International Herald Tribune Editorial - The failed attorney general
International Herald Tribune Editorial - The failed attorney general
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: March 11, 2007
During the hearing on his nomination as attorney general, Alberto Gonzales said he understood the difference between the job he held — President George W. Bush's in-house lawyer — and the job he wanted, which was to represent all Americans as their chief law enforcement officer and a key defender of the Constitution. Two years later, it is obvious Gonzales does not have a clue about the difference.
If anyone, outside Bush's rapidly shrinking circle of enablers, still had doubts about that, the events of last week should have erased them.
First, there was Gonzales' lame op-ed article in USA Today trying to defend the obviously politically motivated firing of eight U.S. attorneys, which he dismissed as an "overblown personnel matter."
Then his inspector general reported that the FBI has been using powers it obtained under the Patriot Act to get financial, business and telephone records of Americans by issuing tens of thousands of "national security letters," a euphemism for warrants that are issued without any judicial review or avenue of appeal.
Gonzales does not directly run the FBI, but it is part of his department and has clearly gotten the message that promises (and civil rights) are meant to be broken. It was Gonzales, after all, who repeatedly defended Bush's decision to authorize warrantless eavesdropping on Americans' international calls and e-mail. He was an eager public champion of the notion that as commander in chief during a time of war, Bush can ignore laws that he thinks get in his way.
The attorney general helped formulate the policies that repudiated the Geneva Conventions in the war against terror, and that sanctioned the use of kidnapping, secret detentions, abuse and torture. He has been central to the administration's assault on the courts, which he recently said had no right to judge national security policies, and on the constitutional separation of powers.
More than anyone in the administration, except perhaps Vice President Dick Cheney, Gonzales symbolizes Bush's disdain for the separation of powers, civil liberties and the rule of law. Bush should dismiss Gonzales and finally appoint an attorney general who will use the job to enforce the law and defend the Constitution.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: March 11, 2007
During the hearing on his nomination as attorney general, Alberto Gonzales said he understood the difference between the job he held — President George W. Bush's in-house lawyer — and the job he wanted, which was to represent all Americans as their chief law enforcement officer and a key defender of the Constitution. Two years later, it is obvious Gonzales does not have a clue about the difference.
If anyone, outside Bush's rapidly shrinking circle of enablers, still had doubts about that, the events of last week should have erased them.
First, there was Gonzales' lame op-ed article in USA Today trying to defend the obviously politically motivated firing of eight U.S. attorneys, which he dismissed as an "overblown personnel matter."
Then his inspector general reported that the FBI has been using powers it obtained under the Patriot Act to get financial, business and telephone records of Americans by issuing tens of thousands of "national security letters," a euphemism for warrants that are issued without any judicial review or avenue of appeal.
Gonzales does not directly run the FBI, but it is part of his department and has clearly gotten the message that promises (and civil rights) are meant to be broken. It was Gonzales, after all, who repeatedly defended Bush's decision to authorize warrantless eavesdropping on Americans' international calls and e-mail. He was an eager public champion of the notion that as commander in chief during a time of war, Bush can ignore laws that he thinks get in his way.
The attorney general helped formulate the policies that repudiated the Geneva Conventions in the war against terror, and that sanctioned the use of kidnapping, secret detentions, abuse and torture. He has been central to the administration's assault on the courts, which he recently said had no right to judge national security policies, and on the constitutional separation of powers.
More than anyone in the administration, except perhaps Vice President Dick Cheney, Gonzales symbolizes Bush's disdain for the separation of powers, civil liberties and the rule of law. Bush should dismiss Gonzales and finally appoint an attorney general who will use the job to enforce the law and defend the Constitution.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 9:10 AM
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