Marjorie Cohn (TruthOut): The Gonzales Indictment

[Jack Rabbit]

From TruthOut
Dated Tuesday January 18

The Gonzales Indictment
By Marjorie Cohn

Alberto Gonzales should not be the Attorney General of the United States. He should be considered a war criminal and indicted by the Attorney General. This is a suggested indictment of Alberto Gonzales for war crimes under Title 18 U.S.C. section 1441, the War Crimes Act.

COUNT I: Application of Geneva Conventions; Definition of Torture
On or about January 25, 2002 through January 16, 2005, Defendant ALBERTO GONZALES, Counsel to George W. Bush, the President of the United States of America, did write, commission and concur in memoranda that advocated conduct by United States military forces, amounting to war crimes under Title 18 U.S.C. section 1441 (The War Crimes Act) . . . .

Defendant ALBERTO GONZALES knew or should have known that, pursuant to memoranda written by, commissioned or concurred in by him, prisoners in United States custody would be subjected to willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment; and great suffering or serious injury to body or health, in violation of The War Crimes Act.

COUNT II: Military Commissions
Between September 11, 2001 and November 13, 2001, Defendant ALBERTO GONZALES did participate in the drafting of the Military Order establishing the Military Commissions, which order was signed by President George W. Bush on November 13, 2001. Said order mandated conduct by members of United States military forces which constitute war crimes under The War Crimes Act . . . .

Defendant ALBERTO GONZALES knew or should have known that the Military Commissions, in whose creation he participated, will deprive prisoners in United States custody who will be tried before them, of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the Third Geneva Convention and Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions.

Read more.

This is a well-put-together case. Of course, if Gonzales is guilty as Ms. Cohn charges (and I believe he is), then Bush must be indicted also.

[GetTheRightVote]

1. I am so glad to see citizens stepping up to the plate

:kick:

[gottaB]

2. On conspiracy theories, and the conspiracies that give rise to them

Hi, JR. Meant to post something in reply to your post in GDP the other day. You had said something about being ahead of the curve, and I recalled a period last spring when I was posting things like "Conspiracy to Commit War Crimes" and "Death Squad Shuffle" and wondering whether I was going off the deep end. Somebody posted that "It's tough being ahead of the curve." I think that almost says it all.

I don't normally have much of a mind for conspiracy theories. But in this case we have massive evidence of crime, or a body of crimes, and a conspiracy to commit them. Indeed, one of the perpetrators, Graner, has already been convicted of conspiracy to mistreat prisoners. What remains to be seen is whether this misconduct was planned and carried out under orders from the White House. I think there are compelling logical, ethical, and political reasons to hold the White House accountable. Further, I think there's an abundance of circumstantial evidence that would tend to inculpate the White House. It stands to reason that Bush authorized these crimes. However, to date there isn't a Presidential Finding or an Executive Order that we can show to make the case. We have evidence that such exists, but we don't acutally have one in our hands.

Politically, that makes for quite a challenge. The general public has less of a mind for conspiracy theories than I do, and many regard Bush as a fundamentally decent person. The case against him has yet to be made.

What's best way forward? Opposition to Gonzales is a logical next step. We still have a few days before the vote to confirm comes up. I would urge everybody to contact their Senators ASAP and voice their opinion of Gonzales.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

After that, I think the next logical target is the case against Rumsfeld. He's unpopular, in all likelihood guilty as sin, and he's close to the President.

The cases against CACI and Titan will also be ones to watch, and may implicate Cheney. I don't really know.

Whatever we do, we ought to be working to firmly establish in the public mind the reality that the torture scandal does not begin and end with Graner and his ilk. The more facts we bring to light, the stronger the case against Bush--assuming he's guilty, that is. But if we should come to discover that these crimes were committed behind Bush's back as it were, without his full knowledge or comprehension, so be it. And it may be that as more and more evidence becomes known, the scoundrels will take refuge in petty inconsitencies and contrarities, diverting attetention from the big picture. It's the big picture though that will tell the story, and have the greatest political impact. Thus it's incumbent upon us, the conspiracy theorists, to raise the soberst voices, to acknowledge the gaps in our knowledge so that the right questions might be asked, and the full extent and insidiousness of the conspiracy should come to be public knowledge.

My 2¢

I've really appreciated your writing on this topic. Thanks.

[Jack Rabbit]

3. I am not into conspiracy theories, either

However, there is much to support the contention that what we have in the White House, State Department and Pentagon is a humongous conspiracy to commit war crimes.

Conspiracies exist. Successful conspiracies involve small groups of people who know each other well enough to trust each other not to talk and are for the purpose of carrying out one single act. Most conspiracy theories -- at least the ones that give conspiracy theories a richly deserved bad name -- involve entire agencies with hundreds of employees remaining silent. They are risible. Such conspiracies are quickly unraveled, such as the Watergate burglary (which was actually a series of crimes) and cover up.

This conspiracy is coming unraveled and the only thing keeping it from getting big is the compliant corporate media acting like it's no big thing.

I used your link to send Senator Feinstein a letter telling her that I am disappointed in her remarks about Dr. Rice yesterday and urging her to vote no on both the Rice and Gonzales nominations.

[gottaB]

4. Re: contacting Feinstein--good deal.

As for the conspiracy, Occam's Razor will favor pinning the blame for the torture policy on the White House. That and a mountain of circumstantial evidence is what we have now.

Who is in the inner circle? We know Gonzales and Rumsfeld are in on it. There's a strong case against Tenet as well. We can deduce that Bush must be in on it, because arguably the CIA ops never would have consented to this absent a Presidential finding. But that's not proof, and there is always the possibility that Bush signed off on the policy without understanding its legal implications. That's why it is so important to go after Gonzales. He knew the law. I'm afraid that if he is confirmed as Attorney General, he may never be held accountable, and the truth of the President's involvement will remain unclear.

Look at the evolution of the editorial position of the Washington Post. They started off calling for investigations and accountability. When it became clear that Rumsfeld bore responsibility, they went after him. In recent months they have made it clear that they believe the White House is responsible. But they have been somewhat circumspect, for instance criticizing the "Bush administration" rather than Mr. Bush himself. It is becoming unavoidable, however. Recently they faulted Alberto Gonzales for "telling the President what he wants to hear," among other things.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. Like you, sir, I am a believer in Occam's razor

If I remeber that thread correctly, then it was about concpiracy theories. Like you, the same thing that leads me to be sceptical of concpiracy theories concerning the Kennedy assassination leads me to conclude very firmly that Bush is a war criminal who approved torture in his network of offshore gulags.

The memos which we have seen online from Gonzales are addressed to Bush. In spite of all the jokes to the contrary around here, we should assume he is capable of reading something more complicated than My Pet Goat. Bush was almost certainly aware of the issues around torture and indefinate detention. He almost certainly knows that he is violating the Geneva Conventions.

Worst of all, Bush doesn't care. If he did, he would have fired Gonzales, not appointed him Attorney General. A few other heads, including Rumsfeld's, would have rolled as well.