Obama Nominee Testifies Waterboarding is Torture

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Eric Holder

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President-Elect Barack Obama's nominee for the office of US Attorney-General, Bronx-born New Yorker Eric Holder testified 15 January before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Bush Administration (Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and John Yoo) admitted use of waterboarding is unequivocally torture.

Eric Holder officially told the confirmation committee:
"If you look at the history of the use of that technique, used by the Khmer Rouge, used in the Inquisition, used by the Japanese and prosecuted by us as war crimes. We prosecuted our own soldiers for using it in Vietnam. I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, waterboarding is torture."

When queried about immunity for any US civilian or military officials who approved of or condoned waterboarding, or whether any person who has carried out waterboarding, should be granted immunity from prosecution, he replied curtly: "No one is above the law."

When questioned about some Clinton clemencies he had approved of in the late 1990s, he openly admitted that looking back he does see some errors in judgment he did not see at the time he made those calls.

Although Eric Holder has made some rather serious errors in legal judgment in the past (clemency-related during the Clinton administration), he came clean and owned up to his mistakes. These errors in judgment will not be enough to allay the fear that is certainly running through the veins of Bush Administration waterboarding policymakers and practitioners.

If there is no superpower one can look to for a modicum of human decency in times of war or peace, where on Earth are we headed? It is important that any suspected war crimes committed by the Bush Administration are thoroughly and indefatigably investigated and prosecuted, without allowing the euphoria of the hope and promise of Barack Obama to fog the grave if not almost fatal blows that civil society has suffered by war atrocites and the use of torture (in Obama's nominated US Attorney-General's legal view) admitted and defended by Bush administration heavyweights.

Let the Bush Administration waterboarding advocates defend their position in America's highest court and let the people decide if those responsible for waterbaording prisoners are honorable or guilty of torture?