posted on October 18, 2007 11:23:56 PM new
Mukasey: Torture authority memo a 'mistake'
Attorney General-designate repudiates president's power to violate laws
Memo allowing torture was 'mistake'
Oct. 17: Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey says the president doesn’t have the authority to allow torture techniques.
NBC News Channel
Updated: 12:47 p.m. CT Oct 17, 2007
WASHINGTON - Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey said Wednesday the president doesn't have the authority to use torture techniques against terrorism suspects, a stance not taken by predecessor Alberto Gonzales and considered key to the nominee's confirmation.
Mukasey repudiated a 2002 memo by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee that said the president has the power to issue orders that violate the Geneva Conventions as well as international and U.S. laws prohibiting torture. The memo was later disavowed and overridden by an executive order on interrogation of terrorism suspects, which allowed harsh questioning but included a vaguely worded ban on cruel and inhuman treatment.
"The Bybee memo, to paraphrase a French diplomat, was worse than a sin, it was a mistake. It was unnecessary," Mukasey, 66, told the Senate Judiciary Committee under questioning by Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
