Mukasey Calls Harsh Interrogation ‘Repugnant’
By SCOTT SHANE
New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 — In an effort to quell growing doubts in the Senate about his nomination as attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey declared Tuesday that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques “seem over the line or, on a personal basis, repugnant to me” and promised to review the legality of such methods if confirmed.
But Mr. Mukasey told Senate Democrats he could not say whether waterboarding, which simulates drowning, was illegal torture because he had not been briefed on the details of the classified technique and did not want to suggest that Central Intelligence Agency officers who had used such techniques might be in “personal legal jeopardy.”
It was unclear whether the answers would be enough to win endorsement from the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the torture issue has threatened to block the confirmation of Mr. Mukasey, who served for 18 years as a federal judge in New York.
Mr. Mukasey gave his answer in a four-page letter delivered Tuesday afternoon to Senator Patrick J. Leahy, chairman of the committee, and the other nine Democrats on it.
Mr. Mukasey noted that Congress has not explicitly banned waterboarding by the C.I.A., though it was outlawed for use by the military in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. That left room for interpretation as to whether waterboarding or any other technique is prohibited as “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment, he wrote.
“Legal questions must be answered based solely on the actual facts, circumstances and legal standards presented,” he wrote.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 — In an effort to quell growing doubts in the Senate about his nomination as attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey declared Tuesday that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques “seem over the line or, on a personal basis, repugnant to me” and promised to review the legality of such methods if confirmed.
But Mr. Mukasey told Senate Democrats he could not say whether waterboarding, which simulates drowning, was illegal torture because he had not been briefed on the details of the classified technique and did not want to suggest that Central Intelligence Agency officers who had used such techniques might be in “personal legal jeopardy.”
It was unclear whether the answers would be enough to win endorsement from the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the torture issue has threatened to block the confirmation of Mr. Mukasey, who served for 18 years as a federal judge in New York.
Mr. Mukasey gave his answer in a four-page letter delivered Tuesday afternoon to Senator Patrick J. Leahy, chairman of the committee, and the other nine Democrats on it.
Mr. Mukasey noted that Congress has not explicitly banned waterboarding by the C.I.A., though it was outlawed for use by the military in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. That left room for interpretation as to whether waterboarding or any other technique is prohibited as “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment, he wrote.
“Legal questions must be answered based solely on the actual facts, circumstances and legal standards presented,” he wrote.
(Continued here.)
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