Agence France-Presse - 1/15/2009 9:51 PM GMT
US attorney general designate Eric Holder Thursday branded "waterboarding" as torture and said steps were already being taken to close Guantanamo Bay prison, in a clear rejection of Bush administration "war on terror" tactics.
President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be the US government's top lawyer vowed to make US anti-terrorism policies consistent with fundamental American values and the "letter and spirit of the Constitution."
"I agree with you Mr Chairman, waterboarding is torture," Holder told Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, during his confirmation hearing.
Waterboarding, or simulated drowning, was used in the Spanish Inquisition and by Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, and the CIA has admitted it used the technique on several of the top Al-Qaeda plotters of the September 11 attacks in 2001.
The practice has been fiercely condemned by human rights groups, which also have concerns about other "enhanced interrogation techniques."
The two most recent attorney generals under President George W. Bush had declined to go as far as Holder on waterboarding, and Vice President Dick Cheney has defended the practice, saying it yielded vital intelligence.
Holder was also asked whether he believed that the US president had the constitutional power to "immunize" an intelligence officer to carry out an act of torture on a terror suspect.
"No one is above the law, the president has a constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the law of the United States," said Holder.
Holder, a career lawyer and former justice department official, also reiterated Obama's assurances that he would close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"Guantanamo will be closed," Holder said. He declined to give a date for the closure, but said that "steps are being taken as we speak."
Obama has said that closing the camp will take longer than many of his supporters had hoped.
On Monday, President George W. Bush said he hoped his successor Obama would carefully weigh keeping controversial interrogation tactics and other policies that his administration put in place to fight the "war on terror."
Holder admitted that the decisions made on practices like waterboarding by the Bush administration during the dark days following the September 11 attacks in 2001 had been difficult and were easy to criticize in hindsight.
"Having said that, the president-elect and I are worried, disturbed by what we have seen and heard.
"We will make sure the interrogation techniques that are sanctioned by the Justice Department are consistent with the treaty obligations that we have and will be effective at the same time."
"I will use every available tactic to defeat our adversaries and I will do so within the letter and spirit of the constitution," Holder told the committee.
President-elect Obama has vowed that the United States will not use torture under his watch, following claims the Bush administration subverted the limits of its constitutional powers and the Geneva Conventions with its treatment of "war on terror" detainees.
Holder, who expected a rough confirmation ride but was ultimately likely to prevail, would be the first African-American to serve as the US government's top lawyer.
His appearance had a certain historical poignancy, as it took place in an ornate Senate hearing room on the day civil rights icon Martin Luther King would have turned 80 years old.
Holder also faced intense questioning over former president Bill Clinton's decision to pardon fugitive financier Marc Rich during the waning hours of his administration in 2001.
Holder was a deputy attorney general at the time and played a key role in vetting the pardon, which was vigorously criticized after Clinton left office.
He admitted in the hearing that his role had been a "mistake."
"I've accepted the responsibility of making those mistakes, I've never tried to hide, I've never tried to blame anybody else."
The senior Republican on the committee Senator Arlen Specter complained there had been insufficient time to vet Holder, saying he had been unable to obtain records from the Clinton presidential library.
But Leahy warned Holder's nomination was for a vital post and his confirmation should not be held up over "partisan bickering."
Holder also vowed to restore the morale of the Justice Department, which was rocked by allegations in the Bush administration that plum government jobs were handed out only to conservatives or supporters of the White House.
http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2105616
US attorney general designate Eric Holder Thursday branded "waterboarding" as torture and said steps were already being taken to close Guantanamo Bay prison, in a clear rejection of Bush administration "war on terror" tactics.
President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be the US government's top lawyer vowed to make US anti-terrorism policies consistent with fundamental American values and the "letter and spirit of the Constitution."
"I agree with you Mr Chairman, waterboarding is torture," Holder told Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, during his confirmation hearing.
Waterboarding, or simulated drowning, was used in the Spanish Inquisition and by Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, and the CIA has admitted it used the technique on several of the top Al-Qaeda plotters of the September 11 attacks in 2001.
The practice has been fiercely condemned by human rights groups, which also have concerns about other "enhanced interrogation techniques."
The two most recent attorney generals under President George W. Bush had declined to go as far as Holder on waterboarding, and Vice President Dick Cheney has defended the practice, saying it yielded vital intelligence.
Holder was also asked whether he believed that the US president had the constitutional power to "immunize" an intelligence officer to carry out an act of torture on a terror suspect.
"No one is above the law, the president has a constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the law of the United States," said Holder.
Holder, a career lawyer and former justice department official, also reiterated Obama's assurances that he would close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"Guantanamo will be closed," Holder said. He declined to give a date for the closure, but said that "steps are being taken as we speak."
Obama has said that closing the camp will take longer than many of his supporters had hoped.
On Monday, President George W. Bush said he hoped his successor Obama would carefully weigh keeping controversial interrogation tactics and other policies that his administration put in place to fight the "war on terror."
Holder admitted that the decisions made on practices like waterboarding by the Bush administration during the dark days following the September 11 attacks in 2001 had been difficult and were easy to criticize in hindsight.
"Having said that, the president-elect and I are worried, disturbed by what we have seen and heard.
"We will make sure the interrogation techniques that are sanctioned by the Justice Department are consistent with the treaty obligations that we have and will be effective at the same time."
"I will use every available tactic to defeat our adversaries and I will do so within the letter and spirit of the constitution," Holder told the committee.
President-elect Obama has vowed that the United States will not use torture under his watch, following claims the Bush administration subverted the limits of its constitutional powers and the Geneva Conventions with its treatment of "war on terror" detainees.
Holder, who expected a rough confirmation ride but was ultimately likely to prevail, would be the first African-American to serve as the US government's top lawyer.
His appearance had a certain historical poignancy, as it took place in an ornate Senate hearing room on the day civil rights icon Martin Luther King would have turned 80 years old.
Holder also faced intense questioning over former president Bill Clinton's decision to pardon fugitive financier Marc Rich during the waning hours of his administration in 2001.
Holder was a deputy attorney general at the time and played a key role in vetting the pardon, which was vigorously criticized after Clinton left office.
He admitted in the hearing that his role had been a "mistake."
"I've accepted the responsibility of making those mistakes, I've never tried to hide, I've never tried to blame anybody else."
The senior Republican on the committee Senator Arlen Specter complained there had been insufficient time to vet Holder, saying he had been unable to obtain records from the Clinton presidential library.
But Leahy warned Holder's nomination was for a vital post and his confirmation should not be held up over "partisan bickering."
Holder also vowed to restore the morale of the Justice Department, which was rocked by allegations in the Bush administration that plum government jobs were handed out only to conservatives or supporters of the White House.
http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2105616
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