President Bush?s choice for Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, has expressed through memos he crafted during Bush?s first term in office that he believes the Geneva Conventions — international law restricting torture in warfare — do not apply in the War on Terror. Gonzales’ chilling views on torture make him an inexcusable and poor choice for Attorney General.Over the summer, Americans and everyone across the world saw appalling pictures of Iraqi detainees being humiliated, degraded and tortured when the Abu Ghraib prison scandal exploded.
The hooded detainees are an image that will not be forgotten anytime soon, especially by members of the Arab world.
Shock and awe swept the United States when the pictures were released. How could any United States soldier sink so low, as shown in the haunting pictures?
Now, George Bush wants to appoint an Attorney General to his cabinet that lowered torture standards held by the United States Armed Forces, which helped lead to an incident like Abu Ghraib.
Gonzales? shocking views on torture and the Geneva Conventions were outlined in memos he crafted during Bush?s first four years in office, when he served as Bush?s White House Counsel. In an August 2002 memo later published in Newsweek, Gonzales clearly expressed his belief that the boundaries of torture could be pushed back. The August memo contains the opinion that only “injury such as death, organ failure, or serious impairment of body functions” constitutes as torture. According to the New York Times, the memo sparked concerns at the CIA and FBI, where agents realized that the statements concerning torture written in the August 2002 memo would be a violation of international law.
The memo in which Gonzales argued that the Geneva Conventions do not apply in the War on Terror was written in January of 2002. In the memo, he states that the War on Terror is “a new kind of war” and “this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva?s strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions.” In the memo, Bush?s choice for Attorney General says that the United States can break international law and ignore the Geneva Conventions in the war against terrorists.
Perhaps it is not a surprise that the Democrats have done little to make American citizens aware of the torture statements in the memos from 2002.
Perhaps the Democrats do not want to halt Gonzales? nomination as Attorney General because Democratic Senators are waiting to use their filibuster power to block the conservative justices Bush wants to appoint to the Supreme Court so they could protect Roe V. Wade, which ensures a woman?s right to choose.
Yet, Gonzales? chilling statements concerning torture he wrote to Bush in 2002 should be brought to everyone?s attention.
The Bush Administration speaks of spreading “freedom” and “democracy” to Iraq and Afghanistan, hoping the ideas will spread to the rest of the Middle East, yet the United States has tortured and humiliated prisoners in the War on Terror at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.
The ideas in Gonzales? memos he wrote as Bush?s White House Council lower the standards of torture. Alberto Gonzales is a frightening choice to lead the Justice Department as Attorney General.
Brian Fanelli is a junior majoring in comparative literature with minors in creative writing and journalism.