Leahy Presses Secretary Rice

On Defending Americans Abroad From Waterboarding

. . . State Department Official Reportedly Refuses To Declare Waterboarding Of Americans Illegal

WASHINGTON (Wednesday, Nov. 7) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is asking Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to clarify reports that a senior aide in the State Department refuses to deem illegal under international law the waterboarding of Americans abroad.

During Committee proceedings on the nomination of Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General of the United States, Leahy voiced outrage over reports that a State Department aide and legal adviser has indicated that the justification of waterboarding an American would depend on the “facts and circumstances.”

Leahy and others raised concerns about the Mukasey nomination when the nominee refused to say whether he believes waterboarding is torture and therefore illegal.  Leahy voted no on Tuesday when the Committee took up the nomination, which was approved in a vote of 11 to 8.

“When asked at a recent public debate whether he could imagine any circumstance in which waterboarding could be justified on an American national by a foreign intelligence service, John Bellinger of the State Department said, ‘one would have to apply the facts to the law’ and when pressed he said that he was not willing to ‘include it or exclude it’ and that he did not want to ‘get involved in abstract discussions,’” said Leahy during Tuesday’s meeting.  “That is so wrong that it is chilling.”

In a letter he sent Tuesday, Leahy asked Secretary Rice to rectify the remarks.  The text of Leahy’s letter to Secretary Rice follows.  A PDF is also available here.