Gonzales Gone for Wrong Reasons
The great shame of it all is that Alberto Gonzales was confirmed as Attorney General despite it being widely known that he had played a central role in attempting to authorize the use of torture on prisoners in US custody. He had tossed aside the US Constitution's own prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment" (such a wimpy bleeding-heart liberal document). It is an index of the corruption of the Republican Party, which then controlled Congress, that they made this man attorney general in the first place.
The great shame of it all is that Gonzales was hounded out of office not because he authorized torture and assaulted the basic principles of the US constitution, but because he fired US attorneys for partisan pro-Republican reasons. Torture people all you like, is the message he sent, but if you're if you are fair to the opposing party, you are fired.
He tossed aside the Geneva Conventions, which were crafted to prevent any reemergence of Nazism in the post-war period. While Gonzales is not a Nazi, if you get rid of an anti-Nazi legal instrument you are in effect aiding and abetting potential fascism.
MSNBC wrote at the height of the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, which Gonzales had implicitly encouraged:
By Jan. 25, 2002, according to a memo obtained by NEWSWEEK [pdf], it was clear that Bush had already decided that the Geneva Conventions did not apply at all, either to the Taliban or Al Qaeda. In the memo, which was written to Bush by Gonzales, the White House legal counsel told the president that Powell had "requested that you reconsider that decision." Gonzales then laid out startlingly broad arguments that anticipated any objections to the conduct of U.S. soldiers or CIA interrogators in the future. "As you have said, the war against terrorism is a new kind of war," Gonzales wrote to Bush. "The nature of the new war places a —high premium on other factors, such as the ability to quickly obtain information from captured terrorists and their sponsors in order to avoid further atrocities against American civilians." Gonzales concluded in stark terms: "In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."
The Geneva conventions, to which the United States is a signatory (i.e. it is a treaty with the force of American law) cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand.
The great shame of it all is that Gonzales is being ousted for what amounts to selectively abetting voter fraud.
His role as torturer-in-chief would not have forced him from office.
It is a great shame.
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A canny reader writes: "How appropriate that Gonzales's resignation is effective September 17: September 17 is Constitution Day."
On a related subject at Salon.com: "Did Chertoff lie to Congress about Guantánamo?"
posted by Juan Cole @ 8/28/2007 12:27:00 AM
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26 Comments:
I agree.
The ease with which Gonzales and Bush and the rest have turned the US into a state that tortures is appalling. The veneer of civilization has cracked, indeed, before the horrified gaze of the world.
"The great shame of it all is that Gonzales was hounded out of office... because he fired US attorneys who wanted to investigate both Republican and Democratic voter fraud....
if you're even-handed as between Republicans and Democrats, you are fired."
A bizarre whitewashing indicating either ignoraqnce of the depths of Ganzales' domestic depravity or a willful deciept all too reminiscent of the mainstream medai tip-toeing
around this issue with noinfo phrases such as "political reasons".
Gonzales fired prosecutors for failing to bring fraudulent vote fraud actions against democrat voters.
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/interviews/061
Under the Bush administration the US has become what we once denounced as uncivilized and unAmerican. Like many other Americans I never thought there would be a time that the US government not only openly engaged in torture, but wrote it into law.
It is indeed a shame to all of us. More than a shame.
If memory serves me correctly, that torture memo was written for Gonzales by David Addington, Cheney's assistant, That typifies the man: willing to sign on to anything put in front of him, regardless what it meant. The evil of banality.
Henry
What you say is true, but the attempt to turn the Justice Department into an enforcement arm of the Republican Party is an even more immediate threat to American Democracy. The plan for a "permanent Republican Majority" was very close to treason. And i feel confident that it will be treated as such, in time.
Even-handed pursuit of voter fraud? Did I actually read this here? No rational person disagrees with your point about torture. But, there was no even-handedness in pursuit of Republican and Democratic voter fraud. And, it would be unfortunate if your patently mistaken assertion were now picked up by the right wing machine that loves and thrives on just this kind of inaccuracy, especially if it comes from an administration critic. Please do us all a favor and quit torturing the facts by retracting this falsehood.
I agree that (support for) torture was
his worst deed. But however, I don't
agree that all the reasons for which
he is being "fired" are unimportant.
Mr. Cole,
I think you are somewhat pessimistic. Gonzales was ousted for a variety of reasons - it was incompetence, the sanctioning of torture, crazy views on habeus corpus and others, the attorney scandal of course included. The real shame is that someone like George Bush remains president after all the malignancies associated with Gonzales, his deranged was in Iraq, lack of response to climate change and so on.
Always trenchant. I agree - it's the big crimes that our media just refuses to face and confront. Of all the crimes it's always been the justification of torture and the attacks on the Constitution that have gotten uner my skin.
Not sure about Gonzales being even handed per voter fraud prosecutions. .. First time I've run across that one. Other than that, spot on as usual. Thanks Dr. Cole
While I agree completely that the confirmation of Abu Gonzales was a travesty all its own in view of his central role in gutting the Geneva Conventions, his sabotage of the fundamental role of the Justice Department and the political perversion of the constitution were every bit as adequate a provision for his removal from office. Gonzales and others in the Bush administration may, in fact, face further consequences, if some judge, say in an EU country, decides to indict them in the manner of Pinochet.
Everything you say about Gonzalez and torture is true. However, I do not think he was forced out just becasue of voter fraud--and it certainly was not because he was trying to level the playing field between democrats and republicans as you imply in your piece.
Indeed, what he was trying to do in getting the USAs to pursue selective voter cases against democratic leaning groups was just aas reprehensible. It was this because it corrupted our whole system of federal justice and lead us all to the justifiable suspicion that any federal prosecution was driven first by politics.
I would say that destruction of faith in our justice system is right up their with promoting torture on the repugnancy scale. You should not trivialize it as you appear to do.
Warm regards,
Jim Montgomery
w
That's not exactly right: the issues in the US Attorney firings were that the prosecutors in question were pursuing corruption charges against Republicans (unacceptable!) while refusing to pursue bogus voter-fraud charges against Democratic officials, activists, and voters.
Hi Juan, while I agree with your comments about the total disregard of constitutional issues and torture with respect to Gonzales, I beg to differ with your characterization of the firings of the US attorneys. The strongest charge is that several of these attorneys were fired because the failed to prosecute politically to influence elections. Using the Justice department to influence elections also represents a serious constitutional issue.
Gonzales concluded in stark terms: "In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."
And, from this, he's got clean away.
When, when, when is the USA going to wake up to what's happening to it ?
Sorry my original formulation appears to have been open to misunderstanding. I was trying to say that Gonzales was gotten rid of for using the US attorneys in a partisan way that did not treat Democrats fairly. I was saying that sinning against the presumed level playing ground between the two parties (by using the legal bureaucracy to be unfair to Democrats) was considered more serious than authorizing torture.
Gonzales was always no more than an enabling small-fry, and was likely given the heave-ho because of the traction being gained by the Impeachmnet bill aimed at him and the press coverage such an investigation would bring. The target is now his superiors; Cheney first, then Bush. If both Congress and the media do the job they are supposed to perform in a functioning republic, then we could finally be rid of both by year-end.
As for the Justice Department, there's so much corruption and filth existing within it, and also within too many other executive agencies, that it would take a real law-and-order type AG years to clean-up. And if s/he is a real law-and-order type, s/he would immediately have to confront both Cheney and Bush, for they are overt violators of a host of laws.
So will the Democrats cave again and allow Bush his choice of replacement for Gonzales, or will they insist on someone capable of starting the job described above?
I agree -- it's one of our country's great shames that we couldn't get rid of him just for his actions on enabling torture.
Even so, I'll take the victories where we can get them. The bad guys work hard to avoid getting burned for the obvious stuff, but it's the comparatively smaller things that they are careless about.
There was a massive PR campaign (and a whole lot of strongarming of Congressmen) to muddy the waters around the torture issue. They failed to do the same for their politicizing of nonpartisan government positions. It's kind of like nabbing Al Capone on tax evasion -- not really the point, but it got the job done.
What does anyone suppose the odds are of having Gonzales and others of his ilk extradited to The Netherlands for war crimes prosecution? It seems quite clear that abundant evidence exists to carry out a prosecution at this time. And that is even before a full-scale investigation is carried out. This would likely uncover even greater evidence of depravity on the part of the Republican Party. Do such prosecutions require the consent of the country from which the defendants originate? I'm no legal expert, but it seems pretty clear that even a minor-league prosecutor would be able to earn a conviction without too much problem. It would appear the biggest obstacle to this would intially be taking these criminals into custody. They would almost certainly resist lawful arrest, seeing as how they feverishly believe themselves to be above the law.
Professor Cole,
I think the point people are making is this:
It is certainly true that the sanctioning of torture is a far greater _immediate_ evil than the firing of prosecutors. Clearly, the victims of Abu Grhaib, and the secret prisons around the world, suffered immesubly more than the fired prosecuters, or any of those who suffered collaterally from those acts.
But twisting the justice department into an instrument of political corruption is a gross subversion of the republic, and it is only a free republic that has any chance holding its leaders accountable for such heinous acts as torture. In the long run, the corruption of the republic is liable to bring about more harm than the torture and illegal imprisonment of a finite number of people.
Well I don't think this is the correct reason for why he needed to go either. As I've argued repeatedly on my blog, Alberto's only real mistake was having been born without a spine; and thus always having to do what he was told. And that includes accepting the AG job which clearly was beyond the capabilities of one with a spinal deficiency as great as Al's.
From the torture thing to voter fraud to firing the competent US Attorneys, Alberto was just following orders. These weren't his ideas. Had the Bush Administration wanted him to act responsibly and do the right thing, I'm sure he would have done so. But then again, they wouldn't have needed him in the first place. The only reason they got him was becuase they didn't want to risk hiring another loose cannon like Ashcroft, who actually said no to them once or twice.
And so the main qualification that got him the job was the exact one which should have disqualified him. And the reason he got hounded from office was, in fact, the same reason he authorized torture: He was an incompetent hack who couldn't say no.
I've been following something right in the same league as authorizing, aiding & abetting the use of torture... U.S. government corruption in Iraq leading to weapons proliferation throughout the world. It's not JUST 200,000 AK-47s, and it surely reminds me of the CIA's attempt (successful) at destabilizing Michael Manleys government in Jamaica in the 1980s by flooding the country with S&W and Colt pistols
More Missing Weapons & A Mysterious U.S. Military Officer’s Suicide:
American Weapons Recovered In Turkey Were Originally Destined For The Iraqi Government
"What puzzled Turkish police was the weapons’ origin. Glocks are high-quality sidearms, but by last year they had practically become common street weapons in Turkey. More than 1,000 had been taken from criminals, guerrillas, terrorists and assassins all over the country, and authorities believed tens of thousands more had found their way onto the black market – but from where?
The Austrian government repeatedly checked the serial numbers of the murder weapons. The manufacturer informed Ankara that the pistols were consigned originally to “ ‘US Mission Iraq’ [formerly the Coalition Provisional Authority], address: Republican Presidential Compound, Ministry of the Interior, Baghdad, Iraq.”
But there were also signs of problems more serious than bad record-keeping..."
[In full at my site]
One can’t help but chuckle and shake head after reading these comments. Where were you for the past 60 years? Did you just discovered that the American CIA torture and conduct lethal experiments now.
Well, here is some not so good news for you. Guatanamo and Abu Ghuraib is a routine business part of American Foreign Policy since WWII ended. The difference is that in the past the Americans, not the dumb Jews were in charge, so the ops were somehow smarter and made under /with American Laws vs. Israeli laws in mind.
They installed and paid dictators and armed to the tee these monstrous dictators hired gangs of criminal thugs (Security Apparatus) in more than 60 countries. Placed Kissinger at some time in charge of managing the campaign. All together, the U.S. hired dictators are responsible for the murder-genocides of over 42 million humans, the embezzlement of national assets acceding 50 trillion Dollars, the disappearance of 32 millions humans and the destruction of dozens of nations.
That and few more experiment in various germs and chemicals, viruses and diseases to help the dictators rule more diabolically and help the U.S. Companies (who pays the Lawmakers to keep quite) to conduct experiment on human to test for drug fitness for consumption or help murder the ones that dare to speak loud about the atrocious Banana Plantation managers.
If you are interested to receive a list of internet links that will collaborate the information stated in this comment and research for yourself, send email to: syriannationalistparty@gmail.com. Positive identification such as website or a blog that show who you are will be required to receive the list.
It remains that Bush and Cheney can go on as they do, facing an opposition Congress and miserable public support, because their policies are generally approved of by the American people. The only thing the American people dislike about any of this is that it isn't working - the only reason that the German people finally began to be disenchanted with Hitler.
American politicians and the press go easy on torture - Kerry carefully avoided making an issue of it - because they know it's what the American people want. The high-sounding values of the Constitution are real, and they are truly venerated to a degree, but they are a thin overlay on the ruthless barbarity expressed in the past in flogging slaves and washing their stribes in brine, before going to church. Torture has been routine in police stations and prisons for time out of mind.
None of this has been repented of, ever. It is as Jesus said, "They are like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside, but inside full of ravening and wickedness." American politicians don't prosper by dealing with the American people as they would like to see themselves, but with how we really are.
It was like this before Bush and Cheney - ask the Filipinos 100 years ago, or the Indians, or black slaves. It will be like this after them, and probably worse as peak oil and global warming cause the picnic to be over. Nothing good can be expected until the American people actually look in the mirror, starting with American Christians, who are generally even worse than average today. As a Christian, I am reminded of how Jesus said, "When the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"
Two things can be said for Alberto Gonzales:
He never let sound judgment get in the way of an immoral decision, and when encountering food, he always chewed with his mouth closed.
At 8:28 PM, Syrian Nationalist Party said...
One can’t help but chuckle and shake head after reading these comments. Where were you for the past 60 years? Did you just discovered that the American CIA torture and conduct lethal experiments now.
Well, here is some not so good news for you. Guatanamo and Abu Ghuraib is a routine business part of American Foreign Policy since WWII ended.
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I can only speak for myself, but I have alway been aware of, at least the potential, and often the actuality, since I was in my teens as an Vietnam anti-war activist.
Anyone who has observed U.S. actions in Latin 'America' over the years MUST know that, and further, they should know that the same 'players'... Negroponte etc. are still 'stacking the deck', no matter what the human cost.
Actually, these thugs make me nostalgic for the other 'Dick', Dick Nixon and Speeeroo(sic), and I never ever thought that I could long for those days.
Juan,
I think you may give Gonzales more "credit" than he's due. It was evident from the WaPo series on Cheney that the torture memorandum, which everyone attributes to the cretinous Al, was probably written by David Addington, and handed to Gonzales with orders to sign off. It's hard to reconcile the slick legal sophistry of the memorandum with the bumbling halfwit on display in so many Congressional hearings.
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