Attorney general, lawmakers clash on torture

By Randall Mikkelsen and Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey drew congressional fire on Wednesday for refusing to rule on the legality of waterboarding, and said the CIA may again seek to use the harsh interrogation method.

But Mukasey said before any CIA resumption of waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique condemned by much of the world as torture, he or his successors would determine if it is lawful and the matter would go to the president.

"Those steps may never be taken, but if they are I commit to you today that this committee will be notified," Mukasey told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Bush administration has come under heavy scrutiny from critics at home and abroad over harsh interrogation methods used on terrorism suspects since the September 11 attacks.

The CIA used waterboarding soon after it began interrogating people captured in President George W. Bush's war on terrorism. The president has said the United States does not torture. Waterboarding is prohibited in the U.S. military.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, opened Wednesday's hearing by saying, "This administration has so twisted America's role, law and values that our own State Department, our military officers and, apparently, America's top law enforcement officer, are now instructed by the White House not to say that waterboarding is torture and illegal."

"Never mind that waterboarding has been recognized as torture for the last 500 years," Leahy said. "Never mind that President Teddy Roosevelt properly prosecuted Americans soldiers for this more than 100 years ago."

Following nearly four hours of grilling of Mukasey by committee members, Leahy closed the hearing, saying the moral authority of the United States was at stake.