GONZALES AND TORTURE – GETTING WARMER

“Today, it is clear that these operations have fostered greater animosity toward the United States, undermined our intelligence gathering efforts and added to the risks facing our troops serving around the world,” – General Shalikashvili and a dozen other high-ranking retired military officers, objecting to the nomination of a man who enabled and justified the use of torture as attorney-general of the United States. Today, we find that not only did Gonzales pen the memo that gave the president legal carte blanche to waive the Geneva Conventions, but that he also requested the infamous Bybee memo that all but defined torture out of existence. Those Democrats who are jittery about using the hearings to illuminate what Gonzales helped bring about should get over the jitters. If the opponents of Gonzales are smart, they’ll focus more on the torture at Guantanamo Bay and around the globe than on Abu Ghraib. The evidence shows that this was decidedly not an isolated matter; and, whatever the intentions of the president, defense secretary, attorney general and assistant attorney-general, their decisions clearly made such horrors possible. I know no one is ever responsible in the Bush administration for any mistakes, and I still think Bush should get the benefit of the doubt in picking his cabinet. But that doesn’t mean these hearings shouldn’t be used to highlight what is still going on. I have a feeling Gonzales may face a much tougher time than we now expect.