Mukasey Still Playing Word Games About Torture

It looks like Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey is still playing word games with the Senate. While he says he opposes torture, he still refuses to say whether he believes the practice of "waterboarding" is torture or not.

Now this is not a hard question. All human rights groups have classified "waterboarding" as a form of torture. Even Congress calls it torture, having outlawed it in 2006. About the only person who doesn't believe it is torture is George Bush, who authorized its use in interrogating prisoners.

Yesterday, Mukasey said he thought the practice was "repugnant", but again refused to call it torture. That's not good enough. Lots of things are repugnant, but don't qualify as torture. Mukasey is trying to occupy some kind of middle ground between the Bush administration and the civilized world.

But that middle ground doesn't exist. Waterboarding is either torture or its not, and Mukasey should know that. It is very troubling that he will not say it.

It's not enough to say torture is wrong. Even George Bush says that, while continuing to torture at the same time. You must define what you mean by torture. Mukasey's refusal to define the term makes me think his definition may be as loose as the definitions used by Bush and Alberto Gonzales.

Would Mukasey authorize the use of torture? We cannot know since he will not define the term. Until he does, he should not be approved as Attorney General.