Gonzales flip flops on torture investigation.
Gonzales flip flops on torture investigation.
On Tuesday, former attorney general Alberto Gonzales surprised everyone by defending Attorney General Eric Holder’s investigation into interrogation abuses during the Bush administration:
We worked very hard to establish ground rules and parameters about how to deal with terrorists. And if people go beyond that, I think it is legitimate to question and examine that conduct to ensure people are held accountable for their actions, even if it’s action in prosecuting the war on terror.
Today, however, Gonzales is backpedaling. In a new interview with the Washington Times, he said that just because he thinks it’s “legitimate to question and examine” the interrogators’ conduct, he doesn’t endorse an investigation:
I don’t support the investigation by the department because this is a matter that has already been reviewed thoroughly and because I believe that another investigation is going to harm our intelligence gathering capabilities and that’s a concern that’s shared by career intelligence officials and so for those reasons I respectfully disagree with the decision.
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First Ridge, now Gonzales. The Republican vice snares nads quickly.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:06 pmGozales does support an investigation but he’s scared of cheney and his torture squads.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:06 pmToday, however, Gonzales is backpedaling.
– - Former BushCo employees can solve the energy crisis all on their own. All they need to do is invent mass transportation where you pedal in reverse.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:08 pmI knew it. I knew better than to agree with him on something, even if he was correct. Naturally he would flip-flop and take up the same chant as the rest of the group that gets a little nervous when there is discussion of investigating the war crimes they played a part in.
The sleaze is strong in this one.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:08 pmFredo, be afraid, the Bush Crime Family is coming to fit you with a new pair of concrete shoes…
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:09 pmsmidget says:
I knew it. I knew better than to agree with him on something
He Duped you, you fell for the oldest trick in the book!! Only slightly behind “Never get in a land war in Asia”
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:12 pmI’m sure Gonzo doesn’t “recall” any of his previous statements.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:12 pmWell said okie dokie.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:15 pmThese guys are such stooges and tools…yet they garner support from the sheep.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:15 pmChuck Feney says:
Fredo, be afraid, the Bush Crime Family is coming to fit you with a new pair of concrete shoes…
– - Nah, they’ll take him fishing in a rowboat.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:16 pm“I didn’t mean it
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:17 pmAnd I really do mean that
You know what I mean?”
Today, however, Gonzales is backpedaling.
– - Fredo Gonzales: “It ain’t the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I’m smart! Not like everybody says… like dumb… I’m smart and I want respect!”
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:18 pmuh oh….looks like this BORG drone’s braintube temporarily got disconnected from the Repuglican hive.
it’s back now and set to: “i don’t recall”
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:19 pmUh-oh, Gonzo. There’s a bloody horse head out there looking for your nice satin sheets…
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:19 pmWow! These guys are good at what they do. What kind of pressure must the Neocons be putting on the whistleblowers to bring them back to the fold? Is it a threat of torture? A threat of death or dismemberment?
Poor Tommy Ridge was like a lying teenager whose dad found the Penthouse under the mattress when Rachel was grilling him. Caught red, uhhhhh, handed he was.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:21 pmGonzo got a hand delivered, newspaper wrapped dead fish, same as Ridge.
He’s quoting Liz Cheney’s “it’s already been investigated” talking point.
Cheney and his backroom gangster buddies still rule the roost, even though he’s “retired”.
America is in deep trouble people. These people operated out of sight for years, now, not so much.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:21 pm“Gonzales flip flops on torture investigation.”
Let’s see: Fredo was for the torture investigation before he was against it. And now, he is against torture investigation before he was for it.
Smell like another case of Tom Ridge. Those loyal Bushies got to Fredo and told him to keep his trap shut. Besides someone shoould tell Fredo that there is still an on-going investigation on him at the Spanish international courts.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:22 pmDance floor bullet holes
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:23 pmEvidence of cowboy fun
Victims’ lonely trail
Why is he still news?
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:23 pmWe should really label this phenomena. Maybe the Ridge reversal or the Cheney Chill. How about Total Recant.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:24 pmSomebody must have explained to Gonzo how the Justice Department actually works when NOT politically motivated. An investigation is opened and all the facts are followed to see if crimes were commited. You follow the facts wherever they lead you. WHEREVER. That’s the point where Gonzo shit his pants and decided that an investigation just wouldn’t be prudent.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:25 pmYa think Cheney’s secret assasination ring reminded these clowns, Tom Ride and Fredo, what happened to Micheal Connell when he was about to testify on the tampering of Ohio voting machines in the 2004 elections.
You know-Karl Rove’s IT Guru that died in a small plane crash about a week before his testimony.
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/12/federal_officials_probing_plan.html
He predicted his death and found his plane sabotaged earlier.
Same way as JFK Jr., Mel Carnaham and Paul Wellstone died right before and right the 2000 elections.
2+2=4
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:26 pmCaption: Hmmm, yanno, I dont recall
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:27 pmhellinabucket says:
We should really label this phenomena. Maybe the Ridge reversal or the Cheney Chill. How about Total Recant.
– - Republican Recidivist Recanting?
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:27 pmRepublicanism: A mental disease with a cult following.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:31 pmGonzo has no friends and is looking to put the blame on the CIA in hopes of his actions being dropped. One of the Cheney Squad got to him to makes sure he keeps his mouth shut. Now the case will go on in Spain and the United Nations. Look Gonzo does interviews for the cash as he’s broke and no one is answering his calls. Gonzo will go to jail and he will need to learn how Not to drop the soap.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:36 pmRepublicans do not permit alternate points of view even from one of their henchmen who proved his loyalty. It is for that reason that they are driving themselves into a tighter and tighter corner, with reasonable people becoming uncomfortable with even thinking of voting for a Republican. This whole debate about whether Obama pulls off health care and if he doesn’t will be his waterloo, I think is completely backwards. If he does pull off health care it will be the end of the Republicans, that is why they have pulled out the desperate lies and misrepresentations. A cornered animal is dangerous.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:38 pmGonzales: another investigation is going to harm our intelligence gathering capabilities.
Cause we won’t be able to use Jack Bauer.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:40 pmWhat’d I tell ya…?
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:42 pmGiven his propensity for not knowing/recalling things,
I think I’ll defer to the investigators as to what did or did not happen.
Perhaps Gonzo will be able to use diminished mental capacity as an affirmative defense.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:42 pmCaption: That’s right….Im a dumbass stooge and oh yeah, I dont ‘recall’ anything, I swear!!
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:44 pmDumb Question: What is happening between A and B (or isn’t it obvious?)
We have a long succession of former Bushies (this time Gonzo, Yesterday Ridge, etc. etc. ) who suddenly stand up and appear to grow a conscience and admit what went on.
Then the next day they stand up and say they didn’t say what they said, didn’t write what they wrote, etc.
If so, tampering with a witness is a crime. This is different in that it isn’t a current investigation. But wouldn’t intimidation to stop a statement of criminal action also be a crime ?
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:44 pmJesus H. Crispies – does W have naked pictures of Gonzales with a goat too?
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:45 pmAre they really saying that a criminal investigation could keep you from catching other criminals?
So Tactic A is illegal and investigating whether or not Tactic A was used will make legal Tactics B-Z less effective? It’s not possible to discuss and halt illegal tactics without revealing legal ones? Is that it?
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:47 pmAmong the assorted protozoa of the Cheney Cabal, Fredo rates above just one…Harriet Meirs.
Sure, Addington, Yoo, Bybee, and some others were bad, but they were at least predators. Fredo, not so much…
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:48 pmThe GOP is the largest crime syndicate in the world, it dwarfs everything else. If the mob has a way with dealing with rats, what do you think the head of the GOP would do?
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:48 pm32 – It’s smoke-screening. One of the 2 things R’s can actually do (the other being pitch hissy-fits like little girls).
Contradictory statements on the public record mean that going forward, they can toggle to whichever is convenient.
There’s no truth – only the empty words they play with day-to-day.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:48 pmShorter Alberto Gonzales: “W’s daddy called me, and simply said STFU.”
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:49 pmPolitician: A lobbyist with s government job on the side.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:50 pmWoo! Color me surprised!
Who could have seen that one coming?
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:52 pmGonzalez translation:
I investigated myself and the other Bush hacks and we did nothing wrong.
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:54 pmThe AG that should have led the ‘thorough review’ resigned due to incompetence. How was it reviewed?–Can’t recall.
With all their lying, you think they looked for legal justification first? No way. They tortured then realized it would get out, so they drew up some top-secret legal bs to justify it.
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:06 pmI think anyone with even a few functioning brain cells knew that Gonzo’s attack of conscience couldn’t possibly last long — regardless of whether or not he got any flak over it from his former partners-in-crime, literal and/or figurative, in the Bush administration (and my guess is that at least one person, quite possibly Cheney or even Bush himself, probably did try to lean on him). Frankly, I didn’t believe it when Gonzo went on this record to state his support for the Holder investigation. I knew that Gonzo was corrupt, arrogant, duplicitous, and a traitor to the ethics of his profession as well the American people — but he didn’t strike me as being stupid. What motive would Gonzo really have to support the Holder investigation — especially considering the fact that his former cronies whom he aided and abetted would be the ones under investigation and that there’s a very good chance of his own ethical lapses being subject to scrutiny? The only reason why he would do this is in order to cover his own backside and (if necessary) throw his former colleagues under the bus if and when the excrement began to hit the spinning blades. Why would anyone believe that he’s suddenly acquired legal ethics now, when he so blatantly demonstrated his utter lack of them while he was serving as Attorney General? (The fact that he’s been having such a difficult time finding a suitable job now that that he’s no longer in that position suggests that a great many people in the legal profession certainly don’t believe it.) Unfortunately for Gonzo, seldom has the old saying about pointing your finger at someone else — as in, you always have three fingers pointing back at you — ever been more apt.
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:08 pmAh, Speedy can do the Texass Two Step. First we put it out, then we walk it back, then we put it out, then we….
Didn’t take long either. Quicker than Tom Ridge. Did he get called on it by Pudge Limpdiddler, or did he get one of those midnight hour red telephone calls from a suburb in Dallas?
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:10 pmShorter Gonzo – I might go to prison if they even peek into this.
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:11 pmBluestocking says:
The investigation may show Gonzo is guilty of gross malfeasance which will prove very embarrassing but it does not rise to criminal charges or he did not cover his tracks very well.
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:13 pm***
alberto!
:)
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:26 pmTry Alberto, Yoo, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush for torture, war crimes and High Treason.
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:39 pmWho cares what the most disgraced Attorney General in 50 years has to say on the subject?
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:43 pmSo, he thinks an investigation is legitimate, but he doesn’t endorse it. That’s OK. I don’t think his opinion is required to move forward this time.
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:43 pmIsn’t Flippy his middle name?
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:55 pmHe must have gotten a call from Rush.
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:02 pmSit, Alberto, sit. Good boy. Now, roll over!
Something tells me that the next thing we read about Alberto Gonzolves is that he finally finds a job at a prestigious conservative law firm.
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:07 pmthe dynamic , I think, though, is fascinating.
Gonzales, w’s prsonal; lawyer and really good friend, sitting sroun wondering where that fabulous wingnut welfare is (answer: not for greasers!), throws up a trial balloon to the other side. After all, the Republicans are at historic lows these days, right?
Could be that Tom Ridge was thinking the same thing…
Well, the answer is, unpoopular? Not among the rich and powerful they’re not. Noy among the Villagers, not in the media.
They both got talked to, and while a few carrots may have been brandished about, I think it was mainly sticks. Convincing sticks.
I see 2 things from this:
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:49 pm1) You want to see Republican racism at work? The dopiest, most venal Repub stooge gets a nice AEI fellowship and a position at a lobbying firm–but a loyal Attorney General named Gonzalez? Let’s be serious. We don’t let the Frito Bandito into the country club–not as a member, anyway.
2) We still have a Republican media and a Republican Court of Versailles in this country-and they’re fighting like blazes to keep that intact. They no longer have the power to enforce discipline beforehand, but it’s till there.
2)
Two men in dark suits and carrying violin cases marked “RNC” were seen leaving Gonzo’s house shortly before he issued his latest statment.
September 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 pmEveryone except the Republican leadership(?) gets it. There’s no room for personal opinion. Besides, Alberto Gonzales knows that Dick Cheney hunts birds and people in Texas.
September 3rd, 2009 at 6:07 pmThe perpetrators of torture and other war crimes reviewed their own misconduct thoroughly, and concluded that their wrongdoing did not warrant prosecution. End of story. Unless it’s not.
September 3rd, 2009 at 6:08 pm” …Gonzales is backpedaling”. That depends on what your definition of is is.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:13 pmkwsventures says:
Not only are you an ignorant punkass troll you are breathtakingly stupid. You think posting the same stupid over and over will make it clever some day? It wont. It was stupid and pathetic the first time it will continue to be stupid and pathetic just like you are
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:27 pmBackpedaling?
Or, perhaps, this guy had a severe smackdown following his serious public butt-kissing—his feeling a bit safe beings the DoJ was only going after the ‘underlings’—and do remember, this guy is unemployed (kryptonite)…
My bet is the “Darth Cheney” somehow got to him and told him to shut up.
He’s in it as deep any any of those slime-balls, and his pretending otherwise isn’t going to work.
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:50 pmIn early April of 1945 Himmler “ransomed” a train loaded with victims headed to a concentration camp to the Swiss Ambassador in an effort to save his own ass. Forget due process and rule of law and take these scum out and hang them. They are seditious criminals who have done more to destroy the United States than any terrorist ever could have hoped to.
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:41 pm.
Taking odds that the Fredo defense will be cited soon…
… If Freod can even “recall” that!
.
September 4th, 2009 at 1:11 am35. Zimzone says: Among the assorted protozoa of the Cheney Cabal, Fredo rates above just one…Harriet Meirs. Sure, Addington, Yoo, Bybee, and some others were bad, but they were at least predators. Fredo, not so much…September 3rd, 2009 at 3:48 pm
“Fredo”, or “Speedy” Gonzo Revolvez, is what would have been called a “kapo” at places like Treblinka, Sobibor or Auschwitz/Birkenau. I say what, because while he is a human being, his masters just consider him an animate object which can perform certain chores for them, and serve as the target, or “whipping boy”, if an investigation gets too close. There’s probably a pretty strong streak of Stockholm Syndrome in his head, too, apart from having been on the take so long that he’s easily pushed back in line.
September 4th, 2009 at 1:39 amIt is called CYA (cover your ass).
September 4th, 2009 at 10:28 amIt’s not CYA. A careful reading of the WaTimes articles (and even the audio clip) shows Gonzo never supported or disapproved of Holder’s probe, just his right to do the probe. Thus, there is no flip-flop here.
September 5th, 2009 at 9:27 amyou for your sharing.!
September 7th, 2009 at 10:29 am