Attorney General Michael Mukasey has refused again to say whether waterboarding is a form of torture or illegal. Mukasey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday for the first time since the Democratic-led Senate confirmed his nomination. Under questioning from Senator Ted Kennedy, Mukasey admitted waterboarding would feel like torture if it was done to him, but he refused to say whether it would be illegal for a foreign country to waterboard a US citizen.

Sen. Edward Kennedy: “So let me ask you this: would waterboarding be torture if it was done to you?”

US Attorney General Michael Mukasey: “I would feel that it was.”

Mukasey later said the cruelty of torture must be balanced “against the information you might get.” He was criticized by Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy.

Sen. Patrick Leahy: “Never mind that waterboarding has been recognized as torture for the last 500 years! Never mind that President Teddy Roosevelt properly prosecuted American soldiers for this more than a hundred years ago! Never mind that we prosecuted Japanese soldiers for waterboarding Americans during World War II! Never mind that this is the practice of repressive regimes around the world! That is not America.”