboarding detainees amounts to illegal torture in all circumstances. To suggest otherwise — or even to give credence to such a suggestion — represents both an affront to the law and to the core values of our nation.”
The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Mr. Mukasey’s nomination tomorrow. With Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, declaring their intention to vote for Mr. Mukasey, the nomination is expected to be sent to the full Senate with an favorable committee report.
