Torture Policy

Thursday, Jan 31, 2008 03:00 PST

Mukasey says waterboarding still not "concrete situation"

After dodging the question of waterboarding during his confirmation, Attorney General Michael Mukasey continues to avoid the issue now that he's in office.

Before being confirmed as attorney general, Michael Mukasey skirted the issue of the CIA's controversial interrogation program and specifically the use of waterboarding. In October, Mukasey wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he "could not render an opinion about the legality of any specific techniques" because he had not yet been briefed on the program. Mukasey assured the committee, however, that if confirmed he would "review any coercive interrogation techniques currently used by the United States Government and the legal analysis authorizing their use."

Yet months after his confirmation in November, Mukasey has yet to provide a conclusive answer on the legality of such practices. This week, the attorney general wrote a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Arlen Specter, R-Pa., concluding that "waterboarding is not among those methods" used by the CIA. This meant, Mukasey said, that he should not comment directly on the issue. In a hearing with the committee on Wednesday, Mukasey maintained that waterboarding is purely a hypothetical technique. Even under the pressure of questions repeatedly targeted at the issue from almost every committee member, Mukasey refused to give a conclusive answer, giving Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., a simple justification for his non-response: "I have not been presented with a concrete situation."

Screenshots of Mukasey's letter follow.

Primary Sources