Panel Pushes for Nominee to Denounce Technique

Is waterboarding torture?  That's what a Senate Committee wanted to know from the possible future Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

In his confirmation hearings last week, Mr. Mukasey, a retired federal judge from New York, declined to say if waterboarding was torture or was otherwise illegal; he insisted he was not aware of how the technique was carried out.

In their letter to Mr. Mukasey on Tuesday, the committee’s chairman, Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, and the panel’s other nine Democrats said they found it “surprising that you are unfamiliar with waterboarding since it has been the subject of much public discussion” and asserted that “your unwillingness to state that waterboarding is illegal may place Americans at risk of being subject to this abusive technique.”

The letter continued, “Please respond to the following question: Is the use of waterboarding, or inducing the misperception of drowning, as an interrogation technique illegal under U.S. law, including treaty obligations?” The senators requested a “prompt response” since Mr. Mukasey’s nomination is still before the committee.

So is waterboarding torture?  Well it certainly isn't a walk in the park.  However, it has been known to work in getting information from stubborn prisoners.

“Waterboarding works,” the former officer said. “Drowning is a baseline fear. So is falling. People dream about it. It’s human nature. Suffocation is a very scary thing. When you’re waterboarded, you’re inverted, so it exacerbates the fear. It’s not painful, but it scares the shit out of you.”

So it's not necessarily physically painful, but the psychological effect is devestating.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he claimed, “didn’t resist. He sang right away. He cracked real quick.” He said, “A lot of them want to talk. Their egos are unimaginable. KSM was just a little doughboy. He couldn’t stand toe to toe and fight it out.”

So was Mohammed waterboarded?  With conflicting reports, it's difficult to tell, but he did talk about other plots and did give up names.  That in of itself is powerful evidence.  Plus, Khalid doesn't have a bruise or a broken bone in his body.

So, what defines torture?  To me, if you leave a lasting mark or pain that lasts longer then the session goes, you're probably torturing.  However, things such as waterboarding are a fine line item to me.  You could argue it is, and you could argue it isn't.  But you can't argue that it's not effective.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com