Remember when the Bush administration silenced all the critics of a 2002 DoJ memo that appeared to condone torture by releasing another memo in 2004 stating that "Torture is abhorrent both to American law and values and to international norms." But as the New York Times is reporting, Gonzo decided to get into this business of writing torture memos. He had also learned from the mistakes of his predecessors, and kept his thoughts on terror a secret.
His secret memo, according to the New York Times, "provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures." James Comey, the problem child of the Justice Department that also had objections when Gonzo tried going over his head to an incapacitated John Ashcroft a few years earlier, told Gonzales and his co-workers that they will be "ashamed" when this memo came to light. This memo was written shortly after Gonzales took the reigns of the Justice Department in February of 2005. James Comey, perhaps one of the few principled men to be connected to this administration, announced his resignation in April of 2005, and officially left in August.
Gonzales' first super-secret memo was such a huge success, he felt an obligation to his fans to come out with a super-secret sequel. So while Congress was debating a bill in July of 2005 "To affirm that the United States may not engage in torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment," Alberto Gonzales wrote that super-secret sequel that his torture-enthusiast fanbase demanded. This one simply negated all the work that Congres was doing, and declared that none of the CIAs "enhanced interrogation techniques" are cruel, inhuman or degrading. Gonzales had so much confidence in the accuracy of his legal opinion that he didn't publicly release this interpretation.
Folks over at the Justice Department point to Dick Cheney and his thugs as the primary force behind memos like the above. The Office of the Vice President's overbearing nature and the weakness of Alberto Gonzales caused the perfect storm that eliminated opposition to a practice that America has been opposed to since before these states were united. The author of Washington's Crossing notes that during the Revolutionary War:
American leaders believed it was not enough to win the war.
They also had to win in a way that was consistent with the values of their society
and the principles of their cause
. One of their greatest achievements …
was to manage the war in a manner that was true
to the expanding humanitarian ideals of the American Revolution.
The President also said that "Freedom from torture is an inalienable right." Bradbury's defense of torture and Bush's stated opposition to it seem to be a odds, not to mention Gonzo's torture memos.