Saturday January 8, 2005
It is good to know that Alberto Gonzales, President George Bush's nominee for US attorney-general, is "sickened and outraged" by torture. Mr Gonzales has also told the senate judiciary committee that he does not consider the Geneva conventions on the treatment of prisoners-of-war either "quaint" or "obsolete" - words he used when he was the White House counsel and the abuse of detainees was taking place at Abu Ghraib prison and Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.
The controversy surrounding Mr Gonzales includes two key elements: one is that it is part of the American dream that the child of a dirt poor Mexican immigrant can rise to one of the highest offices in the land. (He previously served as counsel to Mr Bush when the governor of Texas was a keen executioner who relied on his legal advice in rejecting appeals for clemency.) The second element - not part of that dream, even after 9/11 - is the way that democratic values and human rights have been violated in pursuit of Mr Bush's "war on terror".
Since the Republicans have a majority in the Senate, the outcome of this confirmation hearing is probably not in doubt, though happily Mr Gonzales has been facing rigorous scrutiny. Official obfuscation over documents stating which types of torture were deemed "permissible" under US law means a "smoking gun" is unlikely to be found. But the impression, roundly condemned by liberal American politicians, clerics, former military men and the media, is that Mr Gonzales' job was to find ways to circumvent the spirit of the law, if not its letter. His appointment will not improve the country's tarnished global reputation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1385900,00.html
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