Attorney General Michael Mukasey’s refusal to declare the use of waterboarding illegal during a Senate oversight hearing on Wednesday underscores the need for Congress to pass legislation that would explicitly prohibit the practice, Human Rights Watch said today.
Late last year, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would require US intelligence agencies to comply with the rules governing military interrogations, which explicitly forbid the use of waterboarding and other abusive interrogation techniques. The Senate is expected to vote on the legislation early next month.
“All US interrogators, whether they work for the CIA or the military, should be held to the same standards,” said Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch. “Having separate rules muddies the waters and increases the possibility for misunderstanding and abuse.”
Waterboarding, a form of mock drowning, is torture and has been prosecuted as such in the United States for more than 100 years. It is also already illegal under any reasonable interpretation of current law. Yet, its use – along with a range of other abusive techniques – was approved by the Bush administration for use by the CIA.
At yesterday’s hearing, Mukasey refused to rule out waterboarding’s use in the future, and refused to acknowledge its illegality. He even refused to say that it would be illegal if used by an enemy nation against an American citizen, saying that its legality would depend on the facts and circumstances.
“Mukasey’s continued refusal to declare the use of waterboarding illegal indicates the lengths to which he is willing to go to protect administration officials from possible prosecution,” Daskal said. “He cannot be counted on to set clear and appropriate rules.”
Congress now has the chance to hold all US interrogators to the standards that currently bind the military. General David Petraeus, the commanding general of multinational forces in Iraq, recently called the military’s techniques an effective and humane way to gather information from the enemy. Over 30 three- and four-star retired generals have also written to Congress, urging the adoption of a single interrogation standard, and warning that the use of abusive interrogation techniques is both ineffective and unwise.
“Congress should listen to the advice of the nation’s experienced military leaders,” Daskal said. “If Mukasey won’t make clear that waterboarding is categorically prohibited, Congress should.”
