by Mark Silva
This just in from Lubbock, Texas, where former U.S. Att'y Gen. Alberto Gonzales poses the perennial question: "Where do you draw the line?''
And allows that anyone who thinks that anyone who operates at the level that he did, or at the presidential level, will not make mistakes "is living in fairy-tale land.''
Gonzales, who ran the Justice Department for former President George W. Bush, warned today against the current Justice Department's inclination to investigate the CIA interrogations of detainees captured in "the war on terror'' on Bush's watch.
This could "discourage'' CIA operatives from "engaging in conduct that even comes close" to meeting the government's guidelines, Gonzales said in an interview with the Associated Press today. "So where do you draw the line?" he asked. "What is allowed, what's not allowed?"
The Bush Justice Department had told the CIA what was allowed - and "water-boarding'' was. The Obama Justice Department, which considers the simulated drowning used in interrogations and other tactics approved by its predecessors as torture, is weighing a probe to see if any CIA agents exceeded the authority that Justice had given them.
Att'y Gen. Eric Holder is poised to appoint a criminal prosecutor to investigate alleged CIA abuses committed during the interrogation of terrorism suspects, current and former U.S. government officials have said, as reported by the Tribune Washington Bureau. A senior Justice Department official has said that Holder envisions an inquiry narrow in scope, focusing on "whether people went beyond the techniques that were authorized" in Bush administration memos that liberally interpreted anti-torture laws.
Gonzales, who served as attorney general until resigning in 2007, has spoken with current CIA lawyers, who have spoken with CIA operatives. "They're very, very concerned about the legal liability and legal exposure," Gonzales told the AP. "And that's the danger with launching some kind of investigation.''
Gonzales has been hired by Texas Tech University to recruit and retain minority students. He will also teach a 15-student political science class, Contemporary Issue of the Executive Branch. He is classified as a visiting professor and has agreed to teach one year. His salary for both positions is $100,000, school officials have said.
Gonzales acknowledged wishing that he could "do some things over" during his time in Washington. He erred in using the words "quaint" and "the Geneva Convention" in the same sentence in a memo he wrote about the privileges that suspected terrorists should have in incarceration, he said.
"Now looking at it...I would not have done that," he allowed. "At this level you make mistakes. And if you think this president, this attorney general, this administration isn't going to make mistakes, you're living in a fairy-tale land."
Comments
Newly released testimony reveals that Karl Rove and the WH had a far greater role in the firings of US Attorneys at the DoJ then we've been led to believe (what, Rove lies?!!):
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/us/politics/12firings.html?_r=1&hp
Posted by: Kenny Bunkport | August 11, 2009 6:02 PM
There won't be any justice in this country until all of the BushCo war criminals and torturers are in a Federal Prison, i.e. Shrub Jr, Darth, Rummy, Gonzo, John Yoo, David Addington, Scooter Libby etc etc, all of them.
Posted by: Lucy | August 11, 2009 6:03 PM
Well why shouldn't the CIA interrogators worry if their actions are legal? Shouldn't that be a concern for them, just like it is for everyone else? They ultimately are responsible for their actions. They should think twice, or even three times about issues like torture. "I was just following orders" is no defense, just as "I just wrote a memo " is no defense.
Posted by: Nick | August 11, 2009 6:17 PM
The pious, sanctimonious democrats are back on their “Torture” fishing expedition. Gotta do what your deranged liberalism calls u out to do, I suppose. I am personally torture-deficient because Desiree Rodgers Lite, a pretty Latina, is relentless on the Global Warming, but totally slacking off on the Torture. The absence of “Torture” is Torture.
Posted by: Django - N Exile In/Around the 30th Parallel | August 11, 2009 8:54 PM
Berto was amazingly nonchalant in his turn as AG.
He never seemed to ponder anything or show any concern or recognition that what he was doing might be criminal.
He was just a rubber stamp.
Which will be his defense if he's tried.
Anyway, BBC did a series of documentaries on the German WW II high command, which can be viewed on UToob.
It's interesting that those who took part in formulating and implementing the Wannsee Protocol knew exactly what they were doing and the ones who survived to the end of the War took great pains to conceal their acts and to flee.
There has been a lot of concealment by the Bush admin figures, but so far no flight or suicides.
I think ultimately Berto and Rover will be indicted over some of the hanky panky at the Justice Dept. and possibly Addington.
Scooter, possibly. That commutation does not cover other corrupt acts that might surface, beyond the perjury and obstruction of justice in the Plame matter for which he was convicted.
Posted by: ornery | August 11, 2009 9:22 PM
The pious, sanctimonious democrats are back on their “Torture” fishing expedition. Gotta do what your deranged liberalism calls u out to do
Posted by: Django - N Exile In/Around the 30th Parallel | August 11, 2009 8:54 PM
**********************************
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Yeah, who cares about the Wingnut BushCo war criminals who tortured in our countries name, Repugs like Texas Scotty here would rather spend millions of tax payer dollars on things like finding out everything they can about an intern giving a bj to a Dem president.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCLz7XQOIOQ
Posted by: Secede already Texas! | August 11, 2009 9:44 PM
Why isn't Gonzales and Rave sharing a cell together, by now. Right next to the Bush&Cheney domicile. These bums, that took our country away from us and our future, and are now living high off the hog. They belong in the darkest, dirtiest prison in China !! Why, oh why, did the Republican and Libertarian Parties have to visit these skunks on America ? Does destroying the middle and working classes mean that much to you, skunks ?? You low-lifers !!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | August 12, 2009 9:15 AM
Sorry about that, John E @ 9:44 p.m. All of that Bill + Monica bizness could have been avoided if the dnc could have allocated some Motel 6 $$. The light is always on at M-6.
TX needs a trade agreement with Nazareth PA, Covina CA, some place in AZ. The rest of the bankrupt socialists can mismanage as best u can. Extort and Expropriate each other, I guess.
Naphthenic Texas Lube Oils ~ $10,995 per quart, retail. Ca$h Only No Credit, broke-a&& socialists.
Posted by: Django - N Exile In/Around the 30th Parallel | August 12, 2009 12:10 PM