The declaration did little to assuage Democrats who believe that the Bush administration's refusal to renounce waterboarding under all circumstances has hurt the credibility of the United States in seeking an end to torture around the world.
"It is not enough to say that waterboarding is not currently authorized," committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said. "The attorney general should be able to say it is wrong, it is illegal, it is beyond the pale."
Waterboarding is believed to have been used on three suspected terrorists by the CIA in secret overseas prisons after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The issue is also relevant to an ongoing Justice Department investigation into the destruction of videotapes of CIA interrogations in which waterboarding is believed to have been used.
U.S. officials have defended all interrogation methods used as conforming with the law. But many experts, including some former military lawyers, believe waterboarding is clearly illegal.
"Your letter told us that the CIA does not currently use waterboarding. That fact had already been disclosed," Kennedy said. "What your letter completely ignored is the fact that the CIA did use waterboarding and no one is being held accountable."
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) accused Mukasey of taking an overly narrow view of his responsibilities as attorney general and said he appeared to be acting as a corporate lawyer "unwilling to look back and dredge up past unpleasantness and risk potentially creating liability for the corporation."
"You are the top law enforcement officer of the United States," Whitehouse said. "And prosecutors do look back. They do dredge up the past in order to do justice."
"I wear one hat," Mukasey responded. "It says attorney general of the United States. There are a number of duties under that, but as far as I'm concerned, there is no divided responsibility or divided loyalty. There is one responsibility."
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rick.schmitt@latimes.com
