Official: End Justifies Means...

I really am naive enough still to find this shit shocking.

Here we have the Attorney General of the United States arguing that "shocking the conscience" is dependent on what end result would be achieved by the use of torture. I'm with Joe Biden on this. Mukasey's attitude shocks my conscience.



Hat tip to Digby who says it so eloquently:

It's really hard for me to believe that someone who used to be a federal judge can blow that sophistry in a congressional hearing with a straight face. If you don't know what they know, then you can't know in advance if what they know might save lives, right?

I honestly don't know why everybody's so hung up on waterboarding specifically at this point. If this is their legal understanding, then they can use the rack, they can break arms and legs and they can pull teeth out with a pair of pliers. There is no logical difference between any of that and waterboarding if the only moral and legal guideline is that "it might be used to save lives."

Tags: Mukasey, torture, waterboarding