WP, Robinson, Part II: Ignorance (Should Gonzales declare himself an enemy combatant?)

[DeepModem Mom]

Memo to Gonzales
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, March 16, 2007; Page A21


Alberto Gonzales (Charles Dharapak - AP)

....Here's where the ignorance comes in: Gonzales accepts "responsibility" without accepting the blame that comes with it, since he could hardly be expected to know what was going on in the whole vast Justice Department.

I've got to admit, I felt a twinge of sympathy for Gonzales when, bravely and cluelessly, he faced the television cameras Tuesday and vowed to find out why he had given Congress categorical assurances that were not remotely true. He bears the burden of being the first Latino attorney general -- the first member of the nation's largest minority to hold such a senior position in the U.S. government. I have a sense of what that must mean to him, a sense of why he is so determined not to resign, why he made a point of declaring that he didn't get where he is by giving up.

But it was just a twinge. Then I remembered that Gonzales was the author of the notorious "torture memo" that greenlighted interrogation techniques for war-on-terrorism detainees that are designed to induce excruciating physical and psychological pain. Gonzales wrote of a "new paradigm" in which there is no conflict between American values and "inhuman treatment" of prisoners.

Determined to keep his job, Gonzales said he will leave no stone unturned in discovering why he said what he said to Congress about the U.S. attorney firings. I've got an idea: He can order the FBI to issue a " national security letter" and then rummage through his private communications on an unlawful fishing expedition, as has apparently happened to many thousands of Americans -- on Gonzales's watch.

If that fails, Gonzales can declare himself an enemy combatant, have himself whisked away in the dead of night to some secret prison and allow himself to be "waterboarded" until he finally sputters out the truth....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501877.html?nav=hcmodule

[Old and In the Way]

1. Some interesting editorials and op-ed pieces coming out.

No one is pulling punches anymore. The dots are getting connected and subpeona's are being served.

The Harder They Come, The Harder They Fall.....

[DeepModem Mom]

2. a.m. kick