Mukasey likely to be new attorney general

US:The US Senate judiciary committee has approved the nomination of Michael Mukasey as US attorney general, making his confirmation by the Senate all but certain despite Democratic misgivings about his views on torture.

Most Democrats on the committee opposed Mr Mukasey, who told senators that he could not say if "waterboarding" - a form of simulated drowning that the CIA has used in interrogations - was illegal.

However, two Democrats - New York's Chuck Schumer and California's Dianne Feinstein - joined all nine Republicans on the committee to vote in favour of the former judge.

Committee chairman Patrick Leahy yesterday renewed his criticism of Mr Mukasey's answers to questions about coercive interrogation techniques.

"The president says that we do not torture. But then his lawyers redefine torture, redefine it down, in secret memos, in fundamental conflict with American values and law," Mr Leahy said.

"Some have sought to find comfort in Judge Mukasey's personal assurance that he would enforce a future, a new law against waterboarding if this Congress were to pass one. Unsaid, of course, is the fact that any such prohibition would have to be enacted over the veto of the president."

Mr Schumer defended his vote in the New York Timesyesterday, pointing to Mr Mukasey's promise to resign if he believed the president was violating the law. "For the Senate to make a bold declaration about torture and waterboarding by rejecting him is appealing. But if we block Judge Mukasey's nomination and then learn in six months that waterboarding has continued unabated, that victory will seem much less valuable," he wrote.

The White House has refused to say if waterboarding is among the interrogation techniques approved for use by the CIA in questioning terrorist suspects.

The technique involves strapping a prisoner to a board with his head at a lower level than his feet, and pouring a continuous stream of water over his face to enforce the inhalation of water.