Op-Ed Columnist: Don't Torture Yourself (That's His Job)
January 6, 2005
By MAUREEN DOWD
Washington
The Associated Press headline that came over the wire
yesterday said it all: "Gonzales Will Follow Non-Torture
Policies."
You know how bad the situation is when the president's
choice for attorney general has to formally pledge not to
support torture anymore.
Alberto Gonzales may have been willing to legally justify
something that was abhorrent to everything America stands
for, but it's all relative. Given that Mr. Gonzales is
replacing the odious John Ashcroft, Democrats didn't seem
inclined to try to derail the Hispanic nominee, even though
his memo fostered the atmosphere that led to disgusting
scandals in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo.
Just to get things started on the right foot, though, Mr.
Gonzales planned to go the extra mile and offer the quaint,
obsolete Senate Democrats a more nuanced explanation of why
he called the Geneva Conventions "quaint" and "obsolete."
Before he helped President Bush circumvent the accords and
reserve the right to do so "in this or future conflicts,"
you had to tune in to an old movie with Nazi generals or
Vietcong guards if you wanted to see someone sneeringly
shrug off the international treaty protecting prisoners
from abuse. ("You worthless running dog Chuck Norris! What
do we care about your silly Geneva Conventions?")
How are you to believe Mr. Gonzales when he says he's
through with torture? His mission is clearly to do whatever
he thinks Mr. Bush wants.
All gall is divided into parts, so what's next?
The
Commerce Department nominee promising that giveaways to big
business will be done with subtlety?
The Environmental Protection Agency nominee promising that
the toxin content in water will never rise to Yushchenko
level?
It's comforting to start the new year in the hands of a
party that cares so much about morals and values.
Tom DeLay and oily House Republicans inaugurated their new
term by gutting ethics rules just in case any of them get
caught in whatever misconduct they are plotting.
Rummy continued on his oblivious, dissembling path,
refusing to admit that he's tapped out the Army and broken
the Army Reserve with what Lt. Gen. James Helmly, the
frustrated chief of the Army Reserve, calls "dysfunctional"
policies. We've gotten so numb on Iraq that when eight
American soldiers and over 80 Iraqi police officers get
killed, when the governor of Baghdad gets assassinated, and
when our puppets plead with Mr. Bush to delay the
elections, it all seems like just another week of
pre-election maneuvering.
In The Los Angeles Times, we learn that Bush fave Supreme
Court Justice Clarence Thomas "has accepted tens of
thousands of dollars worth of gifts since joining the high
court, including $1,200 worth of tires, valuable historical
items and a $5,000 personal check to help pay a relative's
education expenses."
A guy we pay nearly $200,000 a year can't pop for his own
tires? Whatever happened to the dignity of the robe? At
least we know where our possible future chief justice
stands: on the side of personal corruption.
"He also took a free trip aboard a private jet to the
exclusive Bohemian Grove club in Northern California -
arranged by a wealthy Texas real estate investor who helped
run an advocacy group that filed briefs with the Supreme
Court," the paper said.
The L.A. Times reviewed the disclosures of all nine
justices for the years 1998 through 2003 and found that
"Thomas accepted $42,200 in gifts, making him the top
recipient. Next in that period was Justice Sandra Day
O'Connor, who accepted $5,825 in gifts, mostly small
crystal figurines and other items."
Clarence Thomas follows Antonin Scalia's lead on the law.
Why not also on ethics? Justice Scalia defended taking his
relatives on a ride on Air Force Two to Louisiana with Dick
Cheney to go duck hunting, even though the v.p. had an
important case before the court, by saying that it would
have been a "considerable inconvenience" to fly commercial.
Going through a blistering confirmation hearing where his
inappropriate behavior was questioned didn't teach Clarence
Thomas much. Can we hope for anything better from Mr.
Gonzales after he's waved through to be the man in charge
of enforcing our laws?