Mukasey unfit to be A.G.

By Weekly Archive On Nov 6, 2007

I
never thought I’d say this, but: Bring back John Ashcroft.

Yes,
in retrospect, Ashcroft’s looking better and better. He may have
stuck us with the unnecessary and probably unconstitutional Patriot
Act, but he was still more loyal to the Constitution than Alberto
Gonzales. Even under sedation, Ashcroft refused to endorse George
Bush’s illegal wiretapping, which Gonzales helped engineer.

Not
only that, it’s now clear that Ashcroft also had a better
appreciation of the law than Attorney General-designee Michael
Mukasey.

At
first glance, Bush’s nominee to replace Gonzales seemed like a nice
enough guy. He’s a prominent New Yorker and a retired, experienced
federal judge. His name was first suggested to Bush by top Democrat
Chuck Schumer. For weeks, he looked like a sure bet for confirmation.

But
that was before Mukasey went through the Bush brainwash machine. He
may have walked into the Bush White House believing in the rule of
law, but he walked out believing in the rule of Cheney. In both oral
and written testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mukasey
insists it’s sometimes OK for the president to act outside the law.
He also refuses to declare waterboarding an illegal form of torture,
even though he says he finds it personally "repugnant."
Strange beliefs, indeed, for someone who aspires to become the top
law enforcement officer of the land.

The
White House contends that their would-be A.G. can’t be expected to
comment on the legality of waterboarding because he has yet to
receive a classified briefing on the subject.

Get
serious! As a form of torture, waterboarding or simulated drowning,
is nothing new. It dates back to the Spanish Inquisition. It’s been
illegal in this country since the late 1800s. In 1947, the United
States prosecuted a Japanese military officer for carrying out
waterboarding on a U.S. civilian during World War II. The practice is
specifically prohibited by the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which
the United States ratified in 1994. It was outlawed for use by the
military in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. And former prisoner
of war John McCain, who knows something about torture, says it’s "no
different than holding a pistol to (a prisoner’s) head and firing a
blank." What more does Mukasey need to know?

Isn’t
it obvious what’s going on? Mukasey knows waterboarding is a form of
torture, and therefore illegal under both U.S. and international law.
But as a condition of his nomination, he’s been ordered to hold his
fire by the Bush White House because, if waterboarding is declared
illegal, several Bush officials could be charged for waterboarding at
least three terrorism suspects in 2002 and 2003. Indeed, Bush himself
could be charged with war crimes for authorizing the procedure.

Dick
Cheney told Fox News that waterboarding is "a no-brainer to me,"
and George Bush calls it "an enhanced interrogation technique."
But no matter what they call it, it’s still torture — and it’s still
wrong.

On
executive authority, Mukasey is equally wrong. Read the Constitution.
There’s no exception provided to the rule of law, not even during
wartime. Our entire system of justice is based on the premise that
"no man is above the law, not even the president." Didn’t
we learn that lesson under Nixon? And for eight years, wasn’t that
the Republicans’ mantra under Bill Clinton?

Mukasey
has embraced, instead, the imperial brand of presidential power
articulated by Richard Nixon and practiced by Bush and Cheney: "When
the president does it, that means it’s not illegal." Under that
rubric, Bush has ordered warrantless wiretaps, set up a network of
secret CIA prisons, established outlaw military tribunals at
Guantanamo Bay, and authorized the torture of prisoners of war.
Better to burn the Constitution than continue down that path, giving
a president unbridled authority.

By
refusing to condemn torture or extralegal actions of the president,
Michael Mukasey has automatically disqualified himself from serving
as attorney general. Surely, at a minimum, the nation’s top cop must
agree that the law applies equally and at all times. A self-declared
"war on terror" is no excuse for suspending the
Constitution.

Is
waterboarding illegal or not? If Mukasey won’t clearly answer that
question, the Senate should vote NO on his nomination. We don’t need
another Alberto Gonzales. Bring back John Ashcroft.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "How
the Republicans Stole Religion."
His email address is: bill@billpress.com. His Web site is:
www.billpress.com.