Gonzales Resigns From Bush’S Sinking Ship Of State

The resignation of Gonzales may signal the beginning of the end of a long national nightmare.Gonzales Resigns From Bush’s Sinking Ship Of StateBy Cliff Montgomery – Aug. 27th, 2007August has not been a good month for our would-be masters in the White House.First, the Bush Administration Minister of Propaganda, Karl Rove, declared he is leaving at the end of the month. Today the administration announced that its Secretary of Injustice, Alberto Gonzales, is also leaving Bush’s sinking ship of state.That they are both leaving in disgrace speaks volumes about this administration.The resignation of Gonzales may signal the beginning of the end of a long national nightmare, in which wrong masqueraded as right, and hatred of liberty masqueraded as “security”.The announcement of Gonzales’ resignation broke on The New York Times website. An administration official later verified the story to Reuters. According to The Times, Gonzales informed Bush on Friday via telephone that he was resigning.An official who was quoted by The Times said the attorney general job would be soon filled. The most-likely temporary replacement for Gonzales is Solicitor General Paul Clement, who would continue at the post until a final replacement is appointed, according to an administration official quoted by The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.The attorney general’s questionable moves often put him at odds with Democrats and Republicans alike. Gonzales most recently became the focus of an investigation over the politically-motivated mass firing of U.S. attorneys last year.The attorney general began working for George W. Bush during Dubya’s 1990s stint as Texas governor. Gonzales then became White House legal counsel during Bush’s first presidential term, and was appointed U.S. attorney general in February 2005.That appointment was not a shining moment for the United States. Both former and current administration officials admit that the tenure of Gonzales has soiled the integrity of the Justice Department.From this attorney general’s rabid championing of Bush’s warrantless–and hence unconstitutional–domestic spying program to his politically-motivated firings of federal  prosecutors, Gonzales’ consistent disregard for both American law and Natural Right has badly damaged employee morale at the Justice Department, and his relationship with Congress is  broken beyond repair.Numerous senators–Democrats and Republicans alike–have openly declared to have lost all confidence in Gonzales’s ability to lead the Justice Department.Gonzales first drew the ire of civil liberties groups in January 2002 when, as White House legal counsel, he wrote that the half-century-old Geneva Conventions guarantee of civilized treatment for war prisoners was “obsolete”.He also was a major proponent of Bush’s domestic spying program, which all but eliminates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning “unreasonable search and seizure.”Only in January of this year, after consistent displays of outrage from concerned citizens who know that  destruction of liberty in the name of “security” only makes Americans less secure, did Gonzales agree to subject the spy program to court approval.So what will be the legacy of Alberto Gonzales?First as White House counsel and then as attorney general, Gonzales was among the most ardent advocates of the quicksilver erosion of American democracy which has become the calling card of the George W. Bush White House.Gonzales perhaps pushed harder than any other top Bush Administration official for near-unlimited  presidential powers, including a practically unchecked spying authority. It was he who first penned those tyrannical “rules” for military-run war tribunals, and he sought to eliminate the rights of Guantanamo Bay detainees. By the end, even the neoconservative-stacked Supreme Court was beginning to find his methods unconstitutional.The fired prosecutor debacle was probably the final nail in the coffin for Gonzales, whose congressional testimony quickly became a national joke.Thousands of Justice Department documents reveal a White House plot, originating just after the 2004 presidential election, for a politically-motivated mass firing of federal prosecutors. At one point, top White House officials considered ousting all 93 U.S. attorneys–an action which almost surely would have crippled the Justice Department. A compromise was struck in December 2006, when eight prosecutors were fired.In later Senate and House hearings into the dismissals, the testimony of other Justice Department officials–including FBI head Robert Mueller–directly contradicted that given by Gonzales. Such inconsistency brought some lawmakers to accuse the attorney general of perjury.”It has been a long and difficult struggle but at last, the attorney general has done the right thing and stepped down,” proclaimed Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY).This August may have been a bad month for our would-be masters, but it’s been a breath of life for American democracy.Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) ofe-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!