Originally published on the CGS blog on October 19, 2007.
On Wednesday, President Bush’s Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey reaffirmed our nation’s commitment to international justice and the rule of law as it relates to U.S. interrogation policy.
That might have been seen as a mistake by those who control the ‘Darth Vader’ wing of the Bush administration; because 24 hours later, as Mukasey continued his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he refused to answer whether interrogation techniques such as water boarding are considered torture.
Obviously, Mukasey must have had a change of heart after his first day on the Hill. Or, did the far-right, radical element of the White House that has found every way imaginable to stretch the powers of the executive branch beyond the U.S. Constitution decide to bring the nominee into the room and make him ‘an offer he couldn’t refuse’?
I am trying not to be too cynical here, but why does this vision, ala “The Godfather” – starring Barack Obama’s distant cousin Vice President Cheney — seem to be playing out in my head:
SCENE: (Don Vito Corleone (Cheney) sits in a lounge chair; a glass of red wine in his hand [good for the heart, you know], watches Wednesday’s hearing with his oldest boy, Sonny. Mukasey says that even the United States and the president needs to abide by U.S. law and international treaties, i.e., The Geneva Conventions, when it comes to torture and interrogation techniques)
Don Vito (Cheney): ‘sonny, did our nominee just say what I thought he said? Get a hold of Luca (Brasi) and make sure Luca and our Attorney General-to-be have a nice, quiet dinner somewhere; maybe a private room at The Palm. Luca will know what to say. Our Attorney General needs to understand our motto: never let anyone outside the family know what you’re thinking, ever.
Sonny (portrayed by David Addington ): “Let me take him to dinner; I’ll make sure he starts singing our song. I don’t need Luca!”
Now, in the best case scenario, Tom Hagen, the informally adopted son of Vito and Carmella Corleone, would step in with a sounder, calmer, cooler and more diplomatic solution to “The Godfather’s” indigestion; however, that’s the problem in the Cheney-wing of the White House: There is no Tom Hagen.
