Waterboarding is no joke

Conservative radio host Michael Reagan, the adopted son of the late President Ronald Reagan, should have known better. Appearing on MSNBC's "Live with Dan Abrams," he scoffed at South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's principled stand against torture.

Mr. Reagan was commenting on the senator's questioning of former federal Judge Michael B. Mukasey, the nominee to replace Alberto Gonzales as attorney general. This state's senior senator said he was surprised when Judge Mukasey refused to say explicitly whether an interrogation technique known as waterboarding, which simulates drowning, is lawful. Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," Sen. Graham said: "I am convinced as an individual senator, as a military lawyer for 25 years, that waterboarding ... does violate the Geneva Convention, does violate our war crimes statute, and is clearly illegal."

Mr. Reagan said of Sen. Graham and other senators who believe waterboarding is against the law: "We're only talking about some Republicans. We're talking about Lindsey Graham and John McCain. We went through this two years ago when Lindsey Graham was doing every television show on the planet about torture. They passed a piece of legislation ... but Lindsey Graham, who's tied to John McCain, keeps on bringing up the very same issue — the only two that are really after it. There are a lot of people who believe, in fact, Lindsey Graham should be the one waterboarded."

Surely Michael Reagan hasn't forgotten that it was his father who called on the Senate to ratify the 1988 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In his message to the Senate, President Reagan wrote:

"The United States participated actively and effectively in the negotiation of the Convention. It marks a significant step in the development during this century of international measures against torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment. Ratification of the Convention by the United States will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today."

Michael Reagan may disagree with Sen. Graham, but even if he thinks that waterboarding is not torture, it is not funny to suggest that a senator who does should be subjected to it.