How's that for progress?

[babylonsister]

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2007/11/bushs-pakistan-copoutand-what.html

David Corn: Bush's Pakistan Cop-out...and What Waterboarding Is All About

snip//

The legislation backed by Bush and congressional Republicans would explicitly permit the use of evidence obtained through waterboarding and other forms of torture. Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and other top al Qaeda leaders have reportedly been subjected to this technique. They would certainly note--or try to note--that at any trial. But with this legislation, the White House is seeking to declare the use of waterboarding (at least in the past) as a legitimate practice of the US government.

The House of Representatives voted for Bush's bill on Thursday, 253 to 168 (with 34 Democrats siding with the president and only seven Republicans breaking with their party's leader). The Senate is expected to vote on the bill today. Its members should consider Blank's photos and arguments before they, too, go off the deep end.
******

Well, it's too late for that in the case of Schumer and DiFi.

And let me add that it was unfortunate that the Mukasey debate became so defined by the waterboarding issue. The larger issue at hand is the Bush administration's (and Mukasey's) view of executive power. By accepting Mukasey, these Democratic senators are tacitly accepting that view.

NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION.... To determine policy in the Bush White House. But here's an all-too relevant passage from Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors, by my friend James Reston Jr.:

When the rack did not produce the desired result, the churchmen turned to the water torture. In this hideous remedy, the prisoner was tied to a ladder that was sloped downward, so that the head was lower than the feet. The head was held fast in position by a metal band, twigs were placed in the nostrils, and ropes winched tightly around his appendages. The mouth was forced open with a metal piece and a cloth placed over the mouth. Then a pitcher of water was brought, and water poured over the cloth. With each swallow, the cloth was drawn deeper into the throat, until in gagging and choking the victim nearly asphyxiated. The terror of suffocation was extreme, and the process was repeated endlessly, bloating the body grotesquely until the victim was ready to confess. If the suspect was still uncooperative, his body was turned over, causing unimaginable pain in the heart and lungs. From the inquisitor's standpoint---for he was there to record every detail---the treatment was easy to administer and left no telltale signs.

First the rack, then waterboarding? Unlike the inquisitors, the Bush administration seems to want to cut right to the chase. How's that for progress?

[deacon]

1. Definate kick. n/t