Get this. The guy says laws against toture do not bar “cruel, inhuman” tactics.
In more than 200 pages of written responses to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who plan to vote Wednesday on his nomination, Gonzales told senators that laws and treaties prohibit torture by any U.S. agent without exception.
But he said the Convention Against Torture treaty, as ratified by the Senate, doesn’t prohibit the use of “cruel, inhuman or degrading” tactics on non-U.S. citizens who are captured abroad, in Iraq or elsewhere.
Gonzales, White House counsel and a close Bush adviser, described recent reports of prisoner abuse as “shocking and deeply troubling.” But he refused to answer questions from senators about whether interrogation tactics witnessed by FBI agents were unlawful.
He warned that any public discussion about interrogation tactics would help al-Qaida terrorists by giving them “a road map” of what to expect when captured.
He also said the administration was conducting a comprehensive legal review of all practices and that the Justice Department, so far, had concluded that the tactics were lawful.
If I had a Senator, I’d urge him/her to vote against this guy. Chances are the guy is going to get confirmed. Welcome to a new age, in which America joins the company of those countries that condone and practice torture.
It just keeps getting better.
Perhaps the best way for him (and us) to draw the line is for someone to arrest him and start torturing HIM.
Ok Mr Gonzales…You tell us when we reach the illegal and imoral point.