A terrible signal to the world (NYT on Gonzales)

[struggle4progress]

The confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as U.S. attorney general on Thursday was depressing. The president deserves a great deal of leeway in choosing his own cabinet. But beyond his other failings, Gonzales has come to represent the Bush administration's role in paving the way for the abuse and torture of prisoners by U.S. soldiers and intelligence agents. Giving him the top U.S. legal post is a terrible signal to send the rest of the world, and to American citizens concerned with human rights.

The 60-to-36 vote for confirmation was also preceded by a depressing debate. There was the usual comic opera of these Senate votes, with President George W. Bush's party piously denouncing all opposition as outrageous politicking and the opposition piously denying it. But this debate had a sinister overtone as well: In a ham-handed way, the Republicans tried to portray a vote against Gonzales as an act of bigotry.

Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, declaring that "I love the Hispanic people," warned that Hispanic Americans were "sensing there's something unfair going on." Using that "more in sorrow than in anger" tone that senators reserve for their most blatantly political comments, he added, "I suspect there's more than politics being played here."

Gonzales has the kind of life story that all Americans should admire, and that many can find in their families. The value of diversity in the Cabinet is indisputable. But it is also irrelevant here. Gonzales was a bad choice for attorney general because of his record, not his ethnic background. It was Gonzales who asked for the original legal advice from the Justice Department on the treatment of prisoners in the "war on terror." There was no need to go through that exercise; the rules were clear. But Gonzales gave Bush the flexibility he wanted, first in the Justice Department memo outlining ways to make torture seem legal, and then by offering the Orwellian argument that the president can declare himself above the law and can order illegal actions like detaining prisoners without a hearing and authorizing torture. <snip>

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/04/opinion/edgonzales.html

[LiberalFighter]

1. How many Americans will now be tortured because of his nomination?

[CHIMO]

2. EXCLUSIVE: British Human Rights Lawyer Gareth Peirce Says Torture "Is the

EXCLUSIVE: British Human Rights Lawyer Gareth Peirce Says Torture "Is the Recipe for the Destruction" of International Human Rights




GARETH PEIRCE: Of course, we have not seen anything like this before. It's absolutely breathtaking, audacious, unlawful kidnapping of vast numbers of people, simply not caring that it is tantamount to shredding up every international treaty obligation which all of our countries have subscribed to. What I see it as, is an experiment, an experiment by America to see what interrogative methodology it could use and obtain results in disregard completely of the fact that this -- Well, consciously, in fact, knowing that it was using prohibited methods. An experiment to see what you could get (disregarding the fact that experience tells us it must be nonsense what you get from coercive interrogation), but also an experiment in testing reaction internationally and nationally. Will there be protest? Have we gone too far? And tragically, the answer probably is the experiment’s successful. There has not been world revulsion expressed that has compelled the United States to back down, to apologize, to release everyone, to pay reparation, to achieve a mea culpa, an acknowledgement, this should never be done again. No. Rumsfeld has said the recent results of the American election endorse our methods. There is a shameless intention to continue. Maybe falter for a moment. Maybe there’s been criticism, but not enough to stop it. .........And the result of the experiment is that worldwide there is now been a message: You can abandon every treaty obligation, abandon Geneva conventions, abandon human rights law, abandon guarantees of prohibition on torture. You can do the lot, and if you’re strong enough and powerful enough, and saber rattle war on terror terminology, nobody’s going to stop you. That's the tragic outcome.


http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/01/1515244

[sellitman]

3. They might as well have voted for

Himmler or Goebbels.

[GetTheRightVote]

4. Bush will live to rule the day he put Gonzales into that office

The man is pure evil, torture king Gonzales.

:kick: