The Philosophy of the AG
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales spoke at McGeorge School of Law near Sacramento yesterday. His speech clearly set forth the underpinnings of the philosophy informing his view of the office of Attorney General: it is based on 9/12/01. From today's Sacramento Bee:
"My No. 1 priority is protecting our nation and our citizens from another attack," Gonzales said in a talk Friday at McGeorge School of Law in Oak Park. "That is what drives me."
While dozens of raucous protesters demonstrated outside, the nation's top cop spoke to a quieter audience of dignitaries and students who attended the invitation-only lecture at the school.
Gonzales' half-hour talk, read rapidly from notes, was a passionate defense of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism strategy on several fronts: domestic surveillance, the detention of foreign terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay, and the importance of the USA Patriot Act. ...
[He said] the administration must have new tools and rethink some old rules. He quoted a British report that described parts of the Geneva Convention as out of date, and he spoke of clarifying and modernizing those international standards of wartime behavior.
"This is a new threat that requires a new way of thinking," he said. [Emphasis added]
A new way of thinking: domestic surveillance and the USA Patriot Act, not the privacy of the Fourth Amendment or the centuries old concept of habeas corpus, not the US Constitution or international treaties we are signatory to. No wonder the audience was hand picked.
Fortunately, the invitation list wasn't checked as carefully as it might have been for the speech at one of California's more prestigious law schools. Several students weren't buying Mr. Gonzales' line.
After Gonzales' talk, second-year McGeorge students Tina Poley and Matthew Christy both expressed disappointment that he spoke only of the war on terror and not about other duties of the attorney general.
"The entire thing was on the defensive about terrorism," said Poley, who had carried a protest sign before the lecture. "About treating every day like Sept. 12. Nothing at all about protecting civil rights or pursuing corruption."
Christy pointed out that Gonzales began the question/answer portion of the program by saying, "Bring it on!" -- an echo of President Bush's controversial challenge at the beginning of the Iraq war.
"You'd think he would have avoided that expression," said Christy, who wore a T-shirt proclaiming: "Give up war for Lent."
Those responses give me some hope.
"My No. 1 priority is protecting our nation and our citizens from another attack," Gonzales said in a talk Friday at McGeorge School of Law in Oak Park. "That is what drives me."
While dozens of raucous protesters demonstrated outside, the nation's top cop spoke to a quieter audience of dignitaries and students who attended the invitation-only lecture at the school.
Gonzales' half-hour talk, read rapidly from notes, was a passionate defense of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism strategy on several fronts: domestic surveillance, the detention of foreign terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay, and the importance of the USA Patriot Act. ...
[He said] the administration must have new tools and rethink some old rules. He quoted a British report that described parts of the Geneva Convention as out of date, and he spoke of clarifying and modernizing those international standards of wartime behavior.
"This is a new threat that requires a new way of thinking," he said. [Emphasis added]
A new way of thinking: domestic surveillance and the USA Patriot Act, not the privacy of the Fourth Amendment or the centuries old concept of habeas corpus, not the US Constitution or international treaties we are signatory to. No wonder the audience was hand picked.
Fortunately, the invitation list wasn't checked as carefully as it might have been for the speech at one of California's more prestigious law schools. Several students weren't buying Mr. Gonzales' line.
After Gonzales' talk, second-year McGeorge students Tina Poley and Matthew Christy both expressed disappointment that he spoke only of the war on terror and not about other duties of the attorney general.
"The entire thing was on the defensive about terrorism," said Poley, who had carried a protest sign before the lecture. "About treating every day like Sept. 12. Nothing at all about protecting civil rights or pursuing corruption."
Christy pointed out that Gonzales began the question/answer portion of the program by saying, "Bring it on!" -- an echo of President Bush's controversial challenge at the beginning of the Iraq war.
"You'd think he would have avoided that expression," said Christy, who wore a T-shirt proclaiming: "Give up war for Lent."
Those responses give me some hope.
Labels: Fourth Amendment, habeas corpus
posted by Diane at 1:08 PM
1 Comments:
How could he possibly make an argument for eviscerating habeas corpus? New tools my ass! His tools and those of his leader are the tools used by dictators all through history (as he would know if he had any knowledge of history): the star chamber, the disappearances, the paranoid spying on the governed.
I would LOVE to see this man impeached. I am still pissed at Hilary for having voted to confirm him.
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