Torture

Washington, D.C. -- December 11, 2007 -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) Monday sent a letter to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey asking a series of questions about the Justice Department’s knowledge of and involvement in the Central Intelligence Agency’s possession and subsequent destruction of videotapes showing interrogations of detainees. The Department of Justice has launched an initial investigation into the matter.    » read more »

December 11, 2007 -- Washington, DC – Former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) sent a letter to Fred Fielding, Counsel to the President, asking him to confirm that the White House and the Office of the Vice President are preserving all documents related to the Central Intelligence Agency’s policies and programs regarding the detention and interrogation of individuals involved in international terrorism.    » read more »

Waterloo, IA (December 10, 2007) – In Iowa today, former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Joe Biden stepped up pressure on the Justice Department to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate the scandal surrounding the destruction of tapes showing interrogations by the CIA:    » read more »

December 07, 2007 -- (Washington, DC)- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Reps. Robert Scott, William Delahunt and Jerrold Nadler sent letters to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Gen. Michael Hayden and Attorney General Michael Mukasey requesting details about today's reports that the CIA destroyed videotapes of interrogation activities.    » read more »

December 7, 2007 -- The following statement was submitted by Senator Obama in the Congressional Record today:

Mr. President, I wish to express my serious concern over the Central Intelligence Agency’s confirmation that videotapes depicting brutal interrogation techniques were destroyed.    » read more »

Dec 7, 2007 -- Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Today, Senator John Edwards released the following statement on the CIA's destruction of interrogation tapes:    » read more »

November 14, 2007 -- THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Good morning. I'm pleased to be back here at the Department of Justice, and to join you for the swearing-in of Judge Michael Mukasey as the 81st Attorney General of the United States. We welcome Michael's wife, Susan, their children, Marc and Jessica, their son-in-law Corey, their grandchildren, William and Benjamin, and other members of the Mukasey family. We share their pride in Michael on this important day. And I appreciate you all coming to witness it.    » read more »

13 November 2007 -- An international human rights group is urging NATO to stop transferring detainees to Afghan security forces because of reports they torture their prisoners.

Amnesty International says the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force could be exposing prisoners to mistreatment and abuse by placing them in the custody of the Afghan National Directorate of Security.

The rights group wants ISAF to temporarily suspend all prisoner handovers to Afghan authorities until proper safeguards are in place.    » read more »

Says failure of Senators to vote is a failure to lead; reiterates that torture is unacceptable in any form, promises to prosecute anyone responsible for its use as President

11/09/2007 -- SANTA FE, NM-- New Mexico Governor and Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Richardson today issued the following statement in condemnation of the Senate's confirmation of Michael Mukasey as Attorney General of the United States:    » read more »

November 09, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC –U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today sent the following letter to newly confirmed Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

The text of the letter read:

We are pleased that the Senate voted to confirm you last night as Attorney General of the United States. As you take office, we strongly urge you to immediately receive briefings on the CIA interrogation program and to publicly declare that the technique known as “waterboarding” is illegal.    » read more »

November 8, 2007 -- This debate has boiled down to a discussion of principles that are as vital to American ideals and to the American soul as is the fleeting issue of who will act as the Attorney General for the next 14 months. During the Judiciary Committee’s consideration of this nomination earlier this week, Senators Kennedy, Kohl, Feingold, Durbin, Cardin, Whitehouse and I made clear the fallacy that would disregard settled law and discredit America’s role in the struggle for liberty and human dignity.    » read more »

November 9, 2007 -- Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today announced on the Senate floor his opposition to the nomination of Attorney General nominee Judge Michael Mukasey. Among other reasons, Harkin was most disappointed with Mukasey’s refusal to denounce torturous practices such as waterboarding and electric shocks, and his failure to recommend closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility – even though Republican officials like former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have agreed it should be shut down.    » read more »

November 9, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC-Following his vote to oppose the nomination of Michael Mukasey for Attorney General, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) released the following statement:

“Judge Mukasey is an honorable man who possesses the experience and ability to serve as Attorney General. But I question his ability to be the strong, independent leader that is required now at the Justice Department. He is the nominee of an administration which has too often put politics and ideology ahead of principle and the rule of law.    » read more »

November 9, 2007 -- (Washington, DC) - Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) sent a letter to newly confirmed Attorney General Michael Mukasey restating their October 4 request to receive copies of Justice Department "secret" legal opinions authorizing the use of torture on terror suspects.    » read more »

(As Prepared for Delivery)

November 9, 2007 -- "Mr. President, the Department of Justice is in a state of crisis. Under Attorney General Gonzales, it too often served as a rubber stamp for the White House and as a pawn for political gain, rather than as the nation’s guardian of the rule of law. It ignored the law and authorized torture and warrantless surveillance. It let politics drive decisions about who should be prosecuted. It fired U.S. Attorneys who would not go along.    » read more »