Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. Senate panel cleared Michael B. Mukasey's nomination to be President George W. Bush's third attorney general, setting the stage for confirmation by the full Senate in what probably will be a sharply divided vote.

Two Democrats joined all nine Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to approve Mukasey's nomination to head the Justice Department. Eight other Democrats on the panel, including Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont, opposed confirmation because the retired federal judge refused to say whether waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning, amounts to illegal torture.

``If Judge Mukasey won't say the simple truth, that this barbaric practice is torture, how can we count on him to stand up to the White House on other issues?'' said Wisconsin Democrat Russell Feingold.

On Nov. 1, Bush defended Mukasey, saying that announcing a legal opinion on waterboarding would ``give the terrorists a window into which techniques we may use and which ones we may not use'' and could put U.S. intelligence agents in ``legal jeopardy.'' Today, the White House expressed appreciation for the committee vote and said Mukasey has ``demonstrated that he will be an exceptional attorney general.''

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada predicted a ``really heavy vote against'' Mukasey. The Senate will vote on Mukasey before starting a two-week recess on Nov. 16, Reid said. Democrats control the Senate 51-49.

Evasive Answers

Reid said he will oppose Mukasey for being ``so evasive'' about whether an interrogation tactic the U.S. has prosecuted as a war crime is illegal torture.

Bush nominated Mukasey, 66, to succeed Alberto Gonzales, who left office in September following a nine-month investigation into allegations he politicized the Justice Department.

Democrats accused Gonzales, a former White House counsel, of putting political loyalty to Bush ahead of providing independent legal advice to the president on such issues as torture, detention and surveillance of suspected terrorists without a court warrant.

``Alberto Gonzales owed his political career and his legal career to a good extent to President Bush. Judge Mukasey does not,'' said Dianne Feinstein of California, one of the Democrats who voted to confirm him. ``Mukasey in my view is going to be a very different attorney general.''

`Repugnant' Practice

Mukasey told the panel that waterboarding is ``repugnant,'' but said he couldn't give a legal opinion without studying the issue. He vowed to review waterboarding and the legal basis for any harsh interrogation technique once he became attorney general.

Mukasey's confirmation is needed because the Justice Department became ``dysfunctional'' during this year's controversy over the firing of nine federal prosecutors, said Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the panel's ranking Republican.

Before the waterboarding controversy erupted, ``Mukasey was deemed to be an ideal candidate for the next attorney general,'' Specter said. His qualifications made it ``almost seem as if he came out of central casting.''

Specter said Mukasey assured him in a telephone call that if Congress votes to outlaw waterboarding, ``Judge Mukasey said he would back that up'' by advising the president he couldn't supersede that law. That decision should be made by Congress and lawmakers should pass such legislation, Specter said.

Outsourcing the Job

Democrats who opposed Mukasey said that pledge was an evasion of responsibility. ``Mukasey is trying to outsource his job to the Congress,'' said Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy.

Reid and other Democrats said they had no plans to push such legislation, saying the practice is already illegal.

``If we ban waterboarding, do we next have to ban thumb screws?'' Reid said.

Support by Feinstein and Charles E. Schumer of New York ensured Mukasey's nomination would get to the full Senate.

Schumer, who had first recommended Mukasey to Bush as a possible nominee, noted that virtually no senator doubted Mukasey's ability to lead the Justice Department. New leadership is needed because the agency ```has been run into the ground by the Bush administration.''

Because Bush threatened not to nominate someone else if Mukasey were rejected, ``all the work we have done to pressure Attorney General Gonzales to resign would be undone in a moment,'' Schumer said.

Democrats expressed disappointment over their inability to support Mukasey. ``No one is more eager to restore strong leadership and independence to the Department of Justice,'' Leahy said. ``I wish that I could support Judge Mukasey's nomination. But this is an administration that has been acting outside the law.''

Waterboarding became an issue following the disclosure in news reports that the Central Intelligence Agency used the tactic three times to question al-Qaeda operatives after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Bush administration has refused to say whether it ever used waterboarding in questioning suspected terrorists.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Rowley in Washington at jarowley@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 6, 2007 16:36 EST