With all of the Democratic Presidential candidates now opposing the nomination of Judge Michael B. Mukasey for U.S. Attorney General, and Judiciary Committee Democrats apparently planning to block his nomination from reaching the Senate floor, the Wall Street Journal editorial board has concluded that the real target is antiterror interrogation.
If Democrats want to strip the CIA of this tool, then they ought to legislate it openly, not make law under the table through the confirmation process. Congress has twice had the chance to ban or criminalize waterboarding, but it declined to do so in both the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. And not for lack of trying: In debating the Military Commissions Act, Ted Kennedy offered a detailed amendment that specifically prohibited waterboarding, as well as other coercive interrogation methods; it lost on the Senate floor, 46-53.
Sorry, boys. The real target has always been George W. Bush. The issue could be anything. It really doesn't matter. Whatever it is, the only important thing is to oppose George W. Bush on it.
Update: Andy McCarthy points out that Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer have all embraced the concept of coercive interrogation at one time or another. He askes, "What am I missing here?" buttressing my point. It's all about opposing George Bush — nothing else.
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