Bush's Counsel Sought Ruling About Torture -NYT (WH says of Gonzales)

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 - Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel, intervened directly with Justice Department lawyers in 2002 to obtain a legal ruling on the extent of the president's authority to permit extreme interrogation practices in the name of national security, current and former administration officials said Tuesday.
...
Until now, administration officials have been unwilling to provide details about the role Mr. Gonzales had in the production of the memorandum by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Mr. Gonzales has spoken of the memorandum as a response to questions, without saying that most of the questions were his.

Current and former officials who talked about the memorandum have been provided with firsthand accounts about how it was prepared. Some discussed it in an effort to clear up what they viewed as a murky record in advance of Mr. Gonzales's confirmation hearings. Others spoke of the matter apparently believing that the Justice Department had unfairly taken the blame for the memorandum.

A White House spokeswoman, Erin Healy, said Tuesday that while Mr. Gonzales personally requested the August opinion, he was only seeking "objective legal advice and did not ask the Office of Legal Counsel to reach any specific conclusion."

http://nytimes.com/2005/01/05/politics/05gonzales.html?hp&ex=1104901200&en=a043be62f9fb3c04&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[DrBB]

1. I hope he gets raked over the coals

I have no epithet low enough for this piece of shit. He has betrayed his profession, and he has betrayed everything this country USED TO stand for. He should be repudiated, denounced and reviled. His name should be mentioned alongside those of John Wilkes Booth and Benedict Arnold. There are bad choices for AG--the only kind we can expect from the Banana Republicans--but this dirtwad falls below even that pathetic standard.

The only guy Bush could have thought of who could make Ashheap look good--well, marginally better, anyway--by comparison.

[Javaman]

2. I hope he becomes one with the coals...

[NYC]

3. And he did such a good job investigating Bernard Kerik.

Don't you think?

[unpossibles]

4. wow

funny how all the fecal matter is hitting the oscillator lately, huh?

[Mike Niendorff]

5. "extreme interrogation practices"

see: "torturing prisoners"


MDN

[Spazito]

6. LOL! The US press is getting very creative in trying to avoid...

the use of the correct term 'torture' in their articles. It is not only the bush admin that is changing the language, the media is becoming almost comedic in their athletic attempts to avoid the truth.

[Catchawave]

7. Thanks to Gonzales....

...for tweaking those "torture" rules, we probably have a much more dangerous world.

Bush and Gonzales should be tried as War Criminals. Do we have any Dem Senators with BALLS??