WHEN POLITICS TRUMPS INTEGRITY
By Jacob Victor
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9 Nov 07
During Michael B. Mukasey’s 18 years as a federal judge, his legal
decisions were characterized by a nuanced, responsible approach to
the law. He was tough on white-collar crime and terrorism, yet still
demonstrated empathy for new immigrants and minors. Perhaps Judge
Mukasey’s strong sense of ethical resolve stems from his Judaism and
perhaps not, but either way, many American Jews were proud when he
was nominated for the post of United States Attorney General. After
the corruption that characterized the reign of Alberto Gonzales, Judge
Mukasey seemed like the ideal candidate to restore the reputation of
the Justice Department.
Therefore, it was especially disheartening when Judge Mukasey refused
to explicitly declare the form of torture known as waterboarding as
illegal, after being repeatedly asked to do so during his confirmation
hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee over the last few weeks.
Waterboarding involves simulating the feeling of drowning by holding
a person on an incline, covering his face with a rag, and dousing
his head with water. Almost all experts and many politicians at both
ends of the political spectrum agree that the practice is a form of
torture, which would make it illegal under the U.N. Convention Against
Torture, to which the United States is a signatory. Furthermore, the
United States has prosecuted for waterboarding in the past. In 1947,
a Japanese military officer was sent to jail for 15 years for using
the practice on a U.S. civilian.
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Judge Mukasey surely knows these things; he was even willing to
describe the practice as "repugnant." Why, then, would a person of
his ethical conviction refuse to unequivocally condemn waterboarding
and declare it illegal?
The answer is politics. According to some legal experts, if Judge
Mukasey had explicitly denounced waterboarding during his confirmation
hearings, he would have paved the way for criminal prosecution of
U.S. soldiers and intelligence agents, not to mention higher-ups in
the Bush administration, who have used or condoned the practice in
recent years.
Mukasey seems to have recognized this sticky situation. Sadly, he
seems willing to compromise ethical values in order to protect his
new political associates.
Judge Mukasey is apparently the latest victim of the malaise currently
afflicting American Jewish leadership. While Jewish leaders have
often been known for their moral fortitude, many of today’s Jewish
public figures seem all too willing to compromise their values for
the sake of political maneuvering. Jewish moral resolve has been
replaced by expediency.
Another recent casualty of this sad state of affairs is Abe Foxman, the
director of the Anti-Defamation League, who has long been a tireless
opponent of anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of bigotry. Many
were shocked when Foxman and the ADL recently opposed congressional
legislation condemning the Armenian genocide, out of fear of alienating
Turkey, which is one of Israel’s most important allies. While Foxman
acknowledged that the massacre of as many as 1.5 million Armenians by
Turkey between 1915 and 1923 was "tantamount to genocide," he still
refused to support the legislation.
Turkey’s relationship with Israel is indeed valuable, but on the
subject of genocide there should be no room for equivocation,
particularly from an organization claiming to represent Jewish values.
All this is not to say that American Jewish public figures should
embrace blind idealism irrespective of the political consequences. On
the contrary, responsible political leadership requires carefully
considered compromise.
But when political expediency trumps fundamental moral principles, or
turns on its head undisputed historical events, the integrity of Jewish
moral leadership begins to erode. The American Jewish community has
long been known – with exceptions, of course – for producing leaders
who could be counted on to defend their moral convictions to the very
end. Leaders like Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, who paved
the way for labor reform in America, and Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel,
who devoted himself to the civil rights movement, understood that
the preservation of moral principles was an essential component of
the struggle for justice and equality.
Michael Mukasey and Abe Foxman are both good people; their records
attest to that. But if they and other American Jewish public figures
do not re-embrace a commitment to maintaining moral integrity, even
at the expense of obtaining short-term political advantages, they
risk undermining everything that Jewish leaders have long stood for.
Jacob Victor is a third-year student at Harvard College. He is the
managing editor of New Society: The Harvard College Middle East
Journal, and a member of the editorial board of the Harvard Crimson.