WP: Gonzales Nomination Draws Military Criticism

[DeepModem Mom]

Gonzales Nomination Draws Military Criticism
Retired Officers Cite His Role in Shaping Policies on Torture

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 4, 2005; Page A02


A dozen high-ranking retired military officers took the unusual step yesterday of signing a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing "deep concern" over the nomination of White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales as attorney general, marking a rare military foray into the debate over a civilian post.

The group includes retired Army Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The officers are one of several groups to separately urge the Senate to sharply question Gonzales during a confirmation hearing Thursday about his role in shaping legal policies on torture and interrogation methods....

***

The letter signed by the retired officers, compiled by the group Human Rights First and sent to the committee's leadership last night, criticizes Gonzales for his role in reviewing and approving a series of memorandums arguing, among other things, that the United States could lawfully ignore portions of the Geneva Conventions and that some forms of torture "may be justified" in the war on terror....

***

A number of other groups are gearing up this week to criticize or oppose Gonzales's nomination. The American Civil Liberties Union -- which has forced the release of hundreds of pages of records documenting apparent abuses in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay -- said in a news release yesterday that the Senate should sharply question Gonzales about detainee issues as well as his close ties to President Bush.

Another organization of liberal religious leaders plans to release a letter today calling on Gonzales to "denounce the use of torture under any circumstances."...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45727-2005Jan3.html

[Verve]

1. Hey, it's likely that many of these retirees didn't break alliances and

voted for Shrub in November. If that's the case they'll just have to live with the consequences of their beloved BushCo and his scary Gonzales friend. Sadly, though, we all have to live with the consequences too. :-(

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

2. Not My Fault

I tried, but my vote did not count.

[Verve]

4. Agree! It's not your fault. However, if something doesn't happen on 1/6

then I'm going to have to say it's all Dem Senators' fault as well. Didn't MLK say something to the effect that : It's not criticism from your enemies but the silence from your friends that hurts you?

Hey but I digress. This is for another thread.

[spotbird]

7. The article says that many supported Kerry.

The MSM didn't think it was important at the time since the Swift Boat liars had weighed in already.

This won't make any difference at all, the Democrats will be petrified to challenge another Latino. Who cares about international opinion or our new Attorney's General stated contempt for the law?

[Stinky The Clown]

10. Why would you make that assumption?

Many, including Shalikashvili, were Kerry suppporters.

[Verve]

15. I woke up in a bad mood o.k. It's getting frustrating that no one is

able to stop Chimpy! I'm sorry I let my self pity this a.m. get to the rest of you.

[Itchinjim]

3. They didn't listen to Shalikashvili before the war,

so what makes him think they would listen to him now?

[Supersedeas]

6. but will Senate Democrats be responsive to our Military???

We know that Senate Republicans will bow to the parochial interests of the AWOL/Coverup Bush Administration that nominated Gonzo specifically to have a Company Man to control investigations and those on their way.

Odd, how that Torture Memo alterning the authorized treatment of Gitmo detainees shows up right before news of military concerns about Gonzo....an attempt to remove this issue before the MSM reports it as an issue?

So, will the Senate Dems show some integrity and honor both the Constitutional process and the concerns of the military and give Gonzo a thorough examination? We shall see....

[0007]

5. Alberto R. Gonzales condones torture and that is not a good sign

Watch this sleaze ball back petal, double talk, and give us a view of what a swell guy he is and how the press misunderstood him. We're gonna hear it all in the next few weeks. The freepers and the White House will come to Alberto Gonzales's aid. And the likes of the Rush Limbaugh's will work on public opinion of how great this man that pulled himself up by his bootstraps is indeed! FOX will trot General after General out to tell the mindless FOX audience that Gonzales is just a passionate Mexican America that should have toned down his love for the United States.

[gratuitous]

8. You know, I'm starting to feel something akin to hope

Gonzalez might not be confirmed. I'm sure the feeling will pass, though. Surely some spineless Senate Democrat will stand up and bravely opine that the President is entitled to appoint anyone he wants to these high government positions, and that the Senate's "advise and consent" role was really meant to be a rubber stamp.

[calimary]

12. Wish I could say the same thing, but I'm not kidding myself.

Our obedient puppies in the Senate will roll over yet again. Count on it. In hopes they'll get some crumbs from the master's table. Yeah, sure. Like they did in 2002. It'd be nice, but when has sage advice from respected sources ever mattered to these pirates?

[gratuitous]

16. As I said

I'm sure the feeling will pass, as the Democrats roll over once again, and the man who found a legal basis to authorize torture becomes confirmed as the nation's prosecuting attorney.

[Kolesar]

9. Jesus Christ

This article is good news.

[MADem]

11. I agree

I worked for a number of senior leaders who were Democrats. They didn't wear it on their sleeves, as good service personnel should not get into the political fray, but they DO exist.

I liked the trivia question to the right of the article--the last time we had so few Democrats in the Senate, the Depression happened.

Past sure is prologue!

[NYC]

23. Yes, it is.

I'm glad the Washington Post ran this.

[maxrandb]

13. Why does the former Chairman of the JCS

and all these career military officers HATE AMERICA SO MUCH?

Sorry, just couldn't resist.

[Q]

14. Shouldn't the buck stop with Bush?

Gonzales may have 'advised' torture but the order came from the Commander in Chief. If these officers want to hold someone responsible...it should be the 'war president'.

[Rose Siding]

17. Scheer asks: Is there bipartisan congressional support for torture?

good column...

That is the central question the Senate Judiciary Committee faces Thursday as it begins hearings on the confirmation of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales as the next attorney general of the United States. At stake is whether Congress wants to conveniently absolve Gonzales of his clear attempt to have the president subvert U.S. law in order to whitewash barbaric practices performed by U.S. interrogators in the name of national security.
...
Gonzales based his case for doing away with the Geneva protections on memos produced by a small group of Justice Department lawyers that, along with making other controversial claims, infamously argued that physical abuse of prisoners was torture only if it was "of an intensity akin to … serious physical injury such as death or organ failure," and mental abuse was torture only if it caused "lasting psychological harm." Presumably these pain and damage levels are to be determined by the interrogator.

Such language was so onerous that, perhaps to help Gonzales get through the hearings, the Justice Department only last week quietly slipped new guidelines onto its website redressing this stain on the country's reputation. Although still vague in many parts, the new doctrine belatedly reasserts the primacy of international and federal law in the treatment of prisoners, even those captured in relation to the war on terror.

Another positive step would be the withdrawal or rejection of the Gonzales nomination. To make a man with so little respect for both the spirit and the letter of the law the nation's top law enforcement official would be a terrible advertisement for American democracy.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer4jan04,0,7868158.column

[struggle4progress]

18. Retired flag officers concerned about attorney general nominee

A dozen retired generals and admirals said Tuesday they have “deep concern” about Alberto Gonzales’ nomination as attorney general because of his role in crafting Bush administration policy on questioning terror suspects.
The high-ranking officers include retired Army Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They made their views known in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold hearings on Gonzales’ nomination later this week.

They urged senators to question Gonzales aggressively about whether he now believes that torture may be used in some instances and whether anti-torture laws and treaties like the Geneva Conventions apply to anyone captured by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The full extent of Mr. Gonzales’ role in endorsing the use of torture remains unclear,” retired Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Hoar said at a news conference organized by the group Human Rights First. <snip>

http://www.marinetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-582956.php
http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-582956.php
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-582956.php

[DeepModem Mom]

20. Thanks very much for adding these links to military sites, s4p --

this move by these guys is apparently pretty much unprecedented.

[AirAmFan]

26. Soldiers are smart: they know 'what goes around comes around'.

If the US appears to condone torture and other affronts to the Geneva Convention, it's US soldiers who inevitably will pay the price. What country has the most military personnel stationed on foreign soil and at risk of falling into the hands of enemies? Why would they treat our people any better than we treat theirs?

Plus, the US would lose much international credibility in criticizing human rights violation by other countries should its own top legal official have a history of advising that torture is OK.

The Washington Post article today mentioned that Gonzalez did not get any advice from experts in the military or at State when he rushed to send out his infamous August 2002 torture memo. He completely ignored experts who've spent decades thinking about conventions of war and did a quick end-run around them. This is a guy who won't listen carefully to all opinions before making a decision--he doesn't belong in any Cabinet job or on any judicial bench.

[saigon68]

19. Would Gonzales enlist Jesus in his Mission to TORTURE AND KILL ??

You bet he would. He loves to hear his victims scream!!!!!!

[struggle4progress]

21. Law dean: Gonzales not qualified to be A.G.

By BEVERLEY WANG

Associated Press Writer

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The Navy’s former top lawyer reiterated his opposition to President Bush’s pick for attorney general Tuesday.

Retired Rear Adm. John Hutson said Alberto Gonzales — the president’s legal counsel — is not qualified to become attorney general because of his role in setting U.S. policy on torture and questioning suspects during the war on terrorism.

Hutson is a main author of a letter opposing Gonzales — signed by a dozen top-ranking retired generals and admirals — sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which begins hearings on Gonzales on Thursday. Some of the other signers held a news conference in Washington on Tuesday.

"I do not want him to be the attorney general because I think he fails to have a sublime understanding of the rule of law and human rights," Hutson, the Navy’s Judge Advocate General from 1997 to 2000, said in an interview. <snip>

http://www4.fosters.com/January2005/01.04.05/news/ap_nh0104p.asp

[goforit]

22. It's time for the military to stand up like real men against these thugs!!

[imenja]

24. don't forget Kerick

He was responsible for screening Kerick. That's got to be held against him.

[kerrygoddess]

25. As Human Rights Activists Shudder...

As Human Rights Activists Shudder, GOP Poised for Easy Gonzales Confirmation
4 January 2005

The GOP appears confident that the Gonzales nomination will go through with out a hitch. So confident that Gonzales supporters will not be testifying on his behalf.

Human rights activists and Democrats are expressing grave concerns over the confirmation of Gonzales and some Republicans are calling their concern partisan.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=191