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November 10, 2004
Mr. Torture-Is-Okay-and-Texas-Not-Part-Of-U.S. About to Be Appointed Attorney General
How surprising:
The officials, who asked to remain unidentified, said Bush was moving quickly to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Attorney General John Ashcroft, which was announced on Tuesday night.[Alberto] Gonzales, 49, is a trusted adviser to Bush and a former Texas Supreme Court justice and often considered a possible Bush nominee to the Supreme Court.
Former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson had been considered a candidate for attorney general, but after Bush's re-election last week he made it clear he wanted to remain general counsel at PepsiCo Inc.
If he is selected, Gonzales' Senate confirmation hearing would likely delve into what role he played in a legal opinion that defined the treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq, which critics said contributed to the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, a charge denied by the administration.
In classified memos that were released in June, administration lawyers argued that Bush, as commander in chief, was not restricted by prohibitions on torture enshrined in U.S. law and international treaties due to the president's "complete authority over the conduct of war," including interrogations.
For those of you trying to keep up with who's who in this great administration remember that last year, in his capacity of White House legal counsel, Alberto Gonzales authored memos which basically argued that we should declare that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to our actions because this "substantially reduced the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. 2441)." -- because violating the Geneva Conventions is illegal under that act.
Got that? If you declare the law does not apply, it's harder for them to prosecute you for breaking that law, he's arguing. It's like the speeder declaring the speed limit does not apply. (I wrote a run-down of the various memos and legal opinions here.)
But wait, it gets better. Gonzales had opined in 1997 that the State of Texas was not bound by international treaties signed by the United States -- when Texas executed a Mexican-national who was interrogated and tried without letting him contact his embassy and made to sign a confession in English, which he thought was an immigration document -- clearly a violation of international treaties in this matter. Here's part of what I wrote about it then:
The current White House chief legal counsel Alberto Gonzales, who had been widely rumored to be the next Supreme Court Nominee before authoring the latest memos arguing the president was not bound by international or domestic law, had opined in the past that the State of Texas was not bound by international treaties signed by the United States.There goes a few hundred years of precedent along with the United States constitution, but, hey, we got to execute a Mexican national who did not speak English and who signed a murder confession thinking it was an immigration document, without a translator or lawyer present
...
I wondered if [Gonzales] found it odd that nobody asked for his passport when he left Texas for D.C.
Ashcroft, go forth in comfort. You have been one-upped.
Posted by zeynep at November 10, 2004 12:34 PM
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Comments
I'm wondering if he has shares in any oil companies?
Posted by: solar at November 10, 2004 01:38 PM
Good guy. He was general counsel for Enron too...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/10/121431/38
Posted by: Motoko at November 10, 2004 03:45 PM
Gonzales will be competent where AShcroft was not. Be afraid.
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