OP-ED; GONZALES MUST GO

Gonzales Must Go

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales must resign.

His intransigence has led to some of the worst policies of the administration, resulting in damaged credibility both abroad and here at home. Since impeachment seems not to be an option for the “Commander in Chief” (much to the dismay of Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and most Democrats), the buck must stop at the desk of the Justice Department, which is supposed to be seen as independent of the Executive Branch’s political meddling.

Gonzales has been a sore spot in the administration from the beginning. The author of the infamous “torture memo,” he deserves a lot of the blame for the abuses of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He advocated the use of waterboarding, stress positions and other means to “break down,” alleged terrorists for intelligence to stop future attacks. The memo also called the Geneva Conventions “quaint and obsolete.” This resulted in both false intelligence and disdain for America throughout the world.

He was an early advocate of the USA Patriot Act, a law that flew through Congress just days after the September 11 attacks. This law has been abused again and again by the FBI, NSA and other government agencies in order to break drug networks, stop bank robbers and other crimes. This was not its intended use.

In fact, according to a report released March 9, 2007, the Justice Department said in an internal audit that it found that the FBI had acted illegally to secretly obtain personal information about US citizens.

Gonzales was appointed by President Bush to replace John Ashcroft as Attorney General on November 10, 2004. He was seen then as a moderate alternative to the radical Ashcroft: Gonzales did not vocally oppose abortion or affirmative action. It was also seen as a move to give Gonzales the credibility necessary to get him a fast track to a seat on the Supreme Court.

With the revelations of the abuse of the Patriot Act and his role in the firing of US Federal attorneys for political reasons, something for which his former chief of staff D. Kyle Sampson had to resign, Gonzales no longer has the credibility he once had.

Gonzales has denied any involvement in the attorney firings, and the administration has publicly come to his defense, despite reports surfacing that they are looking for a replacement.

A story in the Sunday, March 25, 2007 New York Times said that despite Gonzales’ statements to the contrary, he was informed of the firings taking place at least twice, according to emails and other documents released to Congress, which is investigating the scandal.

“They have also fed suspicions by some Democrats that the ousters, from the start, may have been orchestrated by the White House, and most particularly, by Karl Rove, the White House political adviser,” the article said.

Gonzales said in a television interview that he delegated “a task” to his assistant, and never checked on its completion. He said he never saw documents, which was refuted by the emails, which say that he headed a meeting in his office over the firings.

The Justice Department is supposed to be in charge of investigating criminal acts by members of the Executive Branch, or crimes against it. As such, it is expected to keep a certain level of independence from the executive branch’s political work.

Democrats have been pushing to subpoena administration officials, including Gonzales and Rove, to testify publicly about the firings. The White House has strongly resisted this, instead offering private interviews not to be under oath. However, Democrats are not the only ones that want to hear from the officials, so this is not a partisan hack job by Democrats.

This week, on the Sunday morning talk shows, Republican Party leaders in Congress started to join the Democrats in the drumbeat calling for Gonzales to step down. “He [Gonzales] was going to have to have an explanation as to why he said he wasn’t involved in discussions,” said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) on Meet the Press. “Now you have these e-mails which appear to contradict that.”

Specter was not the only one speaking on the issue Sunday morning. Sen. Hagel (R- Neb.) said he has credibility problems. “I think he’s going to have some difficulties,” he added.

This scandal surrounding the handling of US attorneys showed how blurry the line has been since the beginning of the Bush presidency. The only way for the Justice Department to ever have any level of credibility again is for Gonzales to step down, and a moderate, nonpartisan appointee to replace him.