Kyle Sampson Buries Alberto Gonzales With Testimony

Gonzo's ex chief of staff put the last few nails into his old bosses coffin today in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

NPR.org, March 29, 2007:

In his opening statement, Sampson tried to protect his former boss. He said that contradictory statements from Justice Department officials represented a "benign" case of bad management, and that he was sorry it had happened.

But under questioning from senators on the committee, Sampson's testimony became problematic for his former boss. Gonzales had told Congress that he had only been tangentially involved in the firings. Sampson said that he had informed Gonzales about the dismissals nearly every step of the way.

"The attorney general was aware of the process since early 2005," Sampson said, adding that he and Gonzales had numerous conversations about the firings.

Sampson said that they had at least "five discussions" about the dismissals, including conversations during the "thinking phase" of the process, the preparations of a final list in 2006, and ultimately, the approval of the eight U.S. attorneys who were subsequently let go.

Gonzales can't even lie properly. He's way out of his league and never should have been nominated by Bush in the first place, who bears ultimate responsibility that he also keeps try to evade.

So long, Al. You're done. But hang in there as long as possible. Don't do it with some class and have the cojones to publicly apologize and quit. The longer you stay and fight the worse it will be for Bush. Dale a la Madre. If you're not man enough to cop to it, at least get some satisfaction, Al.

Hasta la vista, Al. You're a disgusting human being. Now get out.

His anonymous form has become the internationally-recognized symbol of abuse and torture, and for many around the world, of American brutality and arrogance. Within the United States, however, the image is the center of swirling controversy. In what journalist Mark Danner has called the "master narrative" put forward by the Bush administration, "Hooded Man" and unnumbered others who shared similar outrages were only the victims of a few "bad apples," rogue elements in the military and intelligence contractors whose behavior "does not represent America." Their abuse in no way implicates higher-ups, who insist they are shocked, shocked by the photos (which Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld nonetheless sought to suppress months before they appeared in the press). Besides, surely these poor wretches wouldn't have suffered if they hadn't been caught up in U.S. military sweeps for "insurgents." It is U.S. government policy that Hooded Man will never enjoy the presumption of innocence on which his uniformed abusers may rely.

Christ, in Gibson's film, suffers beyond the limits of ordinary human endurance: certainly beyond the pedestrian tortures of the tens of thousands of other Judeans crucified by the Roman imperial project in the first century. The anonymous Iraqi, on the other hand, does not merit our sympathy, at least in the precise terms of the legal memo White House counsel (now Attorney General) Alberto Gonzales solicited regarding what qualifies as torture. Not having suffered "major organ damage" or injury leading directly to death, he was subjected only to "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment," which (however regrettable) doesn't qualify as action from which agents of the United States need refrain.