Nominee for AG 10-31-2007

31, October 2007 Nominee for AG
Once again, the Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee failed to fully challenge the nominee for Attorney General (AG), Michael Mukasey. Incredibly, Mukasey defended many of President Bush’s most egregious post-9/11 policies, including holding American citizens indefinitely without charge and denying them Habeas Corpus. Although he was harshly critical of the White House memo on torture, Mukasey failed to take a strong position on the grotesque ‘enhanced’ interrogation techniques now being employed, such as water-boarding,  stripping prisoners, hooding and exposing them to frigid temperatures, subjecting them to savage beatings, sexual humiliation, and shattering ear drums by exposure to loud music. 

The confirmation hearings are largely a charade to appease the public into believing that a change of policy will ensue after the new AG is confirmed. Guantanamo detainees will continue to be horribly abused and black rendition sites will be retained to outsource brutal torture activities out of sight of the US media which has largely remained deafeningly silent on such un-American practices. Mukasey even slithered unchallenged by the issue of warrantless, illegal wiretapping and surveillance which clearly violates US law. Unless the public responds with outrage and demands an apolitical AG, there is little doubt that Mukasey will be confirmed.