Mukasey Won't Budge on Waterboarding

Testifying before a Senate committee today, Attorney General Michael Mukasey frustrated attempts to get him to answer on whether waterboarding constitutes torture. "I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to pass definitive judgment on the technique’s legality,” said Mukasey, hedging in a manner that, as it did in past appearances, infuriated questioning senators, the New York Times reports.

“So let me ask you this,” Sen. Ted Kennedy asked at one point, “would waterboarding be torture if it was done to you?” Replied Mukasey, “I would feel that it was.” An exasperated Kennedy compared Mukasey's stance to being "opposed to stealing but not quite sure that bank robbery would qualify," the Times notes. (More Michael Mukasey stories.)