Throughout his October confirmation hearings, Attorney General Mike Mukasey denounced the use of torture, stating that it is “antithetical to what this country stands for.”But when it came to declaring the practice of waterboarding torture, Mukasey hedged. “I don’t know what’s involved in waterboarding,” he told Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), arguing he first needed to be “read into” the administration’s program. Mukasey pledged to study the matter and said he would order a “review” after being confirmed:
If, after such a review, I determine that any technique is unlawful, I will not hesitate to so advise the president and will rescind or correct any legal opinion of the Department of Justice that supports the use of the technique.
After the confirmation, Senators continued to press Mukasey on the issue, but he refused to be rushed into deciding whether he considers waterboarding torture without a full “review.” Today, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Mukasey said he has “been read into the program” but suggested that he still hasn’t come to a firm conclusion:
Yes, I’ve been read into the program, but that’s part of a process. I said I would look at the program. Look at the letters. And give my answers. I haven’t yet figured out precisely when and precisely how. I understand that the time is coming.
Today, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and nine other Senate Judiciary Commitee members urged Mukasey to decide his position. “It has been over two months since then, ample time for you to study this issue and reach a conclusion,” they wrote. The committee members noted that on November 27, “State Department Legal Advisor John Bellinger said you were giving ‘high priority’ to reviewing interrogation techniques.”
With only 12 months left in office, Mukasey is creating the perception that he’s trying to run out the clock to avoid taking a stand on torture.
Tony Blair is accused of betrayal last night as he waded into the American Presidential campaign to support George Bush’s Republican world view.As the former PM recommended Mr Bush’s policies to 400 millionaire bankers in Las Vegas, former ally Bill Clinton was campaigning in Nevada for his wife Hillary, who hopes to be the Democratic candidate for the White House and is an arch Bush critic.
In a move liable to be interpreted as a stab in the back for Hillary’s campaign, Mr Blair – who was paid 175,000 for his 35-minute speech – said: “George Bush is an amazingly strong and steady President…which is what America and the world needs.”
Last night Labour backbencher Jeremy Corbyn said: “A week ago Mr Blair travelled to France to praise the Right-wing President of France and this week he travels to the USA to support the Republicans.
“Is there no end to the extremes he will go to?” No, He’ll do anything to hitch the money train of Bushie’s military industrial complex’s…Blood Sucker!
Mr Blair’s office denied that his comments were an attack on Mrs Clinton.
He’s abdicated his responsability as a part of the fourth estate. I remember him a year ago on stage rapping with Karl Rove at a press club event. That cosy relationship denies us unbiased…the consumer, real reporting because of his closeness to the administration and it’s enablers. SIR, HAVE YOU NO SHAME?
At a National Press Club event earlier this week, NBC White House correspondent David Gregory argued that, because is so much polarization in politics today, “people try to divine or assign our motives” for asking certain questions at the White House press briefings. When Helen Thomas asked Gregory what was responsible for the polarization, Gregory answered:
I think it’s because of the internet largely. The polarized atmosphere in the internet and blogs and whatnot have been a major contributor to that.
In February — at a similar event at the Press Club — Gregory pointed the finger at blogs for the reason that “politics and political coverage has become so polarized.” Glenn Greenwald wrote at the time:
The reality, of course, is that most media-criticizing bloggers do not want journalists to be “political advocates.” They want them to do what journalists are supposed to do — which is not…sit around with their good, trustworthy, nice-guy friends in the White House and simply “ask questions” and “get information,” but instead to scrutinize that information, treat it with doubt, investigate it before passing it along to determine whether it’s true.
And the reason bloggers want them to do that, the reason that bloggers demand more of journalists…is not because bloggers are enraged, confused, unreasonable partisans. It’s because bloggers are American citizens who are deeply concerned about what has happened to their country over the last six years.
Throughout his October confirmation hearings, Attorney General Mike Mukasey denounced the use of torture, stating that it is “antithetical to what this country stands for.”But when it came to declaring the practice of waterboarding torture, Mukasey hedged. “I don’t know what’s involved in waterboarding,” he told Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), arguing he first needed to be “read into” the administration’s program. Mukasey pledged to study the matter and said he would order a “review” after being confirmed: