[Also posted as a press release in the press room.]

All quotes are from survivors of torture, and members of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International.

Nasim, a survivor of waterboarding from Ethiopia, who does not want her last name in the press, says that she is "brought back to the torture chambers every time I hear the sound of splashing water. In the shower, when water hits my face, I must remind myself that I am not strapped to a board and that my lungs will not fill up with water until I lose consciousness. Though it has been years, the fear and pain are still there. There can be no debate that waterboarding is torture." 

Anthony Ibeagha, a survivor from Nigeria, said that "this confirmation is disrespectful to me as a person and only exacerbates the pain of torture which has come to be my life."

Dianna Ortiz, a US nun and survivor of torture in Guatemala, said that "the Senate may have substituted the name Mukasey, but they voted for torture. What congress and Judge Mukasey have said loudly and clearly is that they have no concern for those of us who were tortured. First we were betrayed by our torturers; now we are betrayed by the government of the United States. Those who voted for torture will go unconcerned to their dinners and cocktail parties, while we go home to our nightmares." 

Sister Ortiz wrote of her experience watching the Senate Judiciary Committee's vote on Mukasey here: http://torturelaw.org/blog_post.php?post=41

The Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition is the only organization in the United States founded by and for survivors of torture. Interviews with survivors are available.

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Subjects: Congress | Justice Department | Survivor's Voices | TASSC International

Torture survivors stood outside the committee room for nearly two hours, waiting for the doors to open that would usher us into the presence of the Judiciary Committee.  There, committee members would cast their votes for or against torture.  They may have substituted the name Mukasey, but the subject was torture.

The doors opened.  Reporters were let in. A staff person went up and down our line inviting any senate staffer who happened to be in the vicinity to enter.  Many did, some perhaps with special guests in tow.  Finally, it was our turn—the public's turn to enter, to be witness to this public committee meeting.

The first nine in the long line were allowed to enter, including four of us who were survivors.   Then abruptly all was stopped.  More survivors were in line but they and all the rest were told the room was "absolutely filled."  No one else might enter.  Sorry.  They were invited to go to the TV room where they might watch the proceedings.  One of the survivors replied, "I didn't come here to watch TV." And so, many remained in line, remained to see twenty-three more  "special" persons admitted to the absolutely filled room.   

I was one of the lucky ones, or so, some might say.  Although others might think it strange, I brought a companion into that room.  I brought faith, a faith that finally for the first time since the Bush administration began torturing, Congress would say, "No more."  We four survivors, witnesses-to-be in a struggle over torture prayed for a miracle.  Specter, Graham, Schumer, Feinstein, surely they understood torture. Surely they would not vote for it.  But of course, they did.

No miracle happened there. Faith is a fragile thing, easily torn much like the fingernails torturers tear from a young child. All hope that for once, Congress would stand against torture ended in the ayes and nays—some barely audible, some strong and proud.  Republicans, one after another "aye."  Democrats, Leahy, "nay." Kennedy, "nay," Biden, "nay," Feinstein, "aye," Schumer, "aye."   The deed is done.   No matter how they try to mask it, torture wins, 11-8.

With each "aye," my thoughts turned to Nasim, a former law student from Ethiopia.   With each "aye," it was as if I were witness to the forcing of her head into feces-filled water—every gasping breath she took.   The final count …11-8.  Mukasey, the man who cannot say whether waterboarding is torture, who does not even know what it is, if he is to be believed, is in line to become the next U.S. attorney general.  Those who voted for torture have recommended his nomination to the full Senate. 

Did those who cast a vote for Mukasey give any thought to what their actions mean to torture survivors—to those of us who live with the remnants of our torture day after day?  We do not have the luxury of trading our torture for some political advantage.  Those who voted for torture will go unconcerned to their dinners and cocktail parties, while we go home to our nightmares. 

By Dianna Ortiz

Subjects: Congress | Justice Department | Survivor's Voices

Today's Washington Post includes a letter to the editor I wrote entitled 'What Congress Should Do Next About Torture.' The letter was written in response to this editorial.

An excerpt:

The problem is not that the Senate has not banned torture. The problem is that President Bush, aided by a Justice Department run by torture apologists, violates those bans.

...

Several laws and treaties already declare torture illegal, but another law prevents prosecution for these crimes against humanity. If Congress is to restore this country’s honor and guide us away from the torture chambers, Congress needs to repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

Subjects: Congress | Justice Department | Legislation

Today all ten Democrats on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, but disgustingly none of the nine Republicans, signed a letter to Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey demanding that he clearly state if he believes waterboarding is illegal. The letter cited numerous sources, including the Military and State Department, stating that waterboarding is, and always has been, a barbaric form of torture.

The only clarification Mukasey gave during his confirmation hearing was to say that "if it amounts to torture, it is not constitutional." And that is probably all he will say. Mukasey was clear about why he won’t clarify his stance on the legality of waterboarding or other forms of torture, such as mock execution and sexual humiliation.

There are people who are using coercive techniques and who are being authorized to use coercive techniques.

Coercive techniques are torture. The people who are using torture are CIA officers and those authorizing torture include the President, Vice President and lawyers in the Justice Department Mukasey hopes to lead.

People in the US government are committing and authorizing torture, terrible crimes against humanity, and Mukasey does not want them to go to jail. In his own words, labeling waterboarding as torture “is going to put their careers or freedom at risk.”

The Military Commissions Act of 2006, one of the last acts of the Republican congress, is what created the insane legal framework where torture can not be prosecuted unless the executive branch labels it torture. Mukasey understands this well; to label what is happening as torture would destroy the legal immunity that the Military Commissions Act created.

Stopping Mukasey’s confirmation is important, and let’s hope the Democrats finally take a stand. But repealing the Miltary Commissions Act is the only way to end the culture of torture and impunity.

Subjects: Immunity | Justice Department