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What is Torture?
Oct-19-07 05:46 pm
President George W. Bush holds a press conference Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. "As we saw from the recent Nation's Report Card, the No Child Left Behind Act is getting results for America's children. Test scores are rising. The achievement gap is beginning to close," said President Bush. "And Congress should send me a bipartisan bill that reauthorizes and strengthens this effective piece of legislation." White House photo by Eric Draper

In light of Judge Mukasey's recent hearing, the has been much discussion about the definition of torture. This issue has been discussed on this blog and quite extensively over at Balkinization. At President Bush's press conference yesterday, the following colloquy took place:

Q Thank you, sir. A simple question.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. It may require a simple answer.

Q What's your definition of the word "torture"?

THE PRESIDENT: Of what?

Q The word "torture." What's your definition?

THE PRESIDENT: That's defined in U.S. law, and we don't torture.

Q Can you give me your version of it, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: Whatever the law says.

Now juxtapose this with Mukasey's discussion of waterboarding, as reporting in the New York Times:

“Is waterboarding constitutional?” Mr. Mukasey was asked by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, in one of the sharpest exchanges.

“I don’t know what is involved in the technique,” Mr. Mukasey replied. “If waterboarding is torture, torture is not constitutional.”

Mr. Whitehouse described Mr. Mukasey’s response as a “massive hedge” since the nominee refused to be drawn into a conversation about whether waterboarding amounted to torture; many lawmakers from both parties, as well as civil liberties and human rights groups, have said it is clearly a form of torture. The administration has suggested that it ended the practice after protests from Capitol Hill and elsewhere, although it has never said so explicitly.

“I mean, either it is or it isn’t,” Mr. Whitehouse continued.

Waterboarding, he said, “is the practice of putting somebody in a reclining position, strapping them down, putting cloth over their faces and pouring water over the cloth to simulate the feeling of drowning. Is that constitutional?”

Mr. Mukasey again demurred, saying, “If it amounts to torture, it is not constitutional.”

Mr. Whitehouse said he was “very disappointed in that answer; I think it is purely semantic.”

“I’m sorry,” Mr. Mukasey replied.

I am sorry as well.

Tags: human rights torture civil liberties

About the editor:

Anthony Clark Arend

Professor

Commentary and analysis at the intersection of international law and politics.

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