A "Quaint" Nightmare to Follow AssCraft's Soaring Eagle?

STOP

TERROR

STOP

TORTURE

STOP

GONZALES

 

 

Alberto Gonzales. A man who found a way to tip-toe around the Geneva Conventions' torture provisions in today's world of a volunteer army that outsources "independent contractors." A man who had opportunity after opportunity to simply say, "Yes, I'm against torture. Torture is bad...it's BAAAAD!" When he finally agreed that torture and other quaint provisions like the Constitution's ban on "cruel and unusual punishment" were wrong it was like pulling teeth - Dustin Hoffman's teeth in "Marathon Man." In light of last year's report on torture in Guantanamo by the International Red Cross, Molly Ivins had a few things to say in her piece, "Torture, American Style" from The Texas Observer:

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Yes, it’s true, we did sort of know this (the torture at Gitmo) already. It was clear when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke in Iraq that the infection had come from Guantanamo. The infamous memos by Alberto Gonzales, our next attorney general, and by John Ashcroft’s “Justice” Department pretty well laid it out.

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Ms. Ivins went on to refer to one finding in the report that never got the media play it deserved:

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The creepiest aspect of the Red Cross report is the involvement of doctors and psychiatrists in something called “Biscuit” teams. Get used to that acronym: It stands for Behavioral Science Consultation Team and will end up in the same category of national shame as Wounded Knee. According to The New York Times, Biscuit teams are “composed of psychologists and psychological workers who advise the interrogators.” Shades of Dr. Mengele.

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But let's look at Alberto's record while he served then Governor Bush in Texas. His creative thinking. His way of dealing with pending death penalty cases. His relationship with Enron. And so many other "quaint" tales from those tossed salad days. The list is so long, allow me to provide you with the headlines on Gonzales you'll find at The Center For American Progress:

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As Texas Chief Legal Counsel

DEATH PENALTY MEMOS: GONZALES'S NEGLIGENT COUNSEL: [Atlantic Monthly, July/August, 2003] Relax, it's just a little ineffective counsel, or a minor conflict of interest, some flimsy mitigating evidence, and maybe a tiny bit of overlooked evidence of innocence. (paraphrasing the quote from Atlantic Monthly) See this review from The New York Review of Books too.

MEMORANDUM ON TERRY WASHINGTON*: A CASE STUDY IN INCOMPETENCE: [Atlantic Monthly, July/August, 2003]

*the 33 year-old retarded death row inmate Gonzales briefed BoyGeorge on prior to Washington's execution

GONZALES TOLD GOV. BUSH HE COULD IGNORE INTERNATIONAL LAW: [Slate, 6/15/04] Back in 1997, it was - sound familiar?

GONZALES GETS BUSH OUT OF JURY DUTY TO KEEP DUI SECRET: [USA Today, 3/18/02] Thank goodness for good friends in high places!

As Texas Supreme Court Justice

GONZALES DOES ENRON'S BIDDING: [New York Daily News, 2/2/02] (search Daily News archives for story) Yes, I can use your contributions, and I promise to help keep The Dick's Energy Task Force Meetings a secret.

ACCEPTING DONATIONS FROM LITIGANTS: [Texas for Public Justice] What's a little cash between friends when I'm passing judgement on them?

(note: links to the publications' stories listed above may be a little hit or miss, but the excerpts provided at The Center For American Progress will give you a good idea of each article's approach to their story, should you have any trouble accessing the original article online)

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The DailyKos has a story today, "No on Gonzales," by Armando, that invites any bloggers who've written their own comments against Gonzales' nomination to add their names to the list of those opposed to his confirmation. I may be an obscure, BabyBlogger, but I'd be proud to have my name added to that list. (late night Tuesday: I see that my blog signature has been added at Kos - thumbs are now tucked under my suspenders)

Excerpts from The Texas Observer and The Center for American Progress are the copyrighted property of their respective owners, and are used here purely for contextual purposes.