Feingold keeps pressure on Mukasey over CIA torture

Sen. Russ Feingold is not letting up on Michael Mukasey.

Unhappy with Mukasey's unwillingness to provide his views on the legality of CIA interrogation techniques, which he refused to do during his Senate confirmation hearings. Feingold, D-WI, today wrote the new U.S. Attorney General, pressing him to provide his views on such tactics as waterboarding.

During his confirmation hearings, Mukasey said he hadn't been briefed on the techniques. Feingold wrote him today, "Now that you have been sworn in as our nation’s Attorney General and presumably have been briefed on the program, I urge you to provide your views on its legality to Congress at the earliest possible date."

Feingold made clear his own opposition to torture in his letter: "I oppose any interrogation techniques not authorized by the Army Field Manual, as do majorities of the Senate and House intelligence Committees. I do not believe that their use is legally or morally defensible or that it makes our nation safer. It is my hope that, under your leadership, the Department of Justice will take a fresh look at the CIA's program, and that you will urge the President not to veto legislation that would end the use of so-called "alternative interrogation techniques."

Not mentioned in Feingold's letter was the developing battle over last week's revelation that the CIA destroyed some interrogation tapes. At this morning's press briefing, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino refused to answer questions about the tapes, on the advice of lawyers.