Supporting Senators who Challenge Mukasey on Torture

Before today I had never written to a Senator who wasn't my own. But I liked the quotes from Senators Durbin and Leahy in this NY Times article. The Attorney General nominee, Judge Michael B. Mukasey, has performed verbal gymnastics around the legality of the waterboarding torture technique.

“I remain very concerned that Judge Mukasey finds himself unable to state unequivocally that waterboarding is illegal and below the standards and values of the United States,” Mr. Leahy, of Vermont, said in a statement.

Another Democrat, Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, said Mr. Mukasey had “spent four pages responding and still didn’t provide an answer” to the question, “Is waterboarding illegal?”

“Judge Mukasey makes the point that in the law, precision matters,” Mr. Durbin said. “So do honesty and openness. And on those counts, he falls far short.”

I let the Senators know that I appreciate their tenacity, and that it would be comforting to have an Attorney General whose job was to uphold the law rather than massage it to ensure that administration officials avoid future war crimes convictions. Knowing we care can only strenghten their spines, right?

~~ Senate Judiciary Committee