Gonzales-Bush Loyalty A Two-Way Street

Washington Post Analysis: Examining The Career Of The Attorney General Upon His Resignation

(WASHINGTONPOST.COM) 
Gonzales lacked experience in many federal laws or national security matters, and many of his colleagues described him as a relatively passive participant in the sometimes acrimonious discussions that were driven - and often won in the months after Sept. 11 - by Vice President Richard Cheney's ideologically hard-line legal counsel, David Addington.

Gonzales was "unassuming, pleasant, and quiet," said a former official who sat in interagency meetings on terrorism matters. "He never made an impression on me." The suspicion that Gonzales served as a passive or disconnected figurehead while other, more politically-minded officials decided events would later resurface among lawmakers in the controversy over the prosecutor firings.

But it was Gonzales, as White House counsel and later as Attorney General, whose name appeared at the bottom of some of the most controversial classified documents justifying harsh CIA and Defense Department treatment of U.S. detainees suspected of involvement in terrorism.

Two months after the 2001 terrorist attacks Gonzales and Addington jointly drafted an order authorizing those captured on the battlefield in the counter-terror fight to be tried by military tribunals instead of civilian courts. Under the Pentagon's initial tribunal rules, conviction would come from a two-thirds vote, appeals would be extremely limited, and all facts and legal issues would be adjudicated by the military.

The Supreme Court said last June that the tribunals were neither authorized by Congress nor required by military necessity, and it blocked them from proceeding. The court also repudiated a second Gonzales legal claim, made in a Jan. 2002 memo embraced by Bush, that the president had the authority to exempt detainees captured in Afghanistan from the human rights protections mandated by the Geneva Conventions.

Gonzales had sought to justify his position by claiming the counter-terror effort made the convention's strict limitations on detainee treatment "obsolete," a viewpoint that outraged then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard B. Myers and other senior military officials. A Defense Department panel would later conclude that Bush's decision to accept Gonzales's advice played a key role in the establishment of abusive interrogation practices at for the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

When the Supreme Court ruled this position illegal last June, it affirmed that the Geneva Conventions must be applied to detainees held by the United States anywhere. So Gonzales and his deputies last fall persuaded Congress to raise the threshold for criminal prosecutions for violating the conventions, and allow the military to introduce evidence from confessions obtained through "cruel, unusual, or inhumane" interrogations by the CIA or the military before 2005. Congress is now discussing whether to change that law.

Gonzales also was closely associated with a controversial loosening, in Aug. 2002, of the U.S. definition of what constitutes prohibited torture. The underlying legal opinion was written for the CIA by the Justice Department, but it was briefed twice to Gonzales at the White House before its final adoption. Those sessions included detailed descriptions of the suffering that detainees would experience during CIA interrogations that incorporated such methods as simulated drowning.

Under the new definition, only physically punishing acts "of an extreme nature" were considered prosecutable, and those using torture with express presidential authority or without the intent to commit harm could be considered immune from prosecution. These conclusions were later cited approvingly in a Defense Department memo authorizing "exceptional interrogations" at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where FBI agents claimed that abuses were occurring.

Most legal experts have long said that global torture prohibitions allow no exceptions. But Gonzales expressed no objections to the proposed interrogation methods and did not suggest major changes to the Justice Department memo, according to officials familiar with the briefings.

After the memo's public release sparked an outcry among human rights and legal scholars around the world, former Gonzales deputy Timothy E. Flanigan called the memo "inappropriate in a sort of sophomorish way" and Gonzales himself called its conclusions "unnecessary, overbroad discussions" of abstract legal theories. In Dec. 2004, the administration withdrew its key passages, but without explicitly addressing where the "bounds" of presidential power lie.

Gonzales - who had repeatedly asked, "are we being forward-leaning enough" in policy discussions on interrogations - admitted no personal error in those events. "Sometimes people do things that they shouldn't do," Gonzales said at his confirmation hearing in Jan. 2005. "People are imperfect...and so the fact that abuses occur, they're unfortunate but I'm not sure that they should be viewed as surprising."

As the attorney general, Gonzales continued to serve as a reliable advocate for White House policies. He publicly questioned the reliability of FBI accounts of abusive interrogations at Guantanamo; he also defended the practice of "extraordinary rendition," the process under which the United States sometimes transfers detainees in the war on terrorism to nations where they may undergo harsh interrogation, trial or imprisonment.

[sgtrds]

Posted by red164 at 12:38 AM : Aug 28, 2007


Yawn............

[red164]

George W. Bush Telling His Own Trifecta Joke

President''s Remarks at GOP Luncheon, 2-27-02
Remarks by the President to Robin Hayes for Congress and Elizabeth Dole for Senate
North Carolina Republican Party Luncheon, Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte, North Carolina

Bush: You know, I was campaigning in Chicago and somebody asked me, is there ever any time where the budget might have to go into deficit? I said only if we were at war or had a national emergency or were in recession. (Laughter.) Little did I realize we''d get the trifecta. (Laughter.)


How will President George W. Bush personally make millions (if not billions) from the War on Terror and Iraq? The old fashioned way. He''ll inherit it. The Carlyle Group
Former World Leaders and Washington Insiders Making Billions in the War on Terrorism


They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy.
She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me.
I can''t help it if I''m lucky. - Bob Dylan

"It also gives us a very special, secret pleasure to see how unaware the people around us are of what is really happening to them."
- Adolf Hitler

[red164]

Which is why we need a criminal/Senate investigation into the hiring of Richard Stickly as head of MSHA!
Posted by SgtRDS at 11:54 PM : Aug 27, 2007

Hey, Sgt coincidence theorists how about a new investigation into 9/11?

Robert Fisk: Even I question the ''truth'' about 9/11

Robert Fisk
London Independent
Saturday, August 25, 2007

University of Massachusetts Professor Calls For New 9/11 Investigation

Patriots Question 9/11
Sunday, August 26, 2007

Lynn Margulis, AB, MS, PhD %u2013 Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts - Amherst. Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983.

[usayesterday]

Loyalty: Codependency
Cronysim: hiring friends over competency.

Above describes the Southern Conservative culture.
Posted by ConDumism at 11:41 PM : Aug 27, 2007
.......

Now being unemployed, I kinda wish I was "really good friends" with Bush!

I could use a job in the "Justice" Department, (or any Department) right now!

:-)

[sgtrds]

Loyalty: Codependency
Cronysim: hiring friends over competency.

Above describes the Southern Conservative culture.
Posted by ConDumism at 11:41 PM : Aug 27, 2007

Which is why we need a criminal/Senate investigation into the hiring of Richard Stickly as head of MSHA!

[condumism]

Loyalty: Codependency
Cronysim: hiring friends over competency.

Above describes the Southern Conservative culture.

[redwilma]

I want them to continue the investigations. Clearly Gonzales lied under oath about the Ashcroft visit, and that was just sick! And, it was on Bush''s behalf! If there is evidence that Mueller''s version is incorrect, then let that come out. But, if Gonzales lied under oath (repeatedly), as the Attorney General, to the Congress, he should answer for that. (At least he should be disbarred.)

[usayesterday]

The replacement for Gonzales may be Chertoff?!

How would that make the "Justice" Department any more credible?

A Mob boss doesn''t replace a hitman with a representative from the Church, no, he replaces the hitman with another killer!

CREDIBILITY IS NOT A GOAL OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION. NEVER HAS BEEN. NEVER WILL BE.

[toldyouso21]

Really, where can we find these "lies" in print, ''''cause as far as I know, the "lies" were never proven. This was a witch hunt plain and simple, Gonzales finally broke to the constant hammering. That''''s all.
Posted by katg21 at 04:15 PM : Aug 27, 2007


HERE YA GO: SPIN IT IF YOU CAN. LMAO:


His support among Republicans in Congress, already weak, eroded markedly, then suffered further with word of the bedside meeting in the intensive care unit of George Washington University Hospital three years earlier.

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey testified that Ashcroft had refused to reauthorize the wiretapping program. Appearing before the Judiciary Committee, he described a confrontation in which Gonzales _ White House counsel at the time _ and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card had appealed to Ashcroft to overrule his deputy. The ill Ashcroft refused, saying he had transferred power to Comey.

Comey described the events as "an effort to take advantage of a very sick man who did not have the powers of the attorney general."


"Gonzales subsequently denied that the dispute was about the terrorist surveillance program, but his credibility was undercut when FBI Director Robert S. Mueller contradicted him.

Several Democrats called for a perjury investigation, but no further action has been taken.

[lastdance2]

There are Still - 60 - Active investigations going on ! ! !

There was one comment posted here earler
that - Now has been deleted ! ! !

The statement claimed :
The Criminal Investigation Division of :
The Internal Revenue Service was Responsible -
For conducting a Criminal Investigation against members of :
The Bush Administration - The FBI - and The Justice Department.

If anyone copied that Statement - Comment
Re-post it here for me.
I have a Profound Interest in that Particular :
"Criminal Investigation"

Lastdance

[toldyouso21]

Gonzales - who had repeatedly asked, "are we in policy discussions on interrogations - admitted no personal error in those events. "Sometimes people do things that they shouldn''t do," Gonzales said at his confirmation hearing in Jan. 2005. "People are imperfect...and so the fact that abuses occur, they''re unfortunate but I''m not sure that they should be viewed as surprising."
said Bill Minutaglio, author of "The President''s Counselor," a biography of Gonzales. "As a personality he exhibits almost a mortician''s calm. He is emotionally flat-lined."

Himmler, Hitler''s torture boy and architect of the "Final Solution" was said to be emotionally flat lined" also. Dead pan is the word--disconnected and therefore capable of anything. Like Jason in the movies--slasher-Halloween.

[the74blaster]

Maybe the first order of business is to start investigations of crooked Democrat leaders like Jack Murtha, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.

This game should be alot of fun.
Posted by One_American at 03:12 PM : Aug 27, 2007

What has Murtha, Reid or Pelosi done that even compares with Bush administrations track record?

How many wars did they start based on false pretenses?

How many times have they violated the rights we have according to our constitution?

How many times have they lied about the real cost of the Iraq war?

I say why not, lets investigate them all!

However, lets post the score when its all over and vote accordingly.

[toldyouso21]

Could you honestly say that anyone he''''d have chosen would be qualified in your eyes?
Posted by katg21 at 04:42 PM : Aug 27, 2007


You have a point. A POS will only choose other turds that stink as much or more than he. LOL

[toldyouso21]

Really, where can we find these "lies" in print, ''''cause as far as I know, the "lies" were never proven. This was a witch hunt plain and simple, Gonzales finally broke to the constant hammering. That''''s all.
Posted by katg21 at 04:15 PM : Aug 27, 2007


That''s why all of you still love Bush and Gonzo--you are all liars too. Of course the lies were proven. We all heard him deny ever being in any meetings, and then we watched his flunkies all sell him out one by one and we heard him lie about what was said to Ashcroft too---and then heard the contradiction of another staff member. And since, most of what Gonzo said he later either contradicted or did not remember....he not only was and is a liar but a stupid one at that--and you are a liar. Write a book: "***. Lies, Liars, and the Lying Liars who Love Them" at least 29% of you will buy it, sure that you are in it somewhere.

[toldyouso21]

Hmmm based on Bush''s MO and his unwavering support to the people he then throws under the train...somebody better tell Al Maliki that he is next. When Bush claims undying loyalty no matter what, he is just mulling over where to stick the knife while saving face and demanding that his flunkee resign so that he looks like he keeps his word.

[toldyouso21]

You are selective moralists. Posted by mudrose at 04:13 PM : Aug 27, 2007

Remember those words when your Republican voter choice boils down to a man who not only had a mistress who performed more than bj, but was a home wrecker and now wants to validate his behavior by installing his mistress as our first lady. Since by your words, you appear to be above selective morality--We just "know" that such a moral misfit such as Guiliani and his mistress wife/judy ---would never get your vote, right? LOL.

[toldyouso21]

Gonna have to challenge you on that one... Jimmy Carter was the worst.
Posted by katg21 at 04:11 PM : Aug 27, 2007


Nope Carter was inept, worse than ineptitude will always be pure power hungry evil, and unforgiveable and contemptible is the double whammy of ineptitude and power hungry evil--THAT is this administration. So Nixon and Bush win the FU-America -BAR Darwin prize hands down.

For those who never learned that acronym: Fvckkked Up America Beyond All Recognition.

[jetranger7]

Run little GONZO , Run, Run little Gonzo, Run !! Go knock on Dumsfield House, or Carl Fraudulent Rove''s Door, some crooked SOB will taken you in and give you a job !! Hey, Cheney, guess what, your up Next, you lying Corrupt SOB !!!!!

[toldyouso21]

Wonder what made him bugger off? Felt sure he said he served at the pleasure of the President. And the President was still supposedly supporting him. Hmmmmmm Him and Karl leaving---bet the Democrats must have a particular nasty ace up their sleeve to make Bush jettison his most reliable henchmen. Hope they did not promise to back off in exchange for those resignations. After all of the slime and evil of the past 7 years--we really do need to see someone go to jail big time from this most corrupt, duplicitous, warmongering administration.

[toldyouso21]

You left out those missing WH emails - those WILL be alot of fun !!
Posted by IOWEIGN at 03:25 PM : Aug 27, 2007


CORRECTION: You left out those ILLEGALLY WRITTEN ON FORBIDDEN LAPTOPS--missing WH emails - those WILL be alot of fun !!
Posted by IOWEIGN at 03:25 PM : Aug 27, 2007

If I were the Democrats and pretty well knowing how Bush works, I would not move too quickly to help him install another devoted thug in the DOJ. They should take their time confirming and verifying independence. None with Bush''s *** on their lips or residual stuff streaming from ***** or azzes need apply. Get ''er done by Nov. 2008. Just in time to do a poor job shredding and erasing the data.