[toeslist] US refuses to rule on waterboarding - its not being currently practised...
 
Resent-Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:21:58 -0600 (CST)


UPDATED ON: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008 2:04 MECCA TIME, 23:04 GMT

US refuses to rule on waterboarding

Mukasey said the CIA was not using waterboarding anymore so no
ruling was needed [GALLO/GETTY] The US attorney-general has refused
to rule on the legality of waterboarding, the interrogation method
that simulates drowning.

Michael Mukasey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that as
waterboarding was not currently being practised by the CIA, he did
not need to rule on it.

Mukasey said he would rule on the legality of the technique, used
by the agency in the past and condemned by many as torture, if the
agency sought to use it again.

"Those steps may never be taken, but if they are I commit to you
today that this committee will be notified," he said.

Your Views

Is waterboarding a form of torture?

The CIA used the practice soon after it launched its terrorism
interrogation programme following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The technique has been prohibited by the US military.

Mukasey's comments irritated senators, and prompted Edward Kennedy,
a Massachusetts Democrat, to ask: "Would waterboarding be torture
if it was done to you?"

"I would feel that it was," Mukasey replied.

CIA tapes probe

The US House Intelligence Committee is investigating the CIA's
destruction of videotapes that are reported to have shown the use
of the interrogation technique on suspects.

What is waterboarding?

Detainee is strapped to a board and water is poured over face covered
with cloth or cellophane

Sensation is akin to drowning, with reflexive choking, gagging and
feelings of suffocation

Variations include dunking detainee headfirst into water

Dates back to the Spanish Inquisition and used in Central and South
America 30 years ago

Condemned by rights groups as torture

Waterboarding involves pouring water over subjects who are bound,
gagged and hooded in order to terrify them by stimulating the feeling
that they are drowning.

Patrick Leahy, the committee's chairman, had opened Wednesday's
hearing with strong words for Mukasey.

"Torture and illegality have no place in America," he told the
former judge.

"Waterboarding has been recognised as torture for the last 500
years,"

Leahy said.

"We prosecuted Japanese soldiers for waterboarding Americans during
World War Two."

The US senate narrowly voted in November to confirm Mukasey as
Alberto Gonzales's replacement as attorney-general.

Many voted "no" largely because of Mukasey's refusal to say if
waterboarding is torture.

Mukasey had promised during his confirmation hearing that he would
review the legality of interrogation techniques used by the CIA if
he became attorney-general. Source: Agencies

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2D598BBC-FA3C-4F1F-8C7A-49CFCF03B29B.htm