Gentlemen, Start Your Waterboards!

Just to keep track, and wrap up my commentary on Mukasey and torture: all four of the Democratic senators who are running for president skipped the vote on Mukasey's confirmation. (That is, Clinton, Obama, Biden, and Dodd.)

As strongly as I feel about this issue, I probably have to say that I would consider a vote to confirm a disqualification. As it is, I would say they all get big black marks next to their names for general weaselly lack of courage and/or conviction.

McCain also skipped the vote!(?) If someone forced me to vote for one of the "major" Republicans, I would probably hold my nose and pick McCain (but I'm sure glad no on can force me!). So, philosophically, does McCain get a pass on this? On the one hand, I could see forgiving him a lot on the issue of torture, if someone can earn a "pass" I would guess he qualifies. On the other hand, if anyone should know better, then that's him as well... Anyway, it's his unequivocal denunciation of torture that has distinguished him from the other Republicans, as far as I'm concerned. That's why I would choose him, if forced.

In short, none of the senators who are running for president actually voted on Mukasey's confirmation. Now that's courage!

Tortured Logic, and the Outlaw Administration Rides On

We've addressed the nauseating semantic games about "waterboarding," also known as "drowning," here before, but there is also an opportunity to deal with legal precedent. The game, apparently, is to treat the status of this procedure as somehow "ambiguous" and "unsettled" as a point of law, or a matter of individual (and apparently partisan) opinion, at least in the hands of people such as right honorable Senator Orin Hatch, when discussing our (apparently) new attorney general.

Bullshit.

The technique (and a number of closely related procedures) have all been defined in American courts as torture. This is not partisan or political; it is about as firmly established as law gets. Former J.A.G. Evan Wallach gives a brief history in the Washington Post. If you are up for a longer read, check out Wallach's journal article (in draft form) heavily laden with citations.

We include some relevant quotes here. These are taken from the "Judgement of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East", which was convened in the aftermath of WWII to try Japanese war criminals.

The practice of torturing prisoners of war and civilian internees prevailed at practically all places occupied by Japanese troops... Methods of torture were employed in all areas so uniformly as to indicate policy in both training and execution. Among these tortures were the water treatment...
...
There were two forms of water torture. In the first, the victim was tied or held down on his back and cloth held over his nose and mouth. Water was then poured on the cloth... As he opened his mouth to breathe or to answer questions, water went down his throat until he could hold no more...
...
In the second, the victim was tied lengthways on a ladder, face upwards, with a rung of the ladder across his throat and head below the latter. In this position he was slid first into a tub of water and kept there until almost drowned. After being revived, interrogation proceeded and he would be reimmersed.

The practices map precisely with those described in our current discourse as "waterboarding." I guess the modern penchant for euphemism knows no bounds. So, as explicitly as possible: we tried and convicted Japanese soldiers for torture, for using these techniques on American soldiers, as well as civilian internees.

Any questions?

The Democratic "leadership" has, once again, proven itself worthless and spineless. Dahlia Lithwick efficiently eviscerates Feinstein's "elegant" compromise, which is really nothing but a sham, a cave-in being spun as a compromise. Those feelings I have--where I am inclined to vote for Dems because they are, in all their awfulness, still the lesser evil--are going fainter every day...

Waterboarding is Drowning, Not "Simulated Drowning"

I find myself, again, getting viscerally angry as we play semantic games about torture. I don't want to repeat all the arguments in detail. I understand there are those who make arguments about the moral acceptability of torture in certain circumstances, and I do not accept those arguments.

If you have thought seriously and deeply about the issue and disagree, I can respect that, even if I believe you are profoundly and dangerously wrong. But let's not obfuscate the issue with contrived rhetorical dodges--if you support torture, you should say so and defend your position. Waterboarding is a form of controlled drowning, not "simulated drowning." (Follow the link, it is compelling stuff, and please note the source, this is no liberal-pinko-commie pansy, this is a U.S. soldier whose job was training soldiers to withstand torture. Think about it.)

The Bush administration wins yet another victory over a compliant press corps as long as they are permitted this phony distinction. Torture is torture. Are you up for it?