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 From the Mind That Brought You TorturePosted on Mar 20, 2007By Marie Cocco WASHINGTON—Everything we needed to know about Alberto Gonzales we learned before Feb. 3, 2005. That’s the day the Senate, which spent more time in gauzy celebration of Gonzales’ Hispanic heritage than it did examining his legal prowess, voted to confirm him as attorney general. We knew Gonzales’ chief qualification to be the nation’s top law enforcement official was that he had been—to use a phrase that apparently carries great weight inside the current Justice Department—“a loyal Bushie.” We knew this because loyalty to George W. Bush was really the only credential Gonzales’ public record offered. We knew that while Gonzales was counsel to then-Texas Gov. Bush, the future attorney general managed to find no death row inmate worthy of clemency—no matter how severe his mental retardation or how incompetently the defendant was represented at trial. The Gonzales memos that would reach the governor’s desk before he proceeded to put a convict to death were cursory, at times only three pages in length. Gonzales remained characteristically void of independent thought after he moved to the White House. There he would become, in effect, the lawyer who approved torture. The Gonzales seal of approval resolved the dispute between the right-wing legal warriors in the Justice Department and elsewhere in the administration who argued that the Geneva Conventions on the humane treatment of wartime detainees were antiquated relics lacking in relevance to the “war on terror.” This faction was in conflict with Colin Powell’s State Department and a good number of senior Pentagon lawyers, who warned that abandonment of international law would lead the United States down a trail of shame. Gonzales sided with those who cleared the way for torture. He even argued that lifting the Geneva Conventions “substantially reduces the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act.” Really. He stated that the president could unilaterally waive requirements of international law that had been in place for decades, and so provide absolution in advance for those who might commit war crimes. The torture memos were the focus of Gonzales’ Senate confirmation hearing, a marathon of extraordinary obfuscation even in a chamber well accustomed to it. When asked if any other world leader could legitimately torture U.S. citizens, Gonzales testified he didn’t know what law they would be bound by. The law, of course, is the Geneva Conventions. Despite a paper trail that tied Gonzales to the legal justifications for the most egregious abuses the Bush administration has committed in pursuing its anti-terrorism goals, he was confirmed 60-36. Most Democrats took a stand against a discredited nominee. Republicans stood with him, unanimous in their acquiescence to the Bush White House. They vouched for Gonzales by recounting his life story, an up-by-the-bootstraps tale of a dirt-poor immigrant who rose to Harvard Law School and beyond. “He has lived the American dream!” then-Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee declared. Since then, Gonzales has been predictably compliant when confronted with all manner of administration affronts to the law. The secret, warrantless surveillance of Americans’ phone calls and e-mails comes first to mind. He has stunned even Republicans with his bizarre ignorance of the Constitution—as he did when he testified in January that the right of habeas corpus, which protects Americans from being seized and held without being able to contest their confinement in court, doesn’t exist. “There is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution,” Gonzales declared. To which Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania stammered, “Wait a minute! Wait a minute!” If the ham-handed firing of U.S. attorneys finally results in Gonzales’ departure, it will be as though his record of incompetent obedience to the White House was just fine, until now. It wasn’t. Nor was the Senate’s ardor for putting him in the nation’s top law enforcement job despite his controversial history. The Gonzales imbroglio is another reminder of this president’s propensity to appoint hacks to high public office so long as they pass his loyalty litmus test. We’ve known this for years, too—heck-of-a-job Michael Brown at FEMA is merely the most famous. So it’s doubtful the White House will learn from this. The curve is too steep, the stubbornness too deep. It’s really the Senate that shirked its duty when it confirmed Gonzales. The scandal of this attorney general’s tenure is as much theirs as it is his. Marie Cocco’s e-mail address is mariecocco@washpost.com. © 2007, Washington Post Writers Group Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig. Add Your Comment
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By Blue Girl, Red State, March 24, 2007 at 12:58 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Can’t we waterboard him in the well of one of the chambers? After all, he is the one who says it’s not torture.
Report thisBy Wayne Smyer, March 22, 2007 at 4:35 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Can Alberto “Fredo” Gonzalez be impeached???
Report thisOr maybe just the “Kiss Of Death” . Chimp-Boy likes to hug and kiss other guys!
By Joe, March 22, 2007 at 2:03 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
So, who was running the Senate when Gonzo was confirmed? Bush! Who was responsible for Gonzales’career? Bush! Who is in charge of the Senate now? Not Bush for sure! Ain’t it fun watching the pres dealing with a non-compliant congress? Must drive him crazy!
Report thisBy CSavage, March 21, 2007 at 4:39 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Puh-leeze,
Report thisevery new president has appointed a whole new crop of US Attornies, not just Clinton, but Reagan, Bush 1 and Bush 2. The current crop was fired mid-term, which is highly unusual, because they were investigating Republicans, and thus violating Reagan’s first law-“thou shalt not speak ill of fellow Republicans”
Too bad our conservative trolls don’t bother to learn history or the facts beyond the 30 second sound-bite
By menot, March 21, 2007 at 4:07 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Poor “truth be told.” Be endorsing Bernard’s comment, which is simply regurgitating a red herring republican talking point, you too show that you do not have a clue what is at issue here and how high the stakes potentially are.
Report thisBy jojo, March 21, 2007 at 3:39 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Belifontia last week stated that Condo Rice and Collin Powel were just house slaves at the Whitehouse. I like to add Gonezoolotus as another .
Report thisJust a reminder—Gonezo was Bush’s private lawyer and get him off many drunken traffic charges and some talk also about him raping that young black girl. Sad part after filing rape charges on the pervert, she was found dead. Case closed.
By LG, March 21, 2007 at 7:07 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
There is a simple solution.
Report thisUse the very same interrogation techniques that he claimed WERE NOT TORTURE on him before the congressional committees. perhaps that could lead to the truth, in more ways than one.
By Truth be told, March 20, 2007 at 1:04 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
There was no scandal here! As Bernard stated in his comment, Clinton fired All 93 attornies! Sometimes people are fired because they are not doing their job. Imagine that!
I am tired of the smear campaigns. I’m tired of the backbiting and belittling. I do not see even one Presidential canidate I would vote for in 2008. Focus on what really matters NOW!
Report thisBy SamSnedegar, March 20, 2007 at 12:18 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Let me see: would you rather have Ashcroft or Gonzalez?
The point is that a Democrat administration represents the people of America as best it can, where the Republicans always represent only the Republican people of the USA, and most particularly the rich ones who donate large sums of money for the election of Republicans. When political appointees do not adhere to this dictum, they get fired.
I don’t say that ALL Republicans adhere to the party line, but I know that ones who do not, won’t stay long, and any who make noise about being for the PEOPLE will be the first to go. What is missed by all the media, present company included is the simple fact that NO Republican administration or Congress has done one single thing to benefit ordinary people; quite the contrary, everything they do is for the benefit of big business which is bent on screwing the ordinary people and making vast profits out of its political connections, which it pays for with real money.
The one thing the power behind moron Bush wants hidden is any information coming from REAL terrorists who might be captured somewhere in the process of hatching or trying to perpetrate a plot.
Gonzales is just one more layer of disinformation coming out of people who don’t even know who is giving the orders, and that includes the moron in the White House. Who would you choose, Gonzalez or O.J. Simpson? There isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between them; both are congenital liars who somehow made it to the top of their profession because intelligence wasn’t required in their work effort or product. They are both incapable of moral behavior because neither has the insight or the desire to think about virtue versus evil, or moral versus amoral behavior.
Essentially they are children who never grew out of their selfish and purely emotional responses to their environments. They both laugh a lot because they truly don’t know what is and isn’t funny. Both may have good memory faculties, but memory doesn’t comprise intelligence and doesn’t promote logic. Conscience does not exist in either of them.
Al, you’re doing a heck of a job.
Report thisBy Quy Tran, March 20, 2007 at 12:11 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
The Hispanic heritage has been thrown away into
the toilet because of Alberto Gonzales, who only knows how to bow down before his master.
A dog welcomes his master by waving its tail, while AG pleases his boss by using his tongue !
Report thisBy menot, March 20, 2007 at 12:09 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Bernard, next time you opine on a topic do yourself a favor and research it first. -
Report thisPersonally, I consider Gonzales perhaps the greatest hit of this administration. I remember the relief I felt when Ashcroft (he who lost to a dead man in the 2000 MO senate race) was gone because it seemed virtually impossible to find someone worse . . .
By John Lowell, March 20, 2007 at 9:11 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Like Glenn Greenwald, Marie Cocco reads as though her salary is being paid by the DNC. Republicans bad; Democrats good.
There have been more than one opportunity to deal effectively with the reality of our government’s torture practices, the Gonzales confirmation was but one of them. Another was the passage of the excreble MCA, passed as was the Gonzales nomination with not inconsiderable Democratic support. While you’re waiting for the Congress to extricate us from the mess in Iraq, you might not expect too much from them when it comes to torture either. I would guess that AIPAC wouldn’t be all that prepared to cede an AG that clears the way for torture and we listen to our master’s voice, eh?
John Lowell
Report thisBy dan, March 20, 2007 at 8:27 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
It’s so odd that he should be in trouble over the firing of the attorneys, when his real wrongs are far worse than that. He should be in jail, along with all the other criminals in this twisted administration.
Report thisBy Steve Hammons, March 20, 2007 at 5:20 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Have war crimes been committed by members of the Bush-Cheney administration? This question has been asked by many, including military law and other legal experts.
Although terrible things occurred on the U.S. side during the Vietnam War, U.S. officials at the highest levels did not publicly promote and justify torture.
This is one of the differences between the Vietnam War and the Iraq War. There are other differences as well as many similarities. The article below may be of interest:
‘Nam War, ‘Raq War: Similarities, Differences
By Steve Hammons
Columnist, PopulistAmerica.com
Populist Party of America
March 19, 2007
http://www.populistamerica.com/nam_war_raq_war
Report thisBy Bernard, March 20, 2007 at 4:02 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Where were you when a friend of your fired 93
Report thisAttorney and hired all his Arkansas cronies,Go Figure