BillCosby

Sounds like Mukasey & clinton have something in common?????


Published 12:00 am PST Friday, February 1, 2008
Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B6

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Military leaders testifying before Congress have been crystal clear in saying that waterboarding – controlled drowning – is torture, inhumane, illegal and against U.S. values. Why can't the attorney general say the same thing?

In his first appearance before the Senate since being sworn in Nov. 9, Attorney General Michael Mukasey remained unwilling to say whether waterboarding is illegal under U.S. law and U.S. treaty obligations, including the Geneva Conventions and Convention Against Torture.

And, although he says he is against "torture" and finds waterboarding personally "repugnant," he remains unwilling to say whether he would support a ban on waterboarding in advising the president and Congress on policy.

As Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said of Mukasey's stance, "It's like saying you are opposed to stealing but aren't sure if bank robbery would qualify."

Americans apparently will have to wait for this administration's end in January 2009 to get presidential leadership behind a return to long-standing U.S. values. So where do the presidential candidates stand on waterboarding and torture?

First, the Republicans: Sen. John McCain of Arizona championed an anti-torture amendment banning the use of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by U.S. personnel anywhere in the world, and prohibiting U.S. interrogators from using interrogation techniques not listed in the U.S. Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation. McCain has been clear that waterboarding is "a terrible and odious practice and should never be condoned in the U.S. We are a better nation than that."

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has refused to say whether waterboarding is torture and will not support a ban: "I don't think it's wise for us to describe specifically which measures we would and would not use." Referring to an instance in which a senior al Qaida operative confessed to virtually every known plot (a total of 31) after CIA waterboarding, Romney said, "I want to make sure that what happened to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed happens to other people who are terrorists."

Now the Democrats: Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has been straightforward: "No administration should allow the use of torture, including so-called 'enhanced interrogation techniques' like water-boarding, head-slapping and extreme temperatures. It's time that we had a Department of Justice that upholds the rule of law and American values, instead of finding ways to enable the president to subvert them." He has said, "Torture is how you create enemies, not how you defeat them. Torture is how you get bad information, not good intelligence. Torture is how you set back America's standing in the world, not how you strengthen it."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has condemned torture, but declined to take a stand on specific techniques. A Washington Post interview of October 2007 captured her position. She began: "We should not conduct or condone torture." Then she focused on Bush era techniques, not on what she would allow as president: "It is not clear yet exactly what this administration is or isn't doing, we're getting all kinds of mixed messages. I don't think we'll know the truth until we have a new president. I think once you can get in there and actually bore into what's been going on, you're not going to know." Her conclusion: "I think we have to draw a bright line and say, 'No torture – abide by the Geneva Conventions, abide by the laws we have passed,' and then try to make sure we implement that."

Some candidates speak with clarity. Others hedge. This issue provides yet another reason for voters to support McCain and Obama in the Feb. 5 Republican and Democratic primaries.

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror