Editorial from The Guide	Editorials Archive

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales personifies the incompetence, thuggery, and proto-fascistic tendencies that will mark the current administration as the worst-yet in American history. Sworn in to uphold the Constitution, Gonzales has instead dedicated himself to furthering the political interests of the Cheney/Bush cabal at the expense of both domestic and international law. He must go. If Gonzales will not resign, the Congress should impeach and convict him for abuse of power and gross incompetence.

W

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hen the then-Republican Senate approved Gonzales's nomination in February of 2005, they did so knowing he favored abrogation of the Geneva Conventions and that he was the architect of the Administration's pro-torture doctrine. Gonzales argued that the President should be able to order that prisoners-- not charged with any crime and not represented by counsel-- be locked in freezers for hours, have their genitals prodded with electroshock devices, be tied to boards and dunked in ice-water to provoke fear of drowning, be threatened with snarling Dobermans, be choked into unconsciousness, and be bound for long periods in excruciating "stress positions." According to Gonzales, even being an American citizen offers no protection from the President's absolute power as commander-in-chief to secretly jail and torture anyone, with no charges brought and no legal counsel provided.

Astonishingly, Gonzales has turned out to be even worse then his confirmation opponents could have imagined.

Apparently acting in concert with Karl Rove and Republican Party operatives, Gonzales has used the Justice Department to target elected Democrats for partisan prosecutions timed for maximum political effect. As today's headlines suggest, Gonzales (or his minions) ordered eight US attorneys fired for their refusal to go along with such nefarious corruption. As scandalous as those firings are, it is even more chilling to consider the actions required of those who kept their jobs. For example, US Attorney Steven Biskupic last year charged and convicted a Wisconsin state employee with supposed corruption around bids for state travel contracts. Those charges were the campaign centerpiece of the Republican opponent of the incumbent Democratic governor. But there was nothing to the accusations. In an unprecedented rebuke to such sleazy abuse, the US Court of Appeals ordered the convicted employee immediately released without waiting to write a decision. Judge Diane Wood told Biskupic, "Your evidence is beyond thin.... I'm not sure what your actually theory in this case is," a not-so-veiled suggestion that it was politics, not facts, that drove the prosecution.

And now comes the news that e-mails and other documents needed to sort out the exact roles played by Gonzales, Rove, Cheney, and Bush in the firings are "missing," a claim eerily reminiscent of the infamous 18-minute gap in Nixon's White House tapes. Let us hope this ham-handed attempt at cover-up spurs the press and Congressional investigators to re-double their efforts to uncover the truth.

Gay people have a particular interest in Gonzales's speedy exit, for the besieged Attorney General has turned to a strategy often employed by politicians looking to distract the public from their own malfeasance: get the queers. Gonzales has stepped up efforts to entrap men chatting online with law enforcement officials posing as under-age teens, and has targeted SM porn for a new wave of obscenity prosecutions.

Gonzales, along with many others in this administration, has sought to transfer power from constitutional institutions to the Republican Party. He has repeatedly violated his oath to uphold the law. It's time to say adios to Alberto.

Author Profile:  French Wall
French Wall is the managing editor of The Guide
Email:	french@guidemag.com