According to Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, "Mukasey defended many of President Bush's most controversial post-9/11 policies. He said the President has the right to indefinitely detain American citizens without charge. He refused to recommend the closing of the military prison at Guantanamo. And Mukasey said he does not believe prisoners at Guantanamo should be allowed the right of habeas corpus."During his second day of confirmation hearings, Judge Michael Mukasey contended "the White House had constitutional authority to act beyond the limits of laws enacted by Congress, especially when it came to national defense," reported the New York Times.
He suggested that both the administration’s program of eavesdropping without warrants and its use of “enhanced” interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects, including waterboarding, might be acceptable under the Constitution even if they went beyond what the law technically allowed. Mr. Mukasey said the president’s authority as commander in chief might allow him to supersede laws written by Congress.
Most alarmingly, Judge Mukasey refused to say that the humane treatment provisions of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions apply to every prisoner in U.S. custody – including in the custody of the C.I.A.[...]
In addition, despite repeated questioning, Judge Mukasey declined to acknowledge that waterboarding is a form of torture prohibited by law. Although he was asked by Senators Durbin, Leahy, and Whitehouse to elaborate on his views on waterboarding, Judge Mukasey only said, "If waterboarding is torture, then waterboarding is not constitutional."
You were expecting something else?
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