by Armando at DailyKos [here]
Tue Jan 25th, 2005
Unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions. In this case, we,
the undersigned bloggers, have decided to speak as one and collectively
author a document of opposition. We oppose the nomination of Alberto
Gonzales to the position of Attorney General of the United States, and
we urge every United States Senator to vote against him.
As the prime legal architect for the policy of torture adopted by the
Bush Administration, Gonzales's advice led directly to the abandonment
of longstanding federal laws, the Geneva Conventions, and the United
States Constitution itself. Our country, in following Gonzales's legal
opinions, has forsaken its commitment to human rights and the rule of
law and shamed itself before the world with our conduct at Guantanamo
Bay and Abu Ghraib. The United States, a nation founded on respect for
law and human rights, should not have as its Attorney General the
architect of the law's undoing.
In January 2002, Gonzales advised the President that the United States
Constitution does not apply to his actions as Commander in Chief, and
thus the President could declare the Geneva Conventions inoperative.
Gonzales's endorsement of the August 2002 Bybee/Yoo Memorandum approved
a definition of torture so vague and evasive as to declare it
nonexistent. Most shockingly, he has embraced the unacceptable view
that the President has the power to ignore the Constitution, laws duly
enacted by Congress and International treaties duly ratified by the
United States. He has called the Geneva Conventions "quaint."
Legal opinions at the highest level have grave consequences. What were
the consequences of Gonzales's actions? The policies for which Gonzales
provided a cover of legality - views which he expressly reasserted in
his Senate confirmation hearings - inexorably led to abuses that have
undermined military discipline and the moral authority our nation once
carried. His actions led directly to documented violations at Abu
Ghraib and Guantanamo and widespread abusive conduct in locales around
the world.
Michael Posner of Human Rights First observed: "After the horrific
images from Abu Ghraib became public last year, Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld insisted that the world should 'judge us by our actions
[and] watch how a democracy deals with the wrongdoing and with scandal
and the pain of acknowledging and correcting our own mistakes.'" We
agree. It is because of this that we believe the only proper course of
action is for the Senate to reject Alberto Gonzales's nomination for
Attorney General. As Posner notes, "[t]he world is indeed watching."
Will the Senate condone torture? Will the Senate condone the rejection
of the rule of law?
With this nomination, we have arrived at a crossroads as a nation. Now
is the time for all citizens of conscience to stand up and take
responsibility for what the world saw, and, truly, much that we have
not seen, at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. We oppose the confirmation of
Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General of the United States, and we urge
the Senate to reject him.