he picked A. Gonzales for Atty. General - please note the bold - again waving one hand to get your attention and robbing you blind with the other.
November 10, 2004
Bush Picks Alberto Gonzales to Replace Ashcroft at Justice Dept.
By DAVID STOUT
ASHINGTON, Nov. 10 - President Bush said today that he has chosen Alberto R.Gonzales, who he said had been "a calm and steady voice in times of crisis" as his White House counsel, to be the next attorney general of the United States, succeeding John Ashcroft.
Mr. Bush said he was confident that Mr. Gonzales would be "a steward of civil rights" as head of the Justice Department. He praised Mr. Ashcroft as "a superb public servant" and said Mr. Gonzales, whom he called a personal friend, would be a worthy successor.
Mr. Gonzales, who appeared at the White House with Mr. Bush, vowed to do his best to "make America better, safer and stronger." The nominee said he was committed to "justice for every American - on this principle, there can be no compromise."
Mr. Gonzales is a longtime friend and political ally from Mr. Bush's days as Texas governor, and he had been rumored to be a leading candidate to head the Justice Department after Mr. Ashcroft's departure. While there was no mention of possible controversy in the brief White House announcement, the nominee is likely to face sharp questioning on Capitol Hill.
During Mr. Bush's two terms in Austin, Mr. Gonzales was a close adviser, first as general counsel to the governor for three years and later as Texas secretary of state. In the latter post, he was Mr. Bush's chief adviser on issues involving Mexico and the Texas-Mexico border. Before joining the governor's staff he was a partner in a Houston law firm.
Mr. Gonzales served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from 1999 until he came to Washington to work in the Bush administration. His name has also been mentioned from time to time as a possible nominee for the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Ashcroft, whose resignation was announced on Tuesday, promised to remain in the post until a successor is confirmed. President Bush is expected to wait until January to formally send Mr. Gonzales's nomination to Capitol Hill, since the Senate that will be seated then will have a stronger Republican majority as a result of the elections.
Mr. Gonzales, 49, would be the first Hispanic attorney general. He is virtually certain to be questioned about a memo he wrote early in 2002 about the treatment of people detained by the United States after the American-led campaign to topple the Taliban regime in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
On Jan. 25, 2002, Mr. Gonzales wrote a memorandum to President Bush in which he supported the Justice Department's position that suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban members did not need to be treated according to rules of the Geneva Conventions, which govern treatment of prisoners of war.
Mr. Gonzales argued that accepting the recommendations of the Justice Department would preserve flexibility in the global war against terrorism.
"The nature of the new war places a high premium on other factors such as the ability to quickly obtain information from captured terrorists and their sponsors in order to avoid further atrocities against American civilians," his memo said.
Mr. Gonzales went on to say that the war against terrorism, "in my judgment renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners."
Given the allegations of mistreatment of some detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba and the scandal over the abuse of prisoners in Iraq, some senators can be expected to ask the nominee whether he still embraces those views.
The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement saying that it was sticking to its 80-year record of "uncompromising nonpartisanship" and thus taking no position on the nomination. "The board, staff and more than 400,000 members of the A.C.L.U. do call, however, for a full and thorough Senate confirmation process that scrutinizes Mr. Gonzales' positions on key civil liberties and human rights issues," the organization said.
People for the American Way issued a similar statement. "Alberto Gonzalez's role in the development of policies that ultimately led to the Abu Ghraib prison scandals in Iraq is deeply troubling," said the organization's president, Ralph G. Neas. "Few images have done more to scar our nation's image at home and abroad than the terrible pictures of prisoners being abused in Iraq. Further, there are many questions that must still be answered regarding the rights and treatments of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. We expect senators to question him closely on these matters."
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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/10/po...rint&position=
11-11-2004, 03:46 AM
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