Mukasey Likely to Win Senate Confirmation

Michael Mukasey, President Bush’s choice to take over as Attorney General of the US, looks like he’s going to get the confirmation of the US Senate. This comes despite his inability or unwillingness to declare that waterboarding of prisoners is torture. Democratic Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California said they would back his nomination despite his lack of answers to hearing questions.

Senator Schumer met with Mr. Mukasey on Friday, and he received assurances that any law passed by the congress would be enforced. Mr. Mukasey allegedly told Senator Schumer that if Congress passed a law against waterboard, “the president would have absolutely no legal authority to ignore such a law.” That was, apparently, enough for the Senior Senator from New York.

For her part, Senator Feinstein said, “Judge Mukasey is the best we will get and voting him down would only perpetuate acting and recess appointments, allowing the administration to avoid the transparency that confirmation hearings provide and diminish effective oversight by Congress.”

Now the fact is that waterboarding is one of the things for which the US hanged Japanese war criminals. It is torture by any reasonable definition, and it is appalling that the candidate for Attorney General couldn’t say purely and simply, “it’s illegal and we wont’ do it.”

Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) said, “I think that the extensive letter which Judge Mukasey has submitted goes about as far as he can go. He has repudiated waterboarding, he has rejected it, but he has stopped short of making a determination of legality.” Well, then, it’s hard to see how the man is qualified to serve.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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