In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said crucifixion cannot be classified as form of torture under the current statutory definition.
"I can't see how driving nails through the palms and ankles of a suspected terrorist could cause pain equivalent in intensity to organ failure,'" he said, "since no major organs are located in the palms and ankles."
Senator Patrick Leahy asked the Attorney General if current law prohibited upside-down crucifixion, as inflicted on St. Peter in 64 AD.
"There are some circumstances where current law would appear clearly to prohibit the use of crucifixion. Other circumstances would present a far closer question," Mukasey said.
Mr. Mukasey then refused to answer further questions about the shape and orientation of crosses actually employed by the CIA, "because doing so could reveal too many "limits and contours" about the highly classified interrogation program to terrorists or other adversaries."
But Senator Ted Kennedy apparently caught Mukasey off guard with a more personal question. "Let me ask you this, would crucifixion be torture if it was done to you?"
"I would feel that it was," Mukasey replied.
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