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There's a huge brouhaha growing (or brewing?) over the nomination of Judge Mukaskey to be the next Attorney General and the issue of waterboarding.
The problem: it's all bullshit.
A number of Senators have their panties in a twist because Judge Mukasey has pointedly refused to declare that waterboarding is torture, and therefore is illegal.
For those of you who don't know, waterboarding is the technique of placing a person on a board, with their feet elevated above their heads. The interrogator then places a wet cloth over the mouth and nose of the detainee, and then pours water over the cloth. The effect simulates -- it is said -- drowning. (The technique is actually used at the John F. Kennedy School for Special Warfare at Fort Bragg, NC -- ie, the HQ of the Army's Special Forces or "Green Berets" -- to teach recruits how to resist interrogation techniques.)
If this sounds familiar, it should. Because if you replace the "cloth" with a plastic hose and a funnel, you have Beer Bong Races. College students do it every weekend (and on many weeknights).
Is this torture? That's a good question. The detainee is not actually being drowned. It certainly produces discomfort. It certainly freaks detainees out. It certainly induces them to tell us everything they know. But is it torture?
A bunch of Senators think so. Including John McCain.
Here's the problem though. If they think it REALLY IS torture, they can pass a law that declares it a breach of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention. Doing so would make any use of waterboarding a FEDERAL CRIME. More importantly, because treaties under the United States Constitution are considered to be binding under Federal Law, that means that FOREIGN NATIONALS would then be able to seek redress in any Federal Court. That is all it would take.
Oh wait. The Senate had that opportunity. Not once, but twice. In 2005, under the 2005 Military Commissions Act, Senator Ted "Chivas Regal" Kennedy proposed an amendment to the Act that would do JUST THAT. Guess what? Amendment failed, 46-53.
This summer, Slow Joe "Xerox" Biden tried the same thing. Guess what? FAILED AGAIN.
So, the United States Senate -- the world's most deliberative body -- refuses to do what they are demanding a nominee for Attorney General do: expressly declare waterboarding to be illegal.
Here's the problem. Once again, the moronic Soddomites on the Potomac need a lesson on the Constitution. It is the responsibility of Congress to pass laws. It is the responsibility of the Executive Branch to enforce those laws. If Congress wants something declared illegal, THEY NEED TO DO IT. That is how the legislature works. It is not the job of the Attorney General to willy-nilly declare what is or is not illegal.
Here's the second part of the problem. Not one member of the legislature -- House or Senate -- wants to be held accountable in the "ticking time bomb" scenario. They don't want a future 9/11 commission crawling up their rectums and laying the blame for a dirty nuke attack on their desks. They want to pass that responsibility to the Executive Branch, knowing that they can always play the issue. That of course, is the liberal way: don't accept responsibility, just be sure to pass the blame.
That is cowardice. And one might just argue that it is cowardice in the face of the enemy in a time of war.