Today, the Guardian, a British newspaper reports: “The top legal adviser within the US state department, who counsels the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, on international law, has declined to rule out the use of the interrogation technique known as waterboarding even if it were applied by foreign intelligence services on US citizens. John Bellinger refused to denounce the technique, which has been condemned by human rights groups as a form of torture, during a debate on the Bush administration’s stance on international law held by Guardian America, the Guardian’s US website. He said he would not include or exclude any technique without first considering whether it violated the convention on torture.” (emphasis added).

If this is not a wake up call for U.S. citizens, nothing is.  Talk about national security.  Do you feel safer?

There is still time.  Demand that the Senate vote down Mukasey.

Senators Schumer (NY) and Feinstein (CA) have decided to sell out to torture and back Mukasey for attorney general, the AP has reported. This ensures Mukasey has the votes to pass the Senate Judiciary Committee and go to the full Senate floor, where he is widely expected to be confirmed.

One wonders what benefits the Democrats ever gain from standing by their party. Schumer and Feinstein deserve to be boycotted at the next elections. That might teach them what “voting with your conscience” means.

Of course, a lone senator could still pull through and serve as the national conscience. Leahy could hold the nomination in committee indefinitely, for example. Or a senator could put a “hold” on Mukasey’s nomination. For instance, Durbin has a hold on the nomination of Steven Bradbury, author of the new torture memos. Senate majority leader Harry Reid could also refuse to schedule Mukasey’s vote. Perhaps, a senator could even filibuster.

There are ways for a single senator with a shocked conscience to stop this train, but we do not have much hope in that. As a nation, we have sold out to torture yet again. When will we ever stop?

“Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

From the Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights:

**PLEASE READ, CALL YOUR SENATOR, AND FORWARD** Key states: NY, CA, WI, & MD

“The reason we don’t have an attorney general…is because the last one broke the law, and this one refuses to say torture is torture.” –Richard Clarke, former U.S. counterterrorism chief, speech before the Massachusetts Bar Association (Nov. 1, 2007)

Dear Friends,

Michael Mukasey, the man who wants to be our next attorney general, refuses to say that waterboarding is torture. Waterboarding dates from the time of the Spanish Inquisition. It is an ancient torture technique of repeated partial drowning. Water is forced into the prisoner’s lungs until he or she nears the point of death by drowning. The prisoners are then pulled back from the brink — usually. Waterboarding is torture, and torture is unconstitutional. All four of the top lawyers in the military unequivocally agree (see links at the bottom).

We need your help. Please take 30 seconds today to call your senators today and tell them to vote “NO” on Mukasey’s confirmation as attorney general [see senate phone numbers below]. The vote is on Tuesday, so please call your senators now! Without exaggeration, this is the best chance in years to take a stand against torture.

Senators from the key states of New York, California, Wisconsin, and Maryland are undecided.

The stakes are high — the Senate can stop Mukasey’s nomination. But if the Senate fails to act, it may well do the opposite, tacitly endorsing the use of waterboarding and other forms of torture. At Mukasey’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Richard Durbin, (D-IL), explained to Mukasey that the United States has prosecuted waterboarding as a war crime for more than a century. But Mukasey wouldn’t budge. This country cannot stand for yet another attorney general who doesn’t know right from wrong, who can’t state clearly what the laws and history of this country already make clear, who will not renounce torture.

Just two weeks ago, Mukasey’s confirmation looked like a sure thing. But his refusal to say whether waterboarding is torture has cast a dark shadow on his prospects. This turnaround was possible thanks to the pressure of voters like you. Since then, senators from both parties have called on Mukasey to clarify his position, but he has clung to an evasive answer. In a written response, Mukasey dismissed the controversy as “academic” and with “scant practical effect or value.” [For more information about waterboarding, its reported use by the U.S., and Mukasey’s letter on it, please see the links at the end of this e-mail].

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on sending Mukasey’s nomination to the full Senate this Tuesday, Nov. 6. But if the Committee votes “NO” on Mukasey, his nomination to the post of attorney general will likely fail.

Please take 30 seconds today to call your senators and tell them to vote “NO” on Mukasey’s confirmation.

Thank you for your help and for taking a stand against torture.

SAMPLE TEXT OF WHAT TO TELL YOUR SENATE STAFF:

[Note: Mukasey’s name is pronounced “mew-CASEY.”]
1. Good morning/afternoon.

2. My name is ______________________.

3. I am a [optional: affiliation/occupation] and a constituent of Senator ____________.

4. I live at [your full address with ZIP — this information is very important to show that you are a voter—they do not use your address for anything else or pass it on ].

5. I’m calling to urge the senator to vote “NO” on Michael Mukasey’s confirmation as attorney general because I’m concerned about the issue of torture.

6. Waterboarding is torture, and it is a crime. If Mr. Mukasey can’t say that, he shouldn’t be attorney general.

7. The senator must not endorse Mr. Mukasey’s views on waterboarding by supporting his confirmation.

8. Thank you for your time.

—

KEY SENATORS ON THE ISSUE (these are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who are undecided/swing voters)

* New York — Sen. Schumer (D) — (202) 224-6542 [*KEY*]

* California — Sen. Feinstein (D) — (202) 224-3841 [*KEY*]

* Wisconsin — Sen. Kohl (D) — (202) 224-5653

* Maryland — Sen. Cardin (D) — (202) 224-4524

* Wisconsin — Sen. Feingold (D) — (202) 224-5323

* Pennsylvania — Sen. Specter (R) — (202) 224-4254

* South Carolina — Sen. Graham (R) — (202) 224-5972

—
SENATORS WHO HAVE SAID THEY WILL VOTE AGAINST MUKASEY (please call them, thank them for their support, and urge them to filibuster if necessary)

* Vermont — Sen. Leahy (D) — (202) 224-4242

* Delaware– Sen. Biden (D) — (202) 224-5042

* Illinois– Sen. Durbin (D) — (202) 224-2152

* Massachusetts — Sen. Kennedy (D) –– (202) 224-4543

* Rhode Island — Sen. Whitehouse (D) –– (202) 224-2921

—
FOR ALL OTHER SENATORS

Please see the single-page Senate directory: http://www.senate.gov/general/resources/pdf/senators_phone_list.pdf

—
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT WATERBOARDING, ITS USE BY THE U.S., AND MUKASEY’S WRITTEN RESPONSES

Harvard Law School faculty letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on waterboarding:
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/stoptorture/files/2007/10/harvard-human-rights-letter-and-question-for-senate.pdf

New York Times frontpage coverage on the waterboarding controversy, Nov. 1, 2007: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/washington/01mukasey.html?ref=washington

Michael Mukasey’s response to Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/20071031_Mukasey.pdf

Human rights groups’ letter explaining that all four of the top lawyers in the military unequivocally agree that waterboarding is torture: http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/071101-etn-mukasey-oppo-let.pdf

GET THIS URGENT ACTION IN DOC.

Questions about torture and war crimes prosecutions of U.S. officials have begun to surface around the debate on Michael Mukasey. The stakes were raised again in the Mukasey confirmation process when Senator Cardin submitted a single page of questions for Mukasey asking him whether he would, as Attorney General, order the Justice Department to prosecute those who have committed torture or have conspired to commit torture. Other written questions from senators also raise the possibility of criminal liability for U.S. officials, including:

1) “Is waterboarding torture?” sent by Senator Kennedy; and

2) [Ed.: heavily paraphrased]: “Do you agree with Senator Warner—primary author of the Military Commissions Act of 2006—that waterboarding and several other techniques are ‘clearly prohibited’ ‘grave breaches’ of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions [Ed.: thereby making them war crimes under the War Crimes Act] that Congress intended to criminalize?” submitted by Senator Biden.

What makes Water(boarding)gate a scandal waiting to happen?

1) Waterboarding is the most brutal form of torture that the Bush administration has failed to disavow.

2) The administration has secretly authorized waterboarding at the highest levels of the Justice Department and possibly even the Oval Office.

3) Waterboarding has reportedly been practiced by U.S. agents within the past six years.

4) Torture is a U.S. federal crime and an international crime. In the context of wars, torture is a war crime under domestic and international law.

Therefore:

5) If Mukasey admits, as any honest lawyer must, that waterboarding is illegal, he—who is potentially the next Attorney General and would therefore be head prosecutor in the U.S.—would seemingly be conceding the possibility of very serious criminal liability for a large number of low-level and high-level U.S. officials, including cabinet members and potentially even the President and Vice President.

Mukasey himself has acknowledged his overaching concern over subjecting U.S. officials to criminal and other liability during his confirmation hearings. Asked by Senator Durbin at day two of his confirmation hearings about the legality of waterboarding and other torture techniques, Mukasey replied: “I don’t think that I can responsibly talk about any technique here, because of the very — I’m not going to discuss, and I should not — I’m sorry, I can’t discuss, and I think it would be irresponsible of me to discuss particular techniques with which I am not familiar, when there are people who are using coercive techniques and who are being authorized to use coercive techniques, and for me to say something that is going to put their careers or freedom at risk simply because I want to be congenial, I don’t think it would be responsible of me to do that” (emphasis added). Senator Durbin then reminded Mukasey, “This is not a congeniality contest.”

Indeed, congeniality is not the issue, accountability for torture is.

See also:

Water(boarding)gate Continues; Mukasey’s Confirmation Uncertain

Senators “Deeply Troubled” by Mukasey’s Refusal to Call Waterboarding Illegal

Dear Senate: Torture is Non-Negotiable

Harvard Law Faculty Letter Urges Senate to Call for Accountability on Waterboarding

The associated press is now reporting (Oct. 25) that Mukasey’s confirmation is uncertain. Both Senator Durbin and Leahy have said their confirmation votes depend upon Mukasey’s answers concerning waterboarding.  All ten Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee recently sent a letter to Mukasey asking him to answer whether waterboarding was illegal under U.S. law, including treaty obligations.  Other Senators, including Republicans such as Arlen Specter, are reportedly troubled too. Senator Specter also wrote Mukasey a letter asking for responses on a number of issues, including waterboarding.

Meanwhile, the legal ignorance appears to be contagious. Rudy Giuliani now says he doesn’t know whether waterboarding is torture, claiming “it depends on who does it,” among other astounding qualifications.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Michael Mukasey expressing how “deeply troubled” they were at his “refusal to state unequivocally that waterboarding is illegal” on October 23, 2007. Asking Mukasey to clarify his answer as to whether waterboarding is “illegal under U.S. law, including treaty obligations,” the Senators noted that during the second panel on Mukasey’s confirmation, retired Rear Admiral John Hutson, former Navy Judge Advocate General and Dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center, stated:

Other than, perhaps the rack and thumbscrews, water-boarding is the most iconic example of torture in history. It was devised, I believe, in the Spanish Inquisition. It has been repudiated for centuries. It’s a little disconcerting to hear now that we’re not quite sure where water-boarding fits in the scheme of things. I think we have to be very sure where it fits in the scheme of things.

See the full Senate letter here (page 1, page 2, page 3). See also a Harvard Law School faculty letter on waterboarding sent to those same Senators prior to the confirmations hearings, which notes that waterboarding not only is illegal, it is criminal. Better than asking Mukasey whether he finds waterboarding illegal, the Senators should have asked him whether he thinks it criminal. There is still time to do so.

[UPDATE: Presidential candidate Bill Richardson has said Mukasey is not fit to be Attorney General unless he can say an unqualified “waterboarding is torture.”].