Sure to Face Skeptical Questions

Nineteenth of 25 excerpts from The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer:

On December 30, 2004, one week before Alberto Gonzalez was scheduled to face Senate confirmation hearings on his nomination to replace John Ashcroft as Attorney General, the administration posted a document on the Justice Department's Web site that sounded like a ringing denunciation of torture. The rhetoric was partly aimed at helping Gonzalez, who was sure to face skeptical questions about his role in advising Bush to discard the Geneva Conventions. . . .

Despite calls for accountability, not a single administration investigation had questioned the top policy-makers in the war on terror. Bush's promotion of Gonzalez, whose legal advice had so muddied the laws of war, could only be helped by the Justice Department's new terror declaration. . . . In almost every way, the new interpretation seemed a step toward restoring America's laws and values. But on closer reading . . . was yet another description of torture that seemed specifically written to legalize waterboarding so long as the severe pain it produced was not of "extended duration."

Copyright 2008 by Jane Mayer. All Rights Reserved