posted on January 7, 2005 07:56:50 AM new
This is the guy our great moral leader has proposed for Attorney General......did "god" talk to him again and tell him to pick this guy and, if so, what kind of "god" is he?
One thing it does prove is that "birds of a feather flock together".....scum hangs together....and the people who approve of, and voted for, bush, are no better.
Alberto Gonzales: A Record of Injustice
As White House Counsel
GONZALES APPROVED MEMO AUTHORIZING TORTURE: An August 2002 Justice Department memo "was vetted by a larger number of officials, including...the White House counsel's office and Vice President Cheney's office." According to Newsweek, the memo "was drafted after White House meetings convened by George W. Bush's chief counsel, Alberto Gonzales, along with Defense Department general counsel William Haynes and [Cheney counsel] David Addington." The memo included the opinion that laws prohibiting torture do "not apply to the President's detention and interrogation of enemy combatants." Further, the memo puts forth the opinion that the pain caused by an interrogation must include "injury such as death, organ failure, or serious impairment of body functions—in order to constitute torture." The methods outlined in the memo "provoked concerns within the CIA about possible violation of the federal torture law [and] also raised concerns at the FBI, where some agents knew of the techniques being used" overseas on high-level al Qaeda officials. [Gonzales 8/1/02 memo; WP, 6/27/04; Newsweek, 6/21/04; NYT, 6/27/04]
GONZALES BELIEVES MANY GENEVA CONVENTIONS PROVISIONS ARE OBSOLETE: A 1/25/02 memo written by White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales said "the war against terrorism is a new kind of war" and "this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions." The memo pushes to make al Qaeda and Taliban detainees exempt from the Geneva Conventions' provisions on the proper, legal treatment of prisoners. The administration has been adamant that prisoners at Guantanamo are not protected by the Geneva Conventions. [Gonzales 1/25/02 memo; Newsweek, 5/24/04]
GONZALES ADMITTED HIS VIEWS 'COULD UNDERMINE U.S. MILITARY CULTURE': The 1/25/02 memo shows Alberto Gonzales was aware of the risk that ignoring the Geneva Conventions could create for the military. One concern expressed is that failing to apply the Geneva Conventions "could undermine U.S. military culture which emphasizes maintaining the highest standards of conduct in combat, and could introduce an element of uncertainty in the status of adversaries," which is what happened at Abu Ghraib. Secretary of State Colin Powell strongly warned against taking this decision, as did lawyers from the Judge Advocate General's Corps, or JAG. This week, a federal judge ruled that "President Bush had both overstepped his constitutional bounds and improperly brushed aside the Geneva Conventions" when he established military tribunals in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to try detainees as war criminals. [Gonzales 1/25/02 memo; Bloomberg, 6/14/04; New York Times, 11/9/04]
GONZALES BLOCKS INFORMATION FROM CONGRESS: Historically, senators have been allowed to review some memoranda by judicial nominees. But, in a letter [about nominee Miguel Estrada], Gonzales told the Democrats that the administration would not produce the memos, because to do so would chill free expression among administration lawyers and violate the principle of executive privilege, which protects the internal deliberations of the president's aides. [New Yorker, 5/19/03]
As Texas Chief Legal Counsel
DEATH PENALTY MEMOS: GONZALES'S NEGLIGENT COUNSEL: As chief legal counsel for then-Gov. Bush in Texas, Gonzales was responsible for writing a memo on the facts of each death penalty case – Bush decided whether a defendant should live or die based on the memos. An examination of the Gonzales memoranda by the Atlantic Monthly concluded, "Gonzales repeatedly failed to apprise the governor of crucial issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence." His memos caused Bush frequently to approve executions based on "only the most cursory briefings on the issues in dispute." Rather than informing the governor of the conflicting circumstances in a case, "The memoranda seem attuned to a radically different posture, assumed by Bush from the earliest days of his administration—one in which he sought to minimize his sense of legal and moral responsibility for executions." [Atlantic Monthly, July/August, 2003]
MEMORANDUM ON TERRY WASHINGTON: A CASE STUDY IN INCOMPETENCE: In his briefing on death-row defendant Terry Washington – a mentally retarded 33-year-old man with the communication skills of a seven-year-old – Gonzales devoted nearly a third of his three-page report to the gruesome details of the crime, but referred "only fleetingly to the central issue in Washington's clemency appeal—his limited mental capacity, which was never disputed by the State of Texas—and present[ed] it as part of a discussion of 'conflicting information' about the condemned man's childhood." In addition, Gonzales "failed to mention that Washington's mental limitations, and the fact that he and his ten siblings were regularly beaten with whips, water hoses, extension cords, wire hangers, and fan belts, were never made known to the jury, although both the district attorney and Washington's trial lawyer knew of this potentially mitigating evidence." Nor did he mention that Washington's lawyer had "failed to enlist a mental-health expert" to testify on Washington's behalf, even though "ineffective counsel and mental retardation were in fact the central issues raised in the thirty-page clemency petition" it was Gonzales's job to review. This all came at a time when "demand was growing nationwide to ban executions of the retarded." [Atlantic Monthly, July/August, 2003]
GONZALES TOLD GOV. BUSH HE COULD IGNORE INTERNATIONAL LAW: In 1997, Alberto Gonzales wrote a memo for then Gov. Bush to justify non-compliance with the Vienna Convention. The Vienna Convention, ratified by the Senate in 1969, was "designed to ensure that foreign nationals accused of a crime are given access to legal counsel by a representative from their home country." Gonzales sent a letter to the U.S. State Department in which he argued that the treaty didn't apply to the State of Texas, as Texas was not a signatory to the Vienna Convention. Two days later, Texas executed Mexican citizen Irineo Tristan Montoya, despite Mexico's protestations that Texas had violated Tristan's rights under the Vienna Convention by failing to inform the Mexican consulate at the time of his arrest. (Slate, 6/15/04)
GONZALES GETS BUSH OUT OF JURY DUTY TO KEEP DUI SECRET: In 1996, as counsel to Gov. Bush, Gonzales helped to get him excused from jury duty, "a situation that could have required the governor to disclose his then-secret 1976 conviction for drunken driving in Maine." Gonzales argued "that if Bush served, he would not, as governor, be able to pardon the defendant in the future." [USA Today, 3/18/02]
posted on January 7, 2005 08:00:56 PM new
Crow: An excellent summary of Gonzalez' record. He is a danger to the personal freedoms of all Americans.
____________________________________________
Dick Cheney: "I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11..."
posted on January 7, 2005 08:05:10 PM new
All the questioning the left has put Gonzales through is only political grandstanding....nothing more.
He's got the job. The dems aren't going to be brave enough to vote against him getting the position....they'd piss off a majority of their minority supporters if they did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on January 7, 2005 08:20:07 PM new
See how happy linduh, the neonazi, is about putting a scumbag like Gonzales in such a position of authority....oh, that's right, SHE'S the one who approves of torture,too, especially child torture. Hope your alleged son gets caught by Iraqis and gets a dose of YOUR medicine.
Your approval of this "man" shows the typical low moral values and total lack of ethics and integrity of the "right". So sad how low people can sink.
posted on January 7, 2005 08:30:41 PM new
How low people can sink? Sinking to your level is the lowest anyone could go. The continuing false labeling you type, the the name calling shows your total frustration in being out of power for the next four years. Get used to it...there's going to be a lot you don't like and lying about what I support won't change a thing. I take that back...it does prove what a liar you are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on January 7, 2005 08:52:35 PM new
Can't take back your words supporting child torture in Iraq. And why would you ? You support(worship) a president who heartily approves of it. And now the "man" he wants for Secretary of Defense also approves.
And you appear so happy that there'll be "Four more Years" of it.....you must approve, too.
Why do you deny it? Can't support your president?
Oh, and by the way, linduhnazi, normal people(you won't understand) see name calling as a very minor offense compared to torturing people.
posted on January 7, 2005 09:01:41 PM new
No, cf, can't take back what I NEVER said and have never supported.
You have a unique way of taking the words of others...twisting them around...then making pronoucements that aren't true. We've been down this road before....you were proved wrong about what I said and continue to lie about it.
No sense in continuing to deal with a habitual liar.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on January 7, 2005 09:17:36 PM new
No, linduh, I was never proved wrong.....I reposted your post defending child torture. You simply denying it will not make it go away. You can lie to me but you can't lie to yourself.
Now, nazigirl, let's discuss LOGIC.
YOU support bush.
Bush supports torture.
Logical conclusion: YOU support torture.
posted on January 8, 2005 06:10:42 AM newHe's got the job. The dems aren't going to be brave enough to vote against him getting the position....they'd piss off a majority of their minority supporters if they did
Your statement is quite demeaning to those of us who are minorities Linda. It presumes we'll support someone just because he's brown, rather than on his merits.
Thanks.
____________________________________________
Dick Cheney: "I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11..."
posted on January 8, 2005 07:11:38 AM new
profe - It was not intended to be demeaning....just the opposite as a matter of fact. Gonzales will be the FIRST A.G. of the US who is Hispanic. It is my position that the majority of Hispanic voters would like to see that and wouldn't be happy at all to have the dems be the ones who block it for any reason. Especially since the majority of Hispanics have always been one of the dems major supporters because they feel they have better representation with one of their 'own' in such a high position.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on January 8, 2005 08:24:20 AM new
Another insult to Hispanics as a group !
Wow! linduh doesn't call names but the insults are spewing forth!
I think Hispanics think as individuals....they won't support, as a group, a scumbag like Gonzales just because he's Hispanic. IF they do I then hope they get everything they ask for.
posted on January 8, 2005 08:38:36 AM new
As a group, Hispanics vote democratic. That's a fact....not an insult. They're a voting 'group' of individuals who, on the whole vote for their own best interests. They, like any other group, don't like having dems play their racist games....pretending that those of other races aren't really representing their culture/race if they are Republicans or agree with any Republican position.
Same thing as with Rice and Powell [and several others]....the dems have always made untrue comments about their basically being Uncle Toms and 'just for show' ...rather than that they were put in their positions BECAUSE they were qualified to be put there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on January 8, 2005 08:54:44 AM new
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, D.C. ,20016
Dear Concerned Citizen:
Thank you for your recent letter roundly criticizing our treatment of the Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees currently being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Our administration takes these matters seriously, and your opinion was heard loud and clear here in Washington. You'll be pleased to learn that, thanks to the concerns of citizens like you, we are creating a new division of the Terrorist Retraining Program, to be called the "Liberals Accept Responsibility for Killers" program, or LARK for short. In accordance with the guidelines of this new program, we have decided to place one terrorist under your personal care.
Your personal detainee has been selected and scheduled for transportation under heavily armed guard to your residence next Monday. Ali Mohammed Ahmed bin Mahmud (you can just call him Ahmed) is to be cared for pursuant to the standards you personally demanded in your letter of admonishment. It will likely be necessary for you to hire some assistant caretakers. We will conduct weekly inspections to ensure that your standards of care for Ahmed are commensurate with those you so strongly recommended in your letter.
Although Ahmed is a sociopath and extremely violent, we hope that your sensitivity to what you described as his "attitudinal problem" will help him overcome these character flaws.
Perhaps you are correct in describing these problems as mere cultural differences. He will bite you, given the chance. We understand that you plan to offer counseling and home schooling. Your adopted terrorist is extremely proficient in hand-to-hand combat and can extinguish human life with such simple items as a pencil or nail clippers. We do not suggest that you ask him to demonstrate these skills at your next yoga group.
He is also expert at making a wide variety of explosive devices from common household products, so you may wish to keep those items locked up, unless
(in your opinion) this might offend him.
Ahmed will not wish to interact with your wife or daughters
(except sexually) since he views females as a subhuman form of property. This is a particularly sensitive subject for him, and he has been known to show violent tendencies around women who fail to comply with the new dress code that Ahmed will recommend as more appropriate attire. I'm sure they will come to enjoy the anonymity offered by the burka - over time. Just remind them that it is all part of "respecting his culture and his religious beliefs" - wasn't that how you put it?
Thanks again for your letter. We truly appreciate it when folks like you, who know so much, keep us informed of the proper way to do our job.
You take good care of Ahmed - and remember...we'll be watching. Good luck!
Cordially...Your Buddy,
Don Rumsfeld
----------------
PS Linda, don't let the SOB's get to you, you know they are always going to zitch about anything the RIGHT does.
A word to the wise ain't necessary, it's the stupid ones that need the advice."
- Bill Cosby
posted on January 8, 2005 09:10:47 AM new
Happy New Year to you and yours, bear.
LOL @ your 'letter'. I think it would be great if that could be done. It sure would force them to acknowledge who we're dealing with.
So many on the left are so sensitive about having their support of, love for America challenged ....but so often appear to me to side with our enemies. Blaming our actions meant to protect us while siding with those who wish us harm.
Heaven forbid we should have a man as AG that supports this President and his methods of protecting this country.
But the good news is Gonzales will be approved. Like I said...I truly believe it's all grandstanding on the part of those 'grilling' him so hard. I predict there will be FEW, if any, dems who oppose his nomination.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on January 8, 2005 09:56:32 AM new
Oh when the neonazis are in the wrong how ridiculous they can get
linduh once again shows support for torture (she must be a terrorist, that's their method) and will probably once again deny it with blatant evidence right here to prove it.
Once again I sincerely hope that her alleged son will be captured and tortured horribly so linduh can say with delight "Four more Years". Afterall, to linduh, torture is a good thing.
Maybe in some neonazi's twisted little mind they can come up with an actual REASON they think that torture protects Americans......naw, too much THOUGHT would have to into it.
Besides they enjoy torturing people(non-white people) and wouldn't want to see it end.
[ edited by crowfarm on Jan 8, 2005 06:51 PM ]
posted on January 8, 2005 10:20:28 AM new
crowfarm said:
Once again I sincerely hope that her alleged son will be captured and tortured horribly so linduh can say with delight "Four more Years". Afterall, to linduh, torture is a good thing.
Do you believe I missed your above statement the first time you said it? The second? The third? You're one very sick person, filled with hatred. Again, I pity you. I can't imagine being so filled with hatred towards another person to wish death or torture on a man who is defending this country...for all of us.
What an extremely pathetic person you are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on January 8, 2005 10:54:32 AM new
Crow, it appears as if Gonzales is a flip flopper based on what you had posted earlier. This is what Gonzales has said earlier this week:
"I would have to know what is the national interest the president must consider," Gonzales said. But he added, "I will say that I will take an oath to defend the statutes." He also said that if confirmed he would prosecute U.S. personnel who abuse prisoners.
Gonzales said he was "sickened" by the Abu Ghraib revelations and pledged that "torture and abuse will not be tolerated by this administration."
Although Gonzales made several strong disavowals of torture, he hedged a bit when Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) asked, "Can U.S. personnel legally engage in torture under any circumstances?" Gonzales cited a series of laws banning torture and said, "I don't believe so, but I'd want to get back to you on that. . . . But I think that the answer to that is no."
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- "Give it up for George W. Bush, the best friend international jihad ever had."
posted on January 8, 2005 11:15:23 AM new
Ha! logan, just like linduh flip flops on the torture issue, first she supports it and then she doesn't.
So now the neonazicons must NOT want Gonzales because NOW he doesn't believe in torture.....oh, but he's such a scumbag on other issues they'll adore him anyway..........
posted on January 8, 2005 06:11:06 PM new
U.N. 'peacekeepers' rape women, children
Widespread sex scandal threatens to become 'United Nations' Abu Ghraib'
With the United Nations already under fire for the Oil-for-Food mega-scandal and other corruption, sensational allegations of rampant sexual exploitation and rape of young girls and women by the U.N.'s so-called "peacekeepers" and civilian staffers in the Congo is dragging the global body's reputation to an all-time low.
In a new report referring to the widespread sex scandal as "the U.N.'s Abu Ghraib," the London Times provides some specific examples, including:
* A French U.N. logistics expert in the Congo shot pornographic videos in his home, in which he had converted his bedroom into a photo studio for videotaping his sexual abuse of young girls. When police raided his home, the man was allegedly about to rape a 12-year-old girl sent to him in a law enforcement sting operation. As the Times reported, a senior Congolese police officer confirmed the bed was surrounded by large mirrors on three sides, with a remote control camera on the fourth side.
* U.N. officials are worried that the scandal, which already has netted 150 allegations of sex crimes by U.N. staffers, will explode if the pornographic videos and photos, now on sale in Congo, becoming public
"It would be a pretty big problem for the U.N. if these pictures come out," one senior official told the Times.
* Two Russian pilots paid young girls with jars of mayonnaise and jam to have sex with them, the report adds.
* U.N. "peacekeepers" from Morocco based in Kisangani – a secluded town on the Congo River – are notorious for impregnating local women and girls. In March, an international group probing the scandal found 82 women and girls had been made pregnant by Moroccan U.N. staffers and 59 others by Uruguayan staffers. One U.N. soldier accused of rape was apparently hidden in the barracks for a year.
Congo's Minister of Defense Maj.-Gen. Jean Pierre Ondekane told a top U.N. official that all U.N. "peacekeepers" in Kisangani would be remember for would be "for running after little girls," the Times reported.
* And at least two U.N. officials – a Ukrainian and a Canadian – have been forced to leave the African nation after getting local women pregnant.
Most of the sexual abuse and exploitation, says the report, involves trading sex for money, food or jobs. However, some victims say they were raped, but later given food or money to make the incident appear to have been consensual – "rape disguised as prostitution."
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno told the London paper: "The fact that these things happened is a blot on us. It's awful. What is important is to get to the bottom of it and fight it and make sure that people who do that pay for what they have done."
Despite the fact that the U.N.'s sexual code of conduct is prominently displayed on U.N. facilities Congo – forbidding sex with prostitutes or women under 18 – the U.N. continues to hand out free condoms to "peacekeepers" to protect them from AIDS.
The U.N. has promised to investigate and prosecute the widespread allegations. But, as WND reported last month, the global organization is not known for its forthrightness and candor in such internal investigations. The agency has been criticized for ignoring evidence or wrongdoing in the past – including accusations of rape and murder by "peacekeepers."
In fact, previous revelations of peacekeeping abuses have only been revealed by news organizations. Such was the case in Cambodia in the early 1990s and later in Somalia, Bosnia and Ethiopia.
"I am afraid there is clear evidence that acts of gross misconduct have taken place," Secretary-General Kofi Annan admitted. "This is a shameful thing for the United Nations to have to say, and I am absolutely outraged by it."
Annan said the allegations concerned a small number of U.N. personnel and promised to hold those involved accountable.
"I have long made it clear that my attitude to sexual exploitation and abuse is one of zero tolerance, without exception, and I am determined to implement this policy in the most transparent manner," Annan said.
But Jordan’s Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein, a special adviser to Annan and who led one investigative team, said in a confidential report obtained by The Times: "The situation appears to be one of 'zero-compliance with zero-tolerance' throughout the mission."
The new charges of rape and pedophilia by U.N. troops and workers in Congo are not the first scandal involving U.N. workers and troops in Africa.
Former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's tenure was marked by scandalous charges that he played a leading role in supplying weapons to the Hutu regime that carried out a campaign of genocide against the Tutsi tribe in 1994.
As minister of foreign affairs in Egypt, Boutros-Ghali facilitated an arms deal in 1990, which was to result in $26 million of mortar bombs, rocket launchers, grenades and ammunition being flown from Cairo to Rwanda. The arms were used by Hutus in attacks which led to up to a million deaths. The role of Boutros-Ghali, who was in charge at the U.N. when it turned its back on the killings in 1994, was revealed in a book by Linda Melvern. In "A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide," Boutros-Ghali admits his role in approving an initial $5.8 million arms deal in 1990, which led to Egypt supplying arms to Rwanda until 1992. He says he approved it because it was his job as foreign minister to sell weapons for Egypt.
Back in 1997, there were reports Belgian U.N. troops roasted a Somali boy. A military court reportedly sentenced two paratroopers to a month in jail and a fine of 200 pounds for the offense.
Another Belgian soldier reportedly forced a young Somali to eat pork, drink salt water and then eat his own vomit. Another sergeant was accused of murdering a Somali whom he was photographed urinating upon. Another child, accused of stealing food from the paratroopers' base, died after being locked in a storage container for 48 hours. Fifteen other members of the same regiment were investigated in 1995 for "acts of sadism and torture" against Somali civilians.
The pattern of abuse was not confined to Belgian troops. Belgium was actually the third country in the peacekeeping group to charge troops with serious crimes against Somali citizens -- including rape, torture and murder. In 1995, a group of Canadian paratroopers were investigated for torturing a Somali to death and killing three others.
Gruesome photos were published in a Milan magazine of Italian soldiers torturing a Somali youth and abusing and raping a Somali girl. Paratroopers claim they were specifically trained in methods of torture to aid interrogation. According to one witness, Italian soldiers tied a young Somali girl to the front of an armored personnel carrier and raped her while officers looked on.
posted on January 10, 2005 08:18:12 AM new
As long as you're feeling better linduh, maybe you can answer my posts on your ability to use logic.....seems you've forgotten....(like you do everytime I kick your butt)
posted on January 10, 2005 11:47:28 AM new
"As long as you're feeling better linduh, maybe you can answer my posts on your ability to use logic.....seems you've forgotten....(like you do everytime I lick your butt)"
posted on January 10, 2005 12:22:06 PM new
And the Ass man is heard from again!
Classy has stated before that he is an ass man... isn't that right Classy...
posted on January 10, 2005 12:56:47 PM new
Classy has stated before that he is an ass man... isn't that right Classy...
He must have picked that up when he was on leave in SF during his Navy years.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- "Give it up for George W. Bush, the best friend international jihad ever had."
