THOSE HISTORICALLY HIGH AMERICAN STANDARDS:

Senators criticize Gonzales for role in terror-suspect policies (Associated Press, January 6, 2005)

Attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales drew scorching criticism from Senate Democrats on Thursday for his role in Bush administration policies on the treatment of terror suspects. He repudiated torture tactics and vowed at a contentious confirmation hearing to abide by international treaties on prisoner rights.

``I will no longer represent only the White House. I will represent the United States of America and its people. I understand the difference between the two roles,'' President Bush's counsel told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Heard Dick Durbin's round of "questions" and he was incoherent. First he compared Abu Ghraib to Manzanar: were the Nisei the enemy? Or are Ba'athists innocent Americans victimized by racism? But later he said that he would have hoped that the Administration would be as conscious of human rights in waging the war on terror as Lincoln and FDR were. Given Lincoln's suspension of habeus corpus and the appalling death rates in P.O.W. camps and the fact that Manzanar was FDR's pet project, one was left with no idea what the heck he was talking about, though it would seem to give President Bush leeway to burn Baghdad to the ground, or nuke it.

MORE:
Senate Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearing (The following is the transcript of the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings on the nomination of Alberto R. Gonzales to be attorney general as transcribed by Federal News Service, 1/06/05)

SEN. SPECTER: Senator Durbin.

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D-IL): [...] The images of Abu Ghraib are likely to be with us for a lifetime and beyond, as many images of war can be. The tragedy of Abu Ghraib and the embarrassment and scandal to the United States are likely to be with us for decades and beyond. Yesterday we paid tribute to our colleague Congressman Robert Matsui, not only a great congressman, but particularly great in light of the fact that as a Japanese-American he was sent to an internment camp by his government that did not trust his patriotism or the patriotism of his family. That shameful chapter in American history is recounted even today, more than 50 years later, as we think about it. I'm afraid that the torture that occurred in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo will similarly be recounted 50 years from now as a shameful chapter in American history. When you answered Senator Kohl, you said we're going to divide what happened in Abu Ghraib into two areas. Physical and sexual torture never acceptable, some idea of fun by depraved people, and you condemned it; but a second area, interrogation techniques that went too far, and you conceded that those interrogation techniques might have migrated or started at Guantanamo and somehow made it to Iraq. My question to you is, would you not also concede that your decision and the decision of the president to call into question the definition of torture, the need to comply with the Geneva Conventions, at least opened up a permissive environment for conduct which had been ruled as totally unacceptable by presidents of both public -- both parties for decades? [...]

SEN. DURBIN: Well, let me just say, in conclusion, I'm glad to hear that. I'm troubled by the introduction -- the hypothetical is one that you raised in the memo, relative to torture, as to whether the president had the authority as commander in chief to ignore the Geneva Conventions or certain other laws. This is not something that comes from our side of the table of our own creation, it is your creation, a hypothetical you created. My concern is this; I do not believe that this government should become a symbol for a departure from time-honored traditions where we have said that we will not engage in torture, directly or indirectly by rendition, which I hope to ask you about in the next round; that we will stand by the same standards of Geneva Conventions since World War II and, frankly, dating back to Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War in terms of the treatment of prisoners. I am concerned that that round of memos that went through the Department of Justice -- Mr. Bybee -- into the Department of Defense, into Guantanamo, and then migrated somehow to interrogation techniques in Abu Ghraib has stained our world reputation. I want to win this war on terrorism, but I don't want to do it at the expense of our soldiers who may some day become prisoners themselves. Thank you, Mr. Gonzales.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 6, 2005 4:11 PM