Mukasey, waterboarding, and torture.(Inside Track)(Michael Mukasey )

The Senate Judiciary Committee on November 6 approved the nomination of Michael Mukasey as attorney general, despite his refusal to condemn harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding as torture. The vote was 11 to 8, with two of the committee's Democrats--Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) and Charles Schumer (N.Y.)--joining all of the committee's Republicans in support of President's Bush's nominee for attorney general.

Mukasey, a retired federal judge, was asked during his confirmation hearings if waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques reportedly practiced by the CIA against terrorism suspects constituted torture. He would not answer the question, though he did acknowledge that torture was unconstitutional. He later sent a letter to senators calling waterboarding "repugnant" but adding that he could not judge its legality until given access to classified information about interrogation techniques.

One does not need access to classified information, however, to know that waterboarding is torture. Former U.S. Navy instructor Malcolm Nance, who trained U.S. forces to resist harsh ...