Spencer Ackerman October 23, 2007, 3:19 PM

In response to Michael Mukasey’s professed ignorance as to what waterboarding is, all eight Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have sent Mukasey a detailed primer on the centuries-old torture technique. It includes some surprising historical details: did you know, for instance, that during the occupation of Japan, the U.S. prosecuted Japanese soldiers who waterboarded U.S. POWs?

You can read the letter here. But we thought we should do our part to educate Mukasey as well. So here’s a waterboarding reenactment, courtesy of Keith Olbermann:

The Senators write, “Please respond to the following question: Is the use of waterboarding, or inducing the misperception of drowning, as an interrogation technique illegal under U.S. law, including treaty obligations?” During the hearing, Mukasey would only reply: “If it amounts to torture, then it is not Constitutional.”

Michael Mukasey, Torture