Waterboarding

Did you know that Congress was considering a law that would "explicitly ban" waterboarding and other extreme techniques? This has flown kind of under the radar, but it turns out that there are two such bills before Congress right now. One is a measure being sponsored by Senator Ted Kennedy; the other is being sponsored by Senator Joe Biden. Both unequivocally ban waterboarding and other torture practices.

Schumer says he supports this law. So now the question is, Where are other Dems on it, and will it be allowed to come to a vote?

  TPM Horse’s Mouth

If it doesn’t, you’ll know for a certainty that your Congress has abdicated and/or is full of rotten apples.

Of course, it’s already a sham, because torture is already illegal, and waterboarding is torture.

Keith Olbermann, in his over-the-top way talks about the recently reported story of Daniel Levin, a former Justice Department attorney who, prior to Alberto Gonzales’ becoming head of the department, but at the time of the infamous department memo defining torture, had himself waterboarded in order to determine whether it was indeed torture. When Gonzo was assigned to the department, Levin was fired.

Olbermann’s screed would have you believe Levin was fired because he said unequivocally that waterboarding is torture. This is misleading on two counts.

One, Levin didn’t actually say waterboarding is illegal. “Mr. Levin concluded that waterboarding could be illegal unless performed under the strictest supervision and in the most limited of ways.” [WaPo] [emphasis mine] That’s pretty much the same waffle that Mukasey is handing us.

And, two, it means that the administration was even afraid of letting that murky interpretation stand. They wanted a clear pass on waterboarding.

So Mukasey has challenged Congress to pass a bill clearly outlawing waterboarding. Do you think they’ll be up to the challenge?