Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey has repeatedly refused to state whether or not waterboarding is illegal. In a legal dodge, Mukasey called the torture technique “hypothetical” and said that he would need the “actual facts and circumstances” to strike a “legal opinion.”

But in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), four retired Judge Advocates General (JAGs) — the judicial arm of the U.S. military — sharply criticize Judge Mukasey’s legal hedging. They unequivocally state that waterboarding is torture. From their letter:

In the course of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s consideration of President Bush’s nominee for the post of Attorney General, there has been much discussion, but little clarity, about the legality of “waterboarding” under United States and international law. We write because this issue above all demands clarity: Waterboarding is inhumane, it is torture, and it is illegal. [...]

This is a critically important issue – but it is not, and never has been, a complex issue, and even to suggest otherwise does a terrible disservice to this nation. [...]

In this instance, the relevant rule – the law – has long been clear: Waterboarding detainees amounts to illegal torture in all circumstances. To suggest otherwise – or even to give credence to such a suggestion – represents both an affront to the law and to the core values of our nation.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a member of the JAG Corp. in the U.S. Air Force, also once condemned waterboarding as “illegal.” “I don’t think you have to have a lot of knowledge about the law to understand this technique violates” the Geneva Convention and other statutes, said Graham.

Yet Graham has now sold out his principles in return for campaign assistance from President Bush. The South Carolina senator, who recently announced his support for Mukasey, was rewarded with an appearance by the President at a “high-roller fundraiser” kicking off his ’08 re-election campaign. Bush yesterday said that he has “no better ally than Lindsey Graham” in pushing forward his nominees through the Senate.

View the JAGs’ full letter HERE.

Last night, ABC World News reported that in 2004 then-acting assistant attorney general Daniel Levin was so concerned about the administration’s use of waterboarding that he went to a military base near Washington and underwent the procedure himself.

Levin took over former Office of Legal Counsel Jack Goldsmith’s job when he resigned and immediately began reassessing the administration’s interrogation techniques. Levin released a new memo in Dec. 2004 that replaced the 2002 Bybee memo. Levin’s memo declared that “Torture is abhorrent” but also cautioned in a footnote that his memo was not declaring the administration’s previous opinions illegal. “The White House, with Alberto Gonzales as the White House counsel, insisted that this footnote be included in the memo.”

ABC reported that after Levin personally experienced waterboarding, he told the White House that it could be considered torture:

After the experience, Levin told White House officials that even though he knew he wouldn’t die, he found the experience terrifying and thought that it clearly simulated drowning.

Levin, who refused to comment for this story, concluded waterboarding could be illegal torture unless performed in a highly limited way and with close supervision. And, sources told ABC News, he believed the Bush Administration had failed to offer clear guidelines for its use.

Levin was working on a second memo that would have imposed tighter controls on the use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding. While working on that memo, ABC reported “Levin was forced out of the Justice Department when Alberto Gonzales became Attorney General.” Watch it:

ABC’s Jan Crawford Greenburg reported, “Sources said Levin was seen as too independent by the Bush administration — not someone who could be counted on to endorse White House policies.”

The Swamp’s Mark Silva writes, “Perhaps Mukasey should take the water-board for a test-ride, too.”