A Tortuous Confirmation
Republicans are worried. They're worried that Bush officials could be prosecuted for illegal activities -- like permitting torture. I'm not sure it will do all that much good to go back and prosecute folks for following administration guidelines, but I do find it unfortunate that when a nominee for Attorney General, in this case Eric Holder, says that torture is wrong and that water boarding constitutes torture his confirmation is delayed or challenged.
I think it is refreshing for him to make this statement, which will set a new standard for the nation. As we rebuild our reputation in the world it's important that we set new standards of behavior. Bill O'Reilly may think it's necessary to violate our principles to protect the homeland, but I'm not of the same mind -- and neither is the President nor his AG nominee, Eric Holder. So, let's confirm him. This business about Marc Rich is simply a ruse, in my mind, to derail a most important nomination.
If America doesn't torture, then we must state categorically what is and what is not torture!
I think it is refreshing for him to make this statement, which will set a new standard for the nation. As we rebuild our reputation in the world it's important that we set new standards of behavior. Bill O'Reilly may think it's necessary to violate our principles to protect the homeland, but I'm not of the same mind -- and neither is the President nor his AG nominee, Eric Holder. So, let's confirm him. This business about Marc Rich is simply a ruse, in my mind, to derail a most important nomination.
If America doesn't torture, then we must state categorically what is and what is not torture!
Comments
I know its overly simplified.. but waterboarding is simply one technique that caught wind in the media. I GUARANTEE much worse and shocking things go on that we will never know about.
-Chuck
Likewise with Geneva Conventions and the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture (signed by Reagan and ratified by the US Senate).
Obama's Executive Order restricts interrogation methods to the 19 methods outlined in the Army Field Manual which conforms to the Geneva Conventions.
Eric Holder wasn't asked to define torture. He was asked if waterboarding constituted torture. Gonzalez and Mukasey both acted like this was a difficult and murkey legal question, but it isn't. Holder knew this wasn't true. He said, quite rightly, that waterboarding has been used as torture since, at least, the Inquisition. As Holder said, the U.S. has prosecuted those who waterboard. We prosecuted and executed Japanese soldiers who used waterboarding on U.S. prisoners and we prosecuted U.S. soldiers who used waterboarding during Vietnam.
Holder should be confirmed precisely BECAUSE he has the guts to state the plain truth. Those senators who voted to confirm Gonzalez and Mukasey should have been ashamed. Instead, they are asking Holder to guarantee that those who committed CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY won't be prosecuted. That is the promise they demand before confirming him as the chief law enforcement officer.
Those GOP senators who take this line hate the Constitution and the rule of law. (Bush once called the Constitution "a f***ing piece of paper," but its always liberals who are portrayed as against law and morality. I want to puke.
The question is not, as Chuck puts it, whether worse than waterboarding happens. The question is whether we authorize it and whether we punish those who do authorize it.
As Jon Stewart said, if you don't hold to your values during times of crisis, they are just hobbies.
That there are bad people out there doesn't mean we have license to do bad things.
As an American I find that to run counter to the principles of the nation.
As a Christian I find that even more appalling.
In 1947 the United States government was quite clear about the fact that waterboarding was torture:
In 1947, the United States charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for carrying out another form of waterboarding on a U.S. civilian. The subject was strapped on a stretcher that was tilted so that his feet were in the air and head near the floor, and small amounts of water were poured over his face, leaving him gasping for air until he agreed to talk. Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.
There are many other forms of torture, and of harsh interrogation which may or may not be torture, but we need not wonder about waterboarding - it always was torture.
John