In a letter to the editors published in the New York Times October 20, Mitchell Turker of Portland, Oregon clearly explains the doublespeak of Michael B. Mukasey, the nominee for attorney general:

"The nominee for attorney general acknowledges that torture is illegal under national and international law.  He will not say however, what is not torture.  This allows him to preserve the right to sanction torture by defining it as not torture."

Another letter to the editors from Bronx resident George Gordon that also appeared on October 20 in the New York Times stated:

"How can the United States hope to regain its position as a respected world leader on the great issues of human rights if its chief law enforcement officer cannot even bring himself to acknowledge the undeniable verity that waterboarding constitutes torture, applying any conceivable definition of that term?"