October 19, 2007

Mukasey, Torture And The Responsibility Question

Cultural critics blame the proliferation of sadistic and gruesome imagery on television and in movies on Americans' psychic discomfort with their role as players in the war on terror. The phenomenon has even birthed a new category of mainstream entertainment: torture porn.

Audiences mostly comprising males in the 18-to-34 demographic are eagerly forking over $10 a pop to view the fantastical and revolting "Saw" and "Hostel" franchises. More discomfiting are the realistic depictions of torture lately seen in the film "Syriana" and on the show "24." A Foreign Affairs magazine survey (subscription) released in April found a 54-percent majority of Americans were OK with the use of torture on terrorism suspects "sometimes." Jack Bauer doesn't electrocute or nearly drown every hog-tied potential terrorist that comes his way, but when he does, the writers of the show are sympathetic to it. Bauer doesn't "always" torture, he "sometimes" tortures, and the end result is he saves the world. The "24" audience, including a former Democratic president, is apparently OK with that.

Americans may think they know what the legal definition of torture is from these images, but they probably have no idea. As we've learned in recent weeks, the business of defining torture is a difficult one, whether for national security reasons or failure of imagination. Certainly, the Bush administration is in no hurry to turn the issue into a national debate. That's problematic for this country, and not for the reasons you might think.

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Posted at 2:33 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, Campaigns, John Ashcroft, Michael Mukasey, Military, President Bush, Terrorism, WH 2008
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September 27, 2007

Where's John Ashcroft? Part Deux

We've asked it before and we're asking it again: Where in the world is former Attorney General John Ashcroft?

Very busy, his people say, and apparently too busy to give his version of that mysterious bedside visit to the press. Humph.

Actually, Ashcroft did speak to the press today, but on a completely unrelated matter. He appeared at a press conference in New Jersey to talk about a federal investigation into five hip and knee surgical implant companies found to have bribed surgeons into using their products. The companies have agreed to hefty fines and monitoring under an agreement that allows them to avoid criminal prosecution, and Ashcroft will be the independent monitor for Indiana-based Zimmer, Inc.

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Posted at 3:16 PM
Posted to: Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, John Ashcroft
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August 28, 2007

Paging John Ashcroft

Now that Alberto Gonzales is on his way out of the DOJ, will John Ashcroft finally come out and talk about that dramatic night in his hospital room?

A few pundits are joking that Gonzales' poor performance as attorney general succeeded in making Ashcroft look good. The former AG was the regular butt of jokes because of his old-fashioned brand of patriotism and religious devoutness, which is pretty unfair. We've said it before and we'll say it again: a few people out there might owe Mr. Ashcroft an apology.

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Posted at 1:01 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, John Ashcroft
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August 16, 2007

Ashcroft Was 'In No Condition' For Gonzales, Card Visit

Newly released notes from FBI Director Robert Mueller indicate two White House aides ignored the health concerns of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft as they tried to pressure the AG to sign off on President Bush's secret, possibly unconstitutional domestic spying program.

In the notes [PDF], obtained by the House Judiciary Committee and released today, Mueller seems to have been angered by then-White House Chief of Staff Andy Card and former counsel Alberto Gonzales, who insisted on seeing Ashcroft in his hospital room while the AG was recovering from gall bladder surgery and acute pancreatitis. Mueller says he was tipped off to the visit by then-Deputy AG James Comey, who assumed acting AG powers during his boss' illness.

Having reached Mueller while he was dining with his wife and daughter, Comey said that Ashcroft was "in no condition to see them, much less make decision [sic] to authorize continuation of the program." As is consistent with their sworn testimony, Comey requested Mueller's presence at the hospital to "witness" Ashcroft's condition.

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Posted at 6:41 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Constitution, Dick Cheney, Homeland Security, James Comey, John Ashcroft, President Bush, Robert Mueller
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July 31, 2007

House Dems Push Gonzales Impeachment; Specter Unhappy With WH Response

UPDATED.

Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee today laid out a case for forcibly removing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales from office, after filing a resolution [PDF] that would kick off preliminary impeachment proceedings.

"Americans of all stripes believe that we deserve an attorney general who will not allow the politicization of the judicial system," said the former prosecutor, flanked by other former officers of the law turned legislators. The attorney general should "respect the laws of privacy" and "be forthright with the American people and U.S. Congress," Inslee added.

If the resolution receives a simple majority, the House Judiciary Committee will conduct an investigation into whether Gonzales has committed any impeachable offenses, such as perjury.

The months-long investigation into the politically tinged firings of U.S. attorneys last year, and a related one into a secret surveillance program considered by many in DOJ to be illegal, has cast Gonzales in an unflattering light. He was elevated to the job from White House counsel in February 2005.

Democrats and Republicans alike have pushed for Gonzales to be fired or resign, but both the attorney general and President Bush, a longtime friend and career benefactor, have refused to give in. The White House has also ignored congressional subpoenas in the ongoing investigations.

Calling impeachment a "last resort," Inslee said that Congress' and the public's loss of faith in Gonzales was harmful to the judicial system and therefore to democracy. "Accordingly, I am here today with a number of colleagues to call on the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives to conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether articles of impeachment are appropriately lodged against the attorney general," the Washington lawmaker said.

Continue reading "House Dems Push Gonzales Impeachment; Specter Unhappy With WH Response"

Posted at 6:52 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Arlen Specter, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, House, James Comey, John Ashcroft, Patrick Leahy, President Bush, Robert Mueller, Senate
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July 27, 2007

Mueller Contradicts Gonzales Over Spy Program

FBI Director Robert Mueller, in testimony yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee, contradicted statements by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that there was no internal dispute within the administration about the legality of a warrantless eavedropping program.

The dispute revolves around a late-night visit in 2004 that Gonzales, as a White House counsel, and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card made to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital room, supposedly in an attempt to persuade Ashcroft to sign off on the terrorist surveillance program. The ailing Ashcroft refused because of concerns about its legality, according to testimony by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey.

Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee this week that the visit was not related to the wiretapping program and there was no disagreement within the administration about it.

Mueller strongly suggested otherwise when asked about the meeting by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.

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Posted at 10:29 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, James Comey, John Ashcroft, Robert Mueller, Senate
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July 24, 2007

Senate Lunch Chatter: Dems Sound Off On Wage Hike, Gonzales

UPDATED.

Senate Democrats led by Ted Kennedy celebrated the passage of a higher ed bill in a presser following the Tuesday lunches. Afterwards, House Dems led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi came to the Senate side and joined Senate Dems in a procession to Upper Senate Park for a celebration of the minimum wage hike that went into effect today. The first-in-a-decade increase was passed into law at the end of May as part of a bill funding U.S. troops in Iraq.

Senate Intelligence Chairman Jay Rockefeller also told reporters that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was lying earlier today in his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, when he said that Rockefeller and others knew of a 2004 White House effort to get then-AG John Ashcroft to sign off on a secret intelligence program while hospitalized. Rockefeller said he knew nothing of it, and didn't even know at the time about internal DOJ dissent over the program.

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Posted at 3:17 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, Congress, John Ashcroft, Senate
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June 07, 2007

Attorney Firings: Cheney Squeezed Justice On Spy Program

The G-8 summit, the presidential campaigns, the immigration proposal and Paris Hilton (gulp) are sucking up all the oxygen in the news cycle. In another week, maybe, the latest development in the U.S. attorney firings saga wouldn't have been buried.

In written answers to questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey spelled out the strongest case yet that pushback on the warrantless wiretapping program in 2004 came directly from Vice President Dick Cheney.

In testimony before the committee last month on the abrupt firing of eight U.S. attorneys, Comey revealed surprising new details about DOJ's resistance to the controversial surveillance program implemented at the direction of the White House following the 9/11 attacks. Comey said that he and other top DOJ officials, including FBI Director Robert Mueller, had decided to resign if the White House didn't agree to amend the program. Comey's testimony also revealed for the first time that former Attorney General John Ashcroft, a favorite villain of civil libertarians, had deemed the program illegal as well.

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Posted at 7:10 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Dick Cheney, James Comey, John Ashcroft
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May 18, 2007

Comey & Ashcroft: A Dramatic Re-Enactment

Last night, "The Daily Show" aired a pretty hilarious dramatization of Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card's late-night visit to an ailing John Ashcroft in the hospital in 2004. (Details of that visit can be found here.)

Not to be outdone, the folks at our sister publication Hotline have their own re-enactment. Enjoy.

Posted at 2:35 PM
Posted to: Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, James Comey, John Ashcroft, President Bush
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