Meet your new Attorney General: Loyalty at any Cost

Where is the outrage? Where are the people screaming that Gonzales has supported torture and has made a life long career of simply kissing Bush's butt and covering Bush's ass? Oh wait, sorry, no its called loyalty.

Alberto Gonzales dutifully and loyally disavowed torture before congress however, and in a surprising asside for a lawyer he commented that the Geneva Convention was "quaint," but it didn't apply to non-state actors like... let me see... al Queda. Oh, yeah that's right unless you are acting at the behest of a corporation or a "recognized" government, you stand outside of any law; except the Old Testament, of course.

He said Abu Ghraib "sickened and outraged" him, but it was an isolated problem of training and supervision (nothing to do with orders from the chain of command), and the President still has the authority to do what is necessary to protect the American people, so feel safe. Um, we are not talking about security, we are talking about not using torture against human beings. Isn't it funny how the Bush people always judge actions in reference to forms of security and protection of their interests such as generating fear in the American public?

Mr. Gonzales affirmed that as attorney general he would apply the rule of law (always a favorite invocation of the right-wing to justify their actions -- before or after), but he could not recall how he might have been involved in discussions about the infamous "Torture Memo" of August, 2002.  Ah, not since Saint Reagan's many "I cannot recalls" has a statement of a lack of knowledge been so laughable. I was under the impression that there was no question that his office had been involved in constructing this memo. Of course, the Washington Post has repeatedly demonstrated how Mr. Gonzales had been deeply involved with prisoner detention policies shortly after 9-11 and began to review the idea of using torture. 

Gonzales demonstrated his "loyalty" again to Bush and the administration since there reamins no sign of life from the judiciary committee. The committee has requested access to at least a dozen different memos from the CIA, pentagon, and the justice department and so far these requests from judiciary committee democrats have fallen on deaf ears. 

That memo was called by one knowledgable witness, the dean of Yale Law School, "The worst memo I've ever seen."  It redefined torture and justified its use and vaguely justified it in the name of national security.  It was written to Gonzales, at his request, and was signed by Jay Bybee, and drafted by John Yoo, both Deputy Attorney Generals, and James Ho, in the department of justice's office of legal counsel.  It remained government policy until last November. 

So what happened to those right-wing warrior lawyers?  They are no longer with the department of justice.  Were they fired, demoted, admonished, forced to go on Oprah and defend their vicious policies?  Nope. They all got promotions. Jay Bybee is now a judge on the U.S. court of appeals, having slipped through the filibuster net, anyone sensing presidential appoinment here? John Yoo is at the Berkeley Law School instructing new generations of right-wingers how to bend the law; but where is James Ho?  This is the most interesting of all. At the hearing Gonzales was glowingly introduced by Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the nominee's home state and, of course, that of Bush.  Sitting right behind him was, oh yes... James Ho.  He is chief counsel on the senate's constitution subcommittee (knowing how to subvert the rule of law should come in very handy), and Cornyn is chair.  

Loyalty, ass covering, deceit, whatever you want to call it, goes far indeed.