The nomination of Michael B. Mukasey has hit a predictable but ludicrous snag -- posturing Democrats.
Mukasey's (and the White House's) problems began during his Oct. 18 Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing to replace Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. At the hearing veteran Illinois Senator Dick Durbin asked Mukasey a deceptively simple question: is waterboarding torture?
There's a problem with the Illinois Democrat's deceptively simple question. He and his colleagues had ample opportunity to answer it once and for all legislatively.
The irony here is that Congress has twice had the chance to ban waterboarding, or simulated drowning, but has twice declined to do so. In both the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006, Congress only barred "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment. While some Members have said they believe waterboarding is banned by that language, when given the chance to say so specifically in a statute and be accountable for it, they refused.
Business as usual.
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