Gonzales Says '02 Policy on Detainees Doesn't Bind C.I.A.

[Rose Siding]

Officers of the Central Intelligence Agency and other nonmilitary personnel fall outside the bounds of a 2002 directive issued by President Bush that pledged the humane treatment of prisoners in American custody, Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel, said in documents released on Tuesday.

In written responses to questions posed by senators as part of his confirmation for attorney general, Mr. Gonzales also said a separate Congressional ban on cruel, unusual and inhumane treatment had "a limited reach" and did not apply in all cases to "aliens overseas." That position has clear implications for prisoners held in American custody at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and in Iraq, legal analysts said.
...
Mr. Gonzales's acknowledgment in the written statements that the White House did not consider the C.I.A. bound by the same rules as military personnel is significant because the intelligence agency has carried out some of the government's most aggressive and controversial interrogation tactics in interviewing "high value" terror suspects. These techniques include "water boarding," in which interrogators make it appear that the suspect will be drowned.

Martin Lederman, a former Justice Department lawyer who has analyzed the administration's legal positions on treatment of prisoners, said the documents released Tuesday made it clear that the White House had carved an exemption for the C.I.A. in how it goes about interrogating terror suspects, allowing the agency to engage in conduct outside the United States that would be unconstitutionally abusive within its borders. Although the C.I.A. has been largely bound by Congressional bans on torture, Mr. Lederman said that standard was more permissive than the 2002 directive from Mr. Bush.

http://nytimes.com/2005/01/19/politics/19gonzales.html

[wildflower]

1. Is there any chance this confirmation won't happen?

This news is very upsetting.

-wildflower

[alittlelark]

2. No.

- sigh -

[shraby]

3. How can they possibly confirm

with that kind of info???
They are all as ugly as Gonzales.

[gottaB]

4. Are those replies online yet?

I saw the WP story, and they didn't link to them. Also checked senate.gov a few hours ago.

[Supersedeas]

5. Enlightenment....meet the CIA Inquisitor's Exception

And the public officer charged with 'enforcing the civil right' protected by the US Constitution is carving out exceptions to the 'Merican way/humane way of treating detainees.

That certainly justified the advice and consent rubber stamp.

Confirmed.

[w4rma]

6. I no care about any tradition that the "President" should work with the

cabinet he wants. This freak of nature should be in prison, not in our nation's cabinet.

And I, no longer, care about the precident that Republicans would think that turning him down would be in relation to a future Democratic President.

[Solly Mack]

7. Just wait.....people will rationalize a vote for his confirmation

I would rather be falsely accused of being a racist than to ever give the appearance of supporting torture.

I'm sorry but enough is enough. It's time (beyond time, really) to take a stand against the pernicious thinking and crushing cruelty that is the Bush administration.

We can't just blame Bush if Gonzales is confirmed. To truly serve the people of America, a vote to not confirm must be made...

Integrity does matter. Honor does matter.

The half of America that doesn't "get it" is bringing us all down.

We can shout until we are red in the face that it's "not me"...but if you're an American, it is you. It's "not me" either but I know that doesn't matter to the outside world. I'm an American. America engages in and supports torture. To those being tortured, my pleas of understanding and innocence don't matter much. It won't change the facts for them.

We can't claim to be a government of/for/by the people and not wear the taint when our government does wrong.

Some of the world doesn't see that some Americans are against Bush and his policies of destruction......some only see that America supports torture. Some see how Americans aren't taking to the streets. Some see the "sleeping giant" as comatose.

Our national myths damn us all. We are defeated by our own rhetoric of land of the free, home of the brave...

"it's still the greatest nation on earth"...is it? is it really?
Just what outrage must take place for that to change for some? If America embracing torture isn't enough...I shudder to think what will be.

[bpilgrim]

8. i agree, we MUST demand from OUR LEADERS to STAND UP and SPEAK OUT

DAILY against this BRUTAL UNLAWFUL ADMINISTRATION.

we know the neoCONs won't listen/change so we would be better advised to hammer our own reps who are ENABLING the neoCONs and this is certainly 1 issue that needs to be dealt with by our reps as well as SS, LYING, PREVENTIVE WAR, PATRIOT ACT, etc

peace