Questionable Loyalty
Covering the President's Backside
By Tom Scott
Alberto Gonzales has always enjoyed a reputation for covering George W. Bush's backside.
In 1996 Gonzales, as Bush's general counsel, he managed to get the then-Texas governor excused from jury duty, thus saving Bush from having to disclose his 1976 arrest for drunken driving.
Bush, who prizes loyalty above all other things rewarded Gonzales' loyalty by subsequently appointing him Texas' secretary of state and then to a seat on the Texas Supreme Court. Then when Bush was appointed president by the Supreme Court and not the American people, he was offered the position of White House counsel. And today, Gonzales is still watching Bush's flank as the Attorney General who will decide on the merits of any indictments issued by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald's grand jury probe.
On February 3, 2005, Gonzales, 49, was confirmed by the Senate to succeed John Ashcroft as U.S. Attorney General. Despite vocal Democratic complaints that he helped construct questionable U.S. policies on the treatment of foreign prisoners and evaded questions having to do with the war on terror, the Senate confirmed him with a 60-36 vote.
During his confirmation hearings, Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats stood unexpectedly united in their opposition to Gonzales, with all eight Judiciary Democrats opposing the nominee. Historically, several nominees for attorney general have engendered animosity during the confirmation process. But the Senate has rejected only two nominees since 1789. Notably in modern times, however, Ashcroft, a former Missouri senator, drew a deeply divided 58-42 vote four years ago.
Gonzales also helped draft Bush's plan for secret military tribunals to try foreigners suspected of terrorism, an idea that ran into a firestorm of criticism from civil libertarians. Perhaps even more controversial was the February 2002 memo he wrote in which the Bush administration claimed that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to certain prisoners taken in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Alberto Gonzales approved the now-infamous memo which contended the president "wasn't bound by laws prohibiting torture and that government agents who might torture prisoners at his direction couldn't be prosecuted by the Justice Department."
Despite the fact that the United States ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which states "no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability, or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture".
The memo, vetted by Gonzales, stated the president had the authority "to approve almost any physical or psychological action during interrogation, up to and including torture." and that the pain caused by an interrogation must include "injury such as death, organ failure, or serious impairment of body functions, in order to constitute torture."
Once the memo was made public, Gonzales backtracked, saying the memo contained "unnecessary, over-broad discussions" about "abstract legal theories."
He also said the policy was "under review, and may be replaced, if appropriate, with more concrete guidance addressing only those issues necessary for the legal analysis of actual practices." The Justice Department recently released a new memo redefining the U.S. stance on torture in anticipation of Gonzales's nomination hearing, revising its definition of torture to include "mere physical suffering or lasting mental anguish."
But former Justice Department official John Yoo still thinks the old definition was better, saying the new version "makes it harder to figure out how the torture statute applies to specific interrogation methods. It muddies the water. Our effort was to interpret the statute clearly." The new policy, however, does not address the question of whether the president is entitled to disregard laws and treaties.
But before Gonzales became a permanent fixture of the Bush Boat, he was a partner at the powerful Houston law firm Vinson & Elkins, and that's something we all need to take a closer look at.
From his involvement in Vinson & Elkins briefing former partners in advance on the findings of a top-secret probe into Enron's shady business dealings, to his involvement of giving White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card a 12 hour heads up on a subpoena of documents vital to the now infamous "leak gate" investigation on the outing of then CIA covert agent Valerie Plame. Do you understand? - a 12 hour heads up warning.
Gonzales, worked for Vinson & Elkins from 1982 through 1992, when he was tapped by Bush to become the then-governor's general counsel. The law firm and Enron were Gonzales' main financial backers when he ran in 2000 to hold his seat on the Texas supreme court. Vinson & Elkins contributed $29,450 and Enron tossed in another $6,500.
Gonzales was the point man in the administration's effort to keep hidden Vice President Dick Cheney's notes regarding moves by Enron's Ken Lay and others to shape national energy policy. Meanwhile, Bush, who prizes loyalty above all other things, may have even more plans for his favorite attorney if the Mier nomination falls through on September 7, which it appears is a certainty at this point.
Gonzalez could hold onto the Attorney General position just long enough to decide that the Fitzgerald's 22 month long investigation and grand jury indictments are without merit when it expires on the 28th only to have Bush then nominate him for the Supreme Court - though Obstruction of Justice would apply.
Something tells me that this wouldn't be an unwelcome development in the offices of the President and Vice President.
