Bush Admits to Using Torture, but What is Congress Going to Do About It?

Feb. 25, 2008

In recent testimony before Congress, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has said that the Bush Administration used a tactic called waterboarding during the interrogation of terror suspects. Waterboarding is torture, it is banned by the international community, and the U.S. has previously prosecuted, convicted, and executed those accused of waterboarding as war criminals.

Yet Mukasey and the Bush Administration refuse to acknowledge that waterboarding is torture and is illegal under U.S. laws and treaties, despite the fact that the Supreme Court in 2006 issued a decision affirming that this tactic is indeed a violation of U.S. laws.

Of course, as is well known throughout the intelligence community, torture such as waterboarding does not yield valuable intelligence. That's because, victims will begin saying whatever they think their captors want to hear, just to end the torture. Thus, by using waterboarding, the CIA has seriously damaged the investigations of terror suspects Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Abu Zubaida. It is possible that, thanks to the Bush Administration's recklessness, we may never see justice for these alleged terrorist masterminds.

The selective application of the Geneva Conventions by the Bush Administration also jeopardizes the lives and well-being of all U.S. military personnel taken as prisoners of war. If we cannot be held accountable by the Geneva Conventions, then we cannot hold other countries accountable for their treatment of our citizens.

There has been a public confession to the dangerous crime of waterboarding. Now it is time for Congress to act. We cannot allow a reckless president to continue to jeopardize our national security and the safety of our service men and women. Because this and other war crimes have been committed, I strongly support impeachment proceedings against President Bush, so other presidents will not follow in his footsteps. As your Congressperson, I will stand up for justice and the rule of law, and demand that these affronts to our democracy be prosecuted.

- Steve Alesch, candidate for Congress, Illinois 13th district

Resources

• Waterboarding (Wikipedia)
• Mukasey Offers View on Waterboarding (New York Times)