![]() "How do we deal in an appropriate way with someone we know is a danger to this country, yet be true to our values?" "These are not Republican and Democratic issues," Holder said. "We are going to have to come up with American solutions" to the thorny issues surrounding how to fairly treat and try suspected terrorists, he said, while bearing in mind that one of the battlefields in the war on terrorism is for the hearts and minds of people in the Islamist world. "I want to assure you, the American people, and the world: Whatever system we use will be consistent with our values," he said, including the right to due process. And he reiterated his support for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and said that the process of trying detainees by military commission would either be abandoned in favor of using military or civilian courts or "substantially revamped" to reflect U.S. Holder also stated his objection to "rendition," the practice of handing over detainees to countries where they could be subjected to mistreatment or torture. "The premise that underlies that, I'm not willing to accept. "It's hard for me to answer your hypothetical without accepting your premise," Holder said. What if the use of waterboarding would help you save tens of thousands of people, Cornyn asked. "People will say almost anything to avoid torture," Holder said. Holder said that interrogators have other weapons in their arsenals, and he cast doubt on whether a technique like waterboarding actually produces reliable results. John Cornyn of Texas over the issue, Holder reiterated his opposition to the technique, even if questioning a suspect who could possess information about an impending attack - what Cornyn characterized as a "ticking time bomb" situation. In an intense back-and-forth with Republican Sen. Under questioning, Holder said he would classify "waterboarding" as torture and move to bar the controversial interrogation practice, during which detainees are subjected to simulated drowning. ![]() ![]() He made clear that if confirmed, he would work quickly to remake the embattled and demoralized Justice Department and jettison practices of his Bush administration predecessors. Eric Holder, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for attorney general, was questioned sharply Thursday about his role in President Clinton's controversial last-minute pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich and his push for clemency for 16 radical Puerto Rican nationalists.īut during his daylong hearing before the Senate's Judiciary Committee, Holder, a former judge who served as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, remained largely unflappable. ![]()
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