Michael Mukasey, Bush's nominee for Attorney General, has finally provided his follow-up answer on the legal status of waterboarding:
President Bush's nominee for attorney general told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that he does not know whether waterboarding is illegal. He pledged to study the matter and to reverse any Justice Department finding that endorses a practice that violates the law or the Constitution.
"If, after such a review, I determine that any technique is unlawful, I will not hesitate to so advise the president and will rescind or correct any legal opinion of the Department of Justice that supports the use of the technique," Michael Mukasey wrote to the committee's 10 Democrats.
No matter what the WSJ might say, this is utterly absurd. Unless you are willing to defend this history, the argument makes no sense.
I'm so tired of this debate I can't even begin to tell you. A few years back, the idea that we would openly debate the circumstances under which torture should be official US policy would have been unthinkable. Today not only is this debate taken for granted, conservatives often question the patriotism of those of us who demand that our nation's actions match its ideals. It really is amazing how fast and far we have fallen.
It really is quite simple. Unless we are going to agree to live in a world where pious words matter more than noble deeds, it is our actions that matter most.Twisting the law to redefine the meaning of words doesn't change the underlying actions, nor does it in any way change their moral character. You would think "conservatives" would understand this. And yet...
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