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Gonzales Grilled on Role in Torture at Confirmation Hearing
History in the Making: Dems Force Debate on Ohio Voting Irregularities
Gonzales Grilled on Role in Torture at Confirmation
Hearing
Alberto Gonzales' role in paving the legal groundwork that
led to the torture of detainees in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo
Bay was the central focus of a Senate hearing yesterday, which
is considering his nomination to succeed John Ashcroft as
attorney general. Gonzales delivered more than seven hours
of testimony, most of it responding to questions from Committee
members on his role in setting the stage for the abuse of
detainees. We hear excerpts of the hearing and speak with
journalist Mark Danner of the New Yorker and author of Torture
and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror. [includes
rush
transcript]
Alberto Gonzales' role in paving the legal groundwork that
led to the torture of detainees in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo
Bay was the central focus of a Senate hearing yesterday, which
is considering his nomination to succeed John Ashcroft as
attorney general.
In his opening statement, Gonzales - a longtime confidante
of George W Bush who served as his White House counsel - said
his friendship with the president would not affect his performance
as attorney general.
- Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General nominee testifying
before the Senate Judiciary Committee, January 6, 2005.
After Gonzales' opening statement, members of the Senate
Judiciary Committee turned their focus to the administration's
policies on torture. Much of the discussion focused on two
memos.
One, written by Gonzales in January 2002, asserted that the
so-called war on terror "renders obsolete" the Geneva
Convention's strict prohibitions against torture. The other
is a August 2002 Justice Department memo sought by Gonzales
that outlines how to avoid violating U.S. and international
terror statutes while interrogating prisoners by setting a
high threshold for the definition of torture.
Speaking before a packed hearing room, Gonzales delivered
more than seven hours of testimony, most of it responding
to questions from the Judiciary Committee on his role in setting
the stage for the abuse of detainees.
- Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), questioning Attorney General
nominee Alberto Gonzales.
- Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), questioning Attorney General
nominee Alberto Gonzales.
- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), questioning Attorney General
nominee Alberto Gonzales.
- Mark Danner,
New Yorker staff writer and frequent contributor to the
New York Review of Books. He is also the author of the new
book "Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib, and the
War on Terror."
History in the Making: Dems Force Debate on Ohio
Voting Irregularities
For only the second time in over a century, Congress debated
certification of the Electoral College vote. The joint session
vote tally was interrupted by Rep. Stephanie Tubbs (D-OH)
who, along with other House Democrats, mounted a challenge
to Ohio's 20 electoral votes. The challenge was signed by
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), forcing the House and Senate to
split and have a two-hour debate on voting irregularities.
We hear excerpts of Republicans and Democrats in both chambers.
[includes rush
transcript - partial]
The House and Senate met in joint session yesterday to count
the electoral votes in the 2004 presidential election and
certify President Bush's win over John Kerry.
Vice President Dick Cheney was presiding in his role as president
of the Senate, overseeing as each state's votes were withdrawn
from mahogany boxes and totaled in a ceremony as old as the
Constitution itself.
The routine tally went by in alphabetical order, state-by-state
without event until the session reached Ohio.
- Joint Session of Congress, Electoral College vote tally,
January 6, 2005.
The Electoral College vote tally was interrupted by Democratic
Congressmember Stephanie Tubbs of Ohio. Tubbs is the leader
of a small group of Democrats who agreed to force House and
Senate debates on voting irregularities in Ohio by mounting
a challenge to the state's 20 electoral votes that had secured
President Bush's reelection.
Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California yesterday
signed the House challenge - a move no Senator was willing
to do in 2000, when African-American Congressmembers rose
to protest the vote from Florida.
In a letter to Congressmember Tubbs, Senator Boxer wrote
"I have concluded that objecting to the electoral votes
from Ohio is the only immediate way to bring these issues
to light by allowing you to have a two-hour debate to let
the American people know the facts surrounding Ohio's election."
John Kerry, who conceded to Bush the day after the Nov. 2
election, said he would not join the challenge.
By law, a challenge signed by members of the House and Senate
requires both chambers to meet separately for up to two hours
to consider it. Both chambers have to uphold the challenge
in order for the state's votes to be invalidated. Yesterday's
challenge marked only the second time since 1877 that the
House and Senate were forced into separate meetings to consider
electoral votes. The last time came in 1969, when a North
Carolina elector designated for Richard Nixon voted instead
for independent George Wallace. Both chambers agreed to allow
the vote for Wallace.
After the joint session was forced to split yesterday, the
Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate chambers
debated Ohio voting irregularities.
- Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
- Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH
- Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI)
- Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
- Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH)
- Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
The Senate voted to reject the challenge 74-1 and the House
267-31.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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