McCain Dodges On Whether Waterboarding Answer Disqualifies Mukasey

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/26/mccain-dodges-on-whether-_n_70025.html

McCain Dodges On Whether Waterboarding Answer Disqualifies Mukasey

October 26, 2007 02:00 PM


Sen. John McCain criticized Rudy Giuliani in today's New York Times for failing to call waterboarding torture outright. But the former prisoner of war and torture victim won't do the same thing when it comes to Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey.

During his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Judge Mukasey was asked if he believed waterboarding constituted a form of torture. The nominee hedged: "I don't know what is involved in the technique." He said that if waterboarding is torture, he would consider it unconstitutional, but refused to give Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) a yes or no answer.

Giuliani later defended Mukasey's formulation, suggesting that the liberal media was "misreporting" how waterboarding was done. McCain then laid into the former New York mayor today, saying, "They should know what it is. It is not a complicated procedure. It is torture."

But will McCain join Senate Democrats in possibly holding up Mukasey's confirmation until he clears up his stance on waterboarding, as ThinkProgress proposed today? McCain's campaign suggests no.

"The Judiciary Committee process is ongoing and Sen. McCain believes that Judge Mukasey deserves an up-or-down vote based on his qualifications for the office of Attorney General," a McCain aide said in a Friday e-mail.

The current practice of waterboarding was known previously as "the water cure." It involves tying the victim to a board with the head lower than the feet so that he or she is unable to move. A piece of cloth is held tightly over the face, and water is poured onto the cloth. Breathing is extremely difficult and the victim will be in fear of imminent death by asphyxiation. However, it is relatively difficult to aspirate a large amount of water since the lungs are higher than the mouth, and the victim is unlikely actually to die if this is done by skilled practitioners. . Waterboarding may be used by captors who wish to impose anguish without leaving marks on their victims as evidence.

This is a technique demonstrated on U.S. military personnel by other U.S. military personnel when they are being taught to resist enemy interrogations in the event of capture (see SERE below).

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2005/Waterboarding-Definition-Wikipedia24dec05.htm

In fact, I challenge anyone to show me how this is NOT torture.