It sounds as though both parties were engaging Gonzales and that it was rather non partisan ????
YEAH.....
From the Associated Press
Gonzales Disavows Torture Tactics
Thursday January 6, 2005 10:16 PM
AP Photo DCSW109
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General-nominee Alberto Gonzales, under sometimes-scorching criticism from senators, pledged Thursday at his confirmation hearing to prosecute prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay and to abide by international treaties on torture.
Democrats repeatedly criticized Bush administration policies on aggressive interrogation of terrorism suspects, and Republicans sometimes joined in, too, at the daylong hearing.
Gonzales defended his advice as President Bush's White House counsel that al-Qaida and other terror suspects are not entitled to Geneva Convention protections. But that wasn't the whole story, he said.
``Torture and abuse will not be tolerated by this administration,' Gonzales told Judiciary Committee senators. ``I will ensure the Department of Justice aggressively pursues those responsible for such abhorrent actions.'
Despite Thursday's criticism, Gonzales is expected to win confirmation when Congress returns after Bush's inauguration. He would be the nation's first Hispanic attorney general.
Democrats said it was Gonzales' January 2002 memo as White House counsel that led to the stripping, mocking and threatening of suspects with dogs. He had argued in his memo that the war on terrorism ``renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions.'
Gonzales, as President Bush's White House counsel, was at the center of decisions about ``the legality of detention and interrogation methods that have been seen as tantamount to torture,' said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
Added Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.: The ``legal positions that you have supported have been used by the administration, the military and the CIA to justify torture and Geneva Convention violations by military and civilian personnel.'
Gonzales, wearing an American flag pin in his lapel, sat alone at the witness table, family members seated behind him in the crowded hearing room. Senators addressed him respectfully as ``Judge' - Gonzales is a former Texas Supreme Court justice - but pressed him repeatedly on administration policies.
He refused to back away from his legal opinion to Bush that terrorists don't deserve Geneva Convention treatment if captured by Americans overseas.
``My judgment was ... that it would not apply to al-Qaida - they weren't a signatory to the convention,' he said.
He denied that any of the memos he wrote or reviewed in the White House had anything to do with the overseas abuses.
``Would you not concede that your decision and the decision of the president to call into question the definition of torture, the need to comply with the Geneva Convention at least opened up a permissive environment of conduct?' asked Richard Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's no. 2 Democrat.
Saying he was sickened and outraged by photos of Abu Ghraib abuses, Gonzales described the U.S. troops in them as ``people who were morally bankrupt having fun.' Other abuses of foreign detainees probably were caused because ``there wasn't adequate training, there wasn't adequate supervision.'
``I respectfully disagree that there was some kind of permissive environment,' he said.
Gonzales' response to some questions Thursday seemed to contradict his description of the Geneva Convention in his January 2002 memo.
``I consider the Geneva Convention neither obsolete or quaint,' he said at the hearing, promising to ensure U.S. compliance ``with all of its legal obligations in fighting the war on terror.'
Gonzales declined to give a legal opinion on the prisoner abuse, suggesting he didn't want to prejudice a possible criminal case as the attorney general nominee. That led to a 10-minute lecture from Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., on Democrats' long-standing complaints about Bush nominees not directly answering their questions.
``We're looking for candor, old buddy,' Biden said. ``I love you, but you're not very candid so far.'
Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joined in on some of the criticism, saying the administration ``dramatically undermined the war effort' by ``getting cute with the law.'
``I think you weaken yourself as a nation when you try to play cute and become more like your enemy instead of like who you want to be,' he said.
Gonzales objected to Graham's characterizations, noting the beheadings of Americans by terrorists. ``We are nothing like our enemies, Senator,' Gonzales said.
``But we're not like who we want to be and who we have been, and that's the point I'm trying to make,' Graham retorted. ``When you start looking at torture statutes and you look at ways around the spirit of the law, you're losing the moral high ground. ... I do believe that we've lost our way.'
Gonzales also:
- Supported the use of the Patriot Act, the government's anti-terrorism law put in effect after the New York City and Washington attacks. ``I believe that in part because of the Patriot Act there has not been a domestic attack on United States soil since 9/11,' he said.
-Sidestepped questions on whether it was legal for Senate Democrats to filibuster Bush's judicial nominations last year. Senate Republicans have threatened to change the chamber's rules to ban the maneuver if it happens this year.
- Promised that his friendship with Bush would not affect him as attorney general. ``I will no longer represent only the White House,' he said. ``I will represent the United States of America and its people. I understand the difference between the two roles.'
- Said he would defend in court the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act in which Congress said states don't have to recognize gay marriages.
- Brushed off talk that he might be a Bush nominee for the Supreme Court if a vacancy occurs. ``Let me make it clear, I am not a candidate for the Supreme Court,' he said.
That brought a quick response from Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
``Just in case it happens, one standard is different than the other,' Schumer said, suggesting Democrats' support for Gonzales' nomination as attorney general wouldn't guarantee backing if Bush later nominated him for the court.
Despite their questioning, Democrats showed no interest in opposing or delaying Gonzales, the 49-year old son of Mexican immigrants, from succeeding John Ashcroft as attorney general.
Ashcroft, a former senator from Missouri, was severely criticized by Democrats during his time at Justice.
``In my view, Judge Gonzales is better qualified than many previous attorneys general,' said freshman Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.
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