Update #1:
According to the Washington Post (buried as the last paragraph in the article), The CIA used the technique on three prisoners after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but has since ceased the practice, officials have said.
Three questions: 1) Which officials said this? 2) If officials are admitting three cases of waterboarding, are they hiding more? I would assume that the 3 cases involved suspected terrorists that most Americans would consider as deserving, which is why the officials would release this information; 3) has this been previously announced and I just missed it?
All the more reason to vote against Mukasey.
Senator Leahy has announced that he will vote no on the Michael Mukasey nomination when the SJC meets next Tuesday. His vote is meaningless if he is not working to corral Senator Schumer and Senator Feinstein into the Vote No camp. If either one of these senators flip to yes on Mukasey, then his vote will mean nothing, as Mukasey will have made it out of Comittee and onto the floor of the Senate, which will vote to confirm him.
More on the flip.
Other methods for stopping Mukasey include the fiibuster and the hold. The filibuster has almost no chance at succeeding, as there are enough Bush Dog Democrats that will vote for cloture and give the Republicans the 60 votes needed to end debate.
The hold will also fail, as Senator Reid, evident by actions of the past week, has shown no willingness in honoring the traditional Senate manuever.
Therefore, all Democrats on the SJC must work in concert to get Senator Schumer and Senator Feinstein to vote no. In the case of Senator Feinstein, she owes Senator Leahy for her recent vote to confirm Leslie Soutwick out of the SJC and onto the floor of the Senate. Senator Leahy should be cashing that chip in big time.
Senator Schumer, on the other hand, is likely to be more of a challenge. According to recent reports, he was the senator who brought up Mukasey's name to Bush, which means that a NO note will be viewed by Bush as a betrayal. If you're wondering, my keyboard is wet with tears as I ponder Mr. Bush's hurt feelings. But Senator Schumer may indeed fear the outcome of a flipped vote, which means that serious pressure must be applied by his fellow Democrats. This pressure is called good ol' backroom dealing. The Democrats need to bring out all the stops on this one. Find Schumers pet project and triple the funding. Name a building after him. Set up a college trust fund for homeless puppies. Anything. As long as its legal.