Mukasey on torture: Bush is The Decider

by Turkana

As an update to my previous post, about Attorney General Michael Mukasey's refusal to label waterboarding as torture, his claim that the CIA doesn't do it, and his refusal to cooperate with investigations into the destruction of CIA videotapes that may have proved the CIA does do it, The Hill has this:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Wednesday he believed the Justice Department had previously instituted a policy that the president would ultimately decide whether to approve harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding.

The disclosure could be significant because the Bush administration had previously acknowledged that the simulated drowning technique was used on a handful of people soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. If the president gave his endorsement to waterboarding, he may have authorized a practice in violation of anti-torture laws, Democrats say.

But Mukasey said he was not authorized to talk about past practices, declining to say whether waterboarding was one of them or whether Bush had any involvement. He insisted that the technique is not part of the current CIA program and would not comment on its legality since he said he would be providing a hypothetical legal analysis.

Which also fits nicely with my earlier post's mention that, at his confirmation hearing, Mukasey said he would reject White House meddling and overstepping of its authority. It would seem that Mukasey doesn't consider the White House deciding whether or not to approve torture is meddling or overstepping of its authority.