Mukasey and the Water
Posted on
Friday, November 02, 2007
by Gary A. Ballard
One of the stories coming out of Washington this week has been the contentious debate over the confirmation process of Judge Mukasey as Attorney General. For weeks, it seemed as if Mukasey would be a shoe-in to replace Raging Douchebag Alberto Gonzales as AG. Democrats spoke of Mukasey as a consensus candidate, one without any huge ideological hangups. But then a strange thing happened. Someone in the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Mukasey a simple question, and Mukasey's answer was neither simple, nor did it especially answer the question. The question was a masterful political move, and one I hope signals a sea change in the manner in which the Senate handles the White House from this moment forward.
The question was, "Do you consider water-boarding torture?"
Sane, rational people without any sort of authoritarian agenda should be able to answer that question quite easily without resorting to semantic discussions or abstract wankery. The phrase "a shock to the conscience" does not need to be invoked. To my mind, one shouldn't even need to reference the Geneva Conventions to determine the answer to this question. One only need examine the history of the "interrogation technique" known as waterboarding to determine the answer. One only need look at the names our country will be associated with, and the answer becomes clear.
The caring priest of the Spanish Inquisition used waterboarding. A prisoner in the tender embraces of Stalinist Russia could look forward to a terror dunking. One shouldn't forget that Cambodia's Khmer Rouge used the technique. In the halls of history, the United States of America, the "we don't torture" Americans, the "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" Uncle Sams, the "no cruel or unusual punishment" champions of the U S of A, we use waterboarding. We will be placed in history among the luminaries of oppression, brutality and needless slaughter such as Josef Stalin.
If waterboarding isn't torture, then we should apologize to Cambodia for illegally bombing the country during the Vietnam War (something we should do anyway). If waterboarding isn't torture, we should apologize to the Soviet Union for the Cold War. And if waterboarding isn't torture, the Spanish Inquisition should be given its reputation back. After all, these people used waterboarding against a great enemy that threatened them and such harsh techniques were justified until that enemy was defeated.
It is torture, Judge Mukasey. Claiming you can't answer one way or the other because it's a classified technique is legal waffling, considering just how much knowledge the public has of the technique. Refusing to comment affirmatively because to do so would require you as Attorney General to actually prosecute those who ordered and carried out the use of the technique is a gutless, weasel move that speaks of cowardice and systemic corruption. If you as Attorney General would not confirm this technique as illegal and against the tenets of the Constitution, then you are no more effective a replacement for the spineless, mewling twat that was Alberto Gonzales than a cardboard cutout.
The Justice Department has been eaten away from the inside by an institutional cancer, a disease of the heart and mind that has replaced integrity with obedience, politics with justice. The department needs a firm hand to weed out the inbred political incompetence and base corruption and restore one of America's vital government institution. It requires someone who would actually enforce the legal subpoenas issued by the Congress on people like Harriet Miers and Karl Rove, no matter what the White House had to say about it.
But most importantly, the job requires that you take a stand against the vile attacks on America's soul that criminals like George W. Bush, Jr. and Dick Cheney have launched. It requires that you admit that waterboarding is a torture that stains all Americans' hands with blood
Update: I found this fantastic article on waterboarding, written by Malcolm Nance, a former Master Instructor and Chief of Training at the US Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE) in San Diego, California. This man knows all about torture techniques, as he's trained our soldiers how to resist such techniques for years.
The question was, "Do you consider water-boarding torture?"
Sane, rational people without any sort of authoritarian agenda should be able to answer that question quite easily without resorting to semantic discussions or abstract wankery. The phrase "a shock to the conscience" does not need to be invoked. To my mind, one shouldn't even need to reference the Geneva Conventions to determine the answer to this question. One only need examine the history of the "interrogation technique" known as waterboarding to determine the answer. One only need look at the names our country will be associated with, and the answer becomes clear.
The caring priest of the Spanish Inquisition used waterboarding. A prisoner in the tender embraces of Stalinist Russia could look forward to a terror dunking. One shouldn't forget that Cambodia's Khmer Rouge used the technique. In the halls of history, the United States of America, the "we don't torture" Americans, the "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" Uncle Sams, the "no cruel or unusual punishment" champions of the U S of A, we use waterboarding. We will be placed in history among the luminaries of oppression, brutality and needless slaughter such as Josef Stalin.
If waterboarding isn't torture, then we should apologize to Cambodia for illegally bombing the country during the Vietnam War (something we should do anyway). If waterboarding isn't torture, we should apologize to the Soviet Union for the Cold War. And if waterboarding isn't torture, the Spanish Inquisition should be given its reputation back. After all, these people used waterboarding against a great enemy that threatened them and such harsh techniques were justified until that enemy was defeated.
It is torture, Judge Mukasey. Claiming you can't answer one way or the other because it's a classified technique is legal waffling, considering just how much knowledge the public has of the technique. Refusing to comment affirmatively because to do so would require you as Attorney General to actually prosecute those who ordered and carried out the use of the technique is a gutless, weasel move that speaks of cowardice and systemic corruption. If you as Attorney General would not confirm this technique as illegal and against the tenets of the Constitution, then you are no more effective a replacement for the spineless, mewling twat that was Alberto Gonzales than a cardboard cutout.
The Justice Department has been eaten away from the inside by an institutional cancer, a disease of the heart and mind that has replaced integrity with obedience, politics with justice. The department needs a firm hand to weed out the inbred political incompetence and base corruption and restore one of America's vital government institution. It requires someone who would actually enforce the legal subpoenas issued by the Congress on people like Harriet Miers and Karl Rove, no matter what the White House had to say about it.
But most importantly, the job requires that you take a stand against the vile attacks on America's soul that criminals like George W. Bush, Jr. and Dick Cheney have launched. It requires that you admit that waterboarding is a torture that stains all Americans' hands with blood
Update: I found this fantastic article on waterboarding, written by Malcolm Nance, a former Master Instructor and Chief of Training at the US Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE) in San Diego, California. This man knows all about torture techniques, as he's trained our soldiers how to resist such techniques for years.
Labels: Bush Administration, Dick Cheney, Fascism, Government Corruption, Presidential Campaign 2008, Raging Douchebag Week, The Stalin Monologues, Torture
posted by Gary A. Ballard @ 10:29 AM
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