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Gonzales vs. The United States: A Torturer Takes a Victory Lap
Al Capone served six years at Alcatraz--for tax evasion. The true Original Gangsta was never held to account for the St. Valentine's Day Massacre that left seven men cut in half by machine gun fire. Or the two disloyal wiseguys he ordered beaten to death with baseball bats. Or the corruption and mayhem his gangsters inflicted during the years he terrorized Chicago. Eliot Ness was cute, but the justice system failed. Capone won in the end.
Like Capone, Alberto Gonzales has gone down for a mere misdemeanor: firing U.S. attorneys for investigating Republican politicians. What led to his resignation as attorney general was his smearing them as incompetent. Hell hath no fury as a man fired without a positive recommendation. (Gonzales, a buffoon on his best day, perjured himself in spectacularly inept style in testimony about domestic wiretapping before Congress--an outfit that has forgotten more about lying than lesser lights will ever know.)
Gonzales' crime was a doozy: He created the legal framework for American fascism. No punishment could suffice for America's Eichmann, author of infamous pseudolegal rationales for torture and the end of habeas corpus. And none will he face.
"Fredo" (Bush's nickname for him) quit over a procedural personnel matter. If he ultimately faces justice, it will be for mere perjury. Even his critics don't care about his monstrous role as the legal architect of our post-9/11 gulags--proof positive that the master corrupter of democracy has triumphed, that we Americans are not a decent people.
"Are we being forward-leaning enough?" Gonzales used to ask his colleagues. "Forward-leaning" was Bush Administration jargon for toughness in the war on terror. It didn't mean bending the rules. The Bushies were radicals. Trashing centuries-old constitutional protections--the right to an attorney, to face your accuser in a court of law, not to be tortured--wasn't enough for our suburban Robespierres. They longed for an American Rome ruled by a harsh, omnipotent emperor over legions of troops standing ready to destroy all who challenged them, foreigners and Americans alike. They said 9/11 had changed everything. The new order required new laws.
One of the first steps down the road to perdition was a January 25, 2002 legal memorandum advising Bush to deny legal rights to Afghan POWs. "There are reasonable grounds for you to conclude that [the Geneva P.O.W. Convention] does not apply...to the conflict with the Taliban," wrote Gonzales, then working as White House counsel. Deploying his characteristic blend of ignorance, arrogance and illogic, he called the Geneva Conventions--which have saved the lives of thousands of captured American soldiers--"quaint." He then argued "that the Taliban and its forces were, in fact, not a government but a militant, terrorist-like group." Actually, the Clinton and Bush Administrations had treated the Taliban regime as a government, negotiating with its leaders over oil-pipeline transit fees and subsidizing it with millions of U.S. taxdollars. U.S. allies, including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, had embassies in Kabul. History was collateral damage in the war of terror.
Having denied captured Afghan soldiers POW status--"detainees," newspapers began calling them--the Bush Administration looked for "forward-leaning" ways to abuse them. Children as young as 12 were beaten, shipped in shackles, their heads shaved and covered with gunny sacks, to Guantánamo Bay. Years have passed; they've grown up in Camp Delta. These kids--rural conscripts who couldn't have attacked the U.S. even if they'd thought of it--still haven't been allowed to see a lawyer or their parents.
Worried that the American people might someday return to its senses and prosecute them for their monstrous crimes against humanity, the Bushies again turned to their affirmative-action poster child--this time for a C.Y.A. memo validating torture. The CIA wanted permission to use six "pressure techniques" against prisoners. Mock burial, Gonzales and his legal staff thought, was a mite "too harsh." The medieval practice of waterboarding, on the other hand, was OK. Another practice, "open-handed slapping of suspects, drew much discussion," reported Newsweek. The idea was "just to shock someone with the physical impact," one of Gonzales' staffers said, with "little chance of bone damage or tissue damage." Gonzales approved it.
The discussion resulted in an August 1, 2002 memo to Gonzales, which he passed on to Bush. The CIA and U.S. soldiers were free to subject prisoners to "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment. All they needed was permission from the Emperor. "Those committing torture with express presidential authority," The Washington Post reported about the memo, "were probably immune from prosecution." Abu Ghraib followed.
Slippery slopes are usually cited as cautionary tales. Gonzales saw post-9/11 fear as an opportunity to be exploited. He pushed for the USA Patriot Act. Foreign detainees, he decided, would get military kangaroo courts. Using Gonzales' advice as back-up, Bush signed an executive order authorizing himself to declare any U.S. citizen an "enemy combatant" and have him assassinated. Next came the terrifying Military Commissions Act, which allows a president to declare martial law, seize control of the National Guard from the states, and throw U.S. citizens into concentration camps for the rest of their lives.
But no one objected to any of these attacks on our freedom. Not the news media. Not the Democrats--they voted for them.
After Torturer-in-Chief Gonzales announced his departure, Ted Kennedy slammed him--for perjury. "He has exhibited a lack of candor with Congress and the American people and a disdain for the rule of law and our constitutional system," said the liberal stalwart. "The rampant politicization of federal law enforcement that occurred under his tenure seriously eroded public confidence in our justice system," added House speaker Nancy Pelosi, focusing, like everybody else, on the fired U.S. attorneys. The word "torture" didn't come up.
Gonzales will be remembered as corrupt and intellectually deficient. Nevertheless, his legal legacy will likely remain in place for the foreseeable future. Torture isn't in the news because it isn't news. It's normal.
The monster dragged the rest of us down to his level. We are all Alberto Gonzales.
17 Comments so far
Show AllForget immunity. Send 'em to Nuremberg, uh, I mean
the Hague.
Unfortunately, a lot of voters support torture so long as it's not called that. On the other hand, you might get through to such people by pointing out that you would expect the same level of competence in investigation and interrogation that went into the protection and restoration of New Orleans.
I was reading this and thinking, "right on!", "yeah!", then I looked up and saw who had penned it...
Ted Rall continues to earn and deserve his self-chosen title as, "America's Bullshit Detector"!
"Fredo's" departure is part of the Kabuki dance.
time to take Fredo fishing
"Gonzales' crime was a doozy: He created the legal framework for American fascism."
American fascism:
http://socialismmarxdeleonforarealunion.org/Fascism%20In%20America.html
Al Capone didn't "win," he, like the rest of the mafia, got smacked around for PR purposes, but "organized crime" continues to flourish to this day, despite decades and hundreds of millions invested. Just like the drug war - pot smokers in jail, kingpins running around free and in public. Just like Osama.
Is it possible, maybe, that certain people prefer the mafia to exist? For drugs to flow? For Osama to play boogyman? And is it also possible these same people prefer an AG who loves torture and hates the Constitution?
The monster dragged the rest of us down to his level. We are all Alberto Gonzales.
A interesting point. America the beautiful, on the books, the Consitution, is rule by the majority, government for the people, of the people and by the people. But there is one flaw in the works. Inculcate the minds of the public with a bogus thought and like a windup toy they will run with it as if it was their own idea.
America's biggest monstrosity, a most tragic one, was the cold war; supposedly to stem the tide of socialism or communism, the two words were used interchangeable. Millions died and countles millions suffered tragicly.
And what do we have today after the news resounded across the American nation that socialism is now dead.
From an essay, "The Cold War Aftermath":
http://socialismmarxdeleonforarealunion.org/Cold_War_Aftermath.html
"Most emphatically, socialism has never been tried."
"Stalin and company professed to save the socialism they didn't have and capitalism set forth to destroy the straw man of bogus socialism which Reagan dubbed, "The Evil Empire." No country had, or today has, socialism."
"Now the US claims that socialism is dead. This would be the first time that something died before it was born."
the u.s. government has been engaging in torture for a long time now. in fact, frido is just another topping on an otherwise artery-clogging sundae. putting adults in jail for using drugs is torture and cruel and unusual punishment.
when people are born with the words "property of the united states of america" imprinted on them, the government, u.s. or otherwise, should not be allowed to dictate what adults can and cannot put into their own bodies.
gonzales is merely a product of the american public's fear. if american's weren't so scared of terrorism, drugs, crime, etc. we wouldn't have these lawless and disorderly scumbags claiming to protect american people.
fear is submission. when you allow fear into your life, it rules you.
fredo is a GIANT scumbag, but his ability to be a scumbag is directly related to the fear of people. obviously a lot of people are scared.
Remember that Bush and his gang of murderers have been elected TWICE by the majority of Americans. It is the majority of Americans who supported the invasion of other sovereign countries, genocidal activities of the US military, CIA, Guantanamo Bay and the murderous plans of the government.
It is easy to put the blame on Gonzales (I am not defending him. His hands are soaked with innocent blood), and absolve those who supported such activities. If the US leaders had sensed that they would not get support for their genocidal activities from majority of the US citizens, they would not have gone ahead with their murderous laws and plans. Since they are confident that majority of the Americans support them for whatever they do, you have leaders like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Elliot Abrams, Gonzales, Negroponte, Wolfwitz, military leaders who oversaw the torture in Secret prisons, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay........having free reign.
So Americans, you are responsible for the acts and atrocities of your leaders!!!!!!!!!!!
Did anyone see Torture Boy and the Chimp hugging each other a few days ago? Gonzales actually lightly kissed the Chimp's lapel. Whenever Bush hugs his loyal Mafioso, it looks like they're lovers.
Ghandi:
The idea that Bush was elected by a majority is a spurious claim. Both "elections" were fraudulent. Bush and Co. lied to get their "majority" on Iraq. Some Americans- those blind to the truth and of little or no moral character may support the criminal-in-chief, but those of us who opposed this murderer when his approval rating was over 90%, like myself, find blaming all Americans for the Fascism of the rest a little short sighted. I am appalled by the Nazi-like tactics of the KKKlan in charge and feel the democratic stain of blood on my hands, but I didn't vote for these criminals, actively opposed their policies and will continue to oppose them at every illegal turn. That's how the REAL Americans will beat these neo-Nazis....
"Remember that Bush and his gang of murderers have been elected TWICE by the majority of Americans"
Sorry, Doug, and thanks for your thoughts, but it does seem that "gandhi" has a legitimate point above.
You made the point that both elections were spurious, and they were. But letting the Fascists get away with that _ which we did, when we all should've been out in the streets _ was inexcusable, and we Liberals are squarely to blame. We didn't do enough, and it'll cost our country for generations.
I hate the Bush mob and the Neoconservatives at least as much as you do, but we all bear some of the responsiblity for letting them in. We all should've fought back much harder. They certainly fought us effectively.
In traveling a lot for work for many, many years, and in interacting daily with non-Americans around the world, I've seen with frightening clarity how much we're hated abroad _ by people we really do need as friends. They used to feel pity for us, and some admiration mixed in with their loathing, but now it's just pretty much disgust, and bitterness for what we've let the world become. It used to be that people in other countries could excuse some of us, and acknowledge that the problem lay more with our leaders than with average Americans, but I'm sorry, I'm afraid those days are gone, and we US Liberals are now out in the cold.
DOUG LAGO: My sentiments, exactly.
FRANK: I think you're on to something. Good detective insight!
ZELL: Like Doug, I wrote the protest letters, went to a few, kept informed. This situation we face, as fascism like a cancer eats away at our nation's body and soul, is unique. Never before have we had so many ARMED soldiers answering to a "unitary executive." Not during my lifetime have I seen such a cave-in of democrats, such an unapologetic "both worship the same pay masters" approach to representative "democracy." Then add to this the consolidation of media by those corporations that benefit from war, in other words a tremendous % of the population is NOT informed. When people THINK they are getting news, there is not much onus to search for other channels.
Add to this the role of the fundamentalist churches in acting like cheerleaders for conflict, as if this represents some Divine dictate. Then there is the power of sports, the long-term Pavlovian programmed identification with teams, winning, which side you're on (i.e. very primitive, divisive thinking); and the economic factor that a great many are working 2 jobs just to keep up, and in their "leisure" time, do NOT want to do the WORK of becoming better informed.
These varied factors are working to keep people distracted, asleep or hypnotized. Without an informed public, there is not enough critical mass to evoke meaningful change. I, for one, am not going to become a martyr. I admire the likes of Rachel Corrie, but hope I can be of more use writing books even if the wisdom therein seeds the thought process of FUTURE generations, who, given all the data on this site about things like global warming accelerating and DU spreading, may or may not survive. But we cannot live without dreams...
"I'm afraid those days are gone, and we US Liberals are now out in the cold."
And let's start by burying the word "liberal" - a word that around most of the world means "supporter of global-capitalist plunder enabled by cultural-imperialist imposition of western, hedonistic, materialist values"
"Leftist" or "anti-imperialist" are all much better words.
Let us not forget, our "new" Congress has the ability to draft resolutions against every single one of his deeds. How many have they brought to the floor? ZERO. Until someone grows gonads in Washington, what is there to stop the erosion of America?