Maybe they should be. Because right now an enemy combatant is just someone taken off the field of battle either. An enemy combatant is anyone the govt. feels like saying is one. That is the problem.
are you saying bush is not a liar and a criminal? if you lie you are a liar and if you commit crimes you are a criminal.
"Enemy Combatant" is not a real designation. They should be either criminal suspects or prisoners of war, but since both of those groups have rights under international law, the term "Enemy Combatant" is used to deprive them of those rights.
Haven't been around for a few days, due to business. My employer had a little book release this last weekend (that went very well I might add) and I'm getting ready for the annual sales conference this weekend @ Mohegan Sun. But I couldn't let the day go by without commenting on the hearings today. Seems Mr Fredo had a tuff day on the hill. In fact an x senator pretty much called Gonzales a liar. But we knew that. Unlike some people, I'll site my source. via tpmmuckraker -- Daschle: Gonzales Trying to "Rewrite History" by Blaming Congress for Ashcroft Spying Crisis By Spencer Ackerman - July 24, 2007, 6:05 PM Tom Daschle, the former Senate Democratic leader who received briefings on the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance programs, says Alberto Gonzales isn't telling the truth about what Senate and House leaders were told in March 2004 about the program's utility and legality. In testimony today to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gonzales attempted to give "context" for his infamous hospital trip to a convalescent John Ashcroft on March 10, 2004, after acting attorney general James Comey refused to authorize the surveillance program. It was only after a briefing for the so-called "Gang of Eight" bipartisan congressional leaders demanded that the program continue, Gonzales said, that he and then-White House chief of staff went to "inform" Ashcroft of the Gang's wishes. Daschle was one of that Gang of Eight. In a statement e-mailed to TPMmuckraker, he all but calls Gonzales a liar. Daschle's statement bolsters one that his former Gang of Eight colleague, Senate intelligence committee chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), gave to Dan Eggen of the Washington Post: Gonzales is "once again is making something up to protect himself," Rockefeller said. http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003768.php
Many of them aren't enemy combatants either, based on the number that are released after 2 or 3 years of confinement. Unless you think we're releasing terrorists, which should concern you just as much? How do you determine an enemy combatant without due process?
This was good too. It wasn't a lie per se, but shocking in its ineptitude. Again from TMP -- Whitehouse questioned him today about a May, 2006 memo which Gonzales himself had signed while attorney general. The memo widened White House access to case information even more and seemed to have been crafted with special attention to enabling the Vice President's staff, specifically his chief of staff and counsel, to have the unambiguous authority to discuss ongoing cases with Department officials. Gonzales seemed to have been taken off guard by Whitehouse's questions: "The memo that has your signature makes it worse," Whitehouse said. As Whitehouse plowed on, Gonzales admitted of his own memo, "I must say I'm troubled by this." Gonzales cautioned, however, that he didn't know whether officials from the vice president's office had indeed taken advantage of such access. Whitehouse ended by observing that it was difficult to take seriously Gonzales' promise to "restore the Department of Justice," seeing as how he'd apparently worked to help make the Department vulnerable to politicization. http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003767.php <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FPq9so6COkI"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FPq9so6COkI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
The hits keep coming -- Tom Daschle. Jay Rockefeller. And now Nancy Pelosi. That makes three members of the Gang of Eight -- the bipartisan congressional leadership briefed about President Bush's warrantless surveillance -- to dispute Alberto Gonzales's testimony that the Gang demanded the surveillance continue after a March 2004 briefing telling them that acting Attorney General James Comey refused to reauthorize the program. She made clear her disagreement with the program continuing despite Comey's objection," Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly tells TPMmuckraker. Pelosi was part of the Gang of Eight in her capacity as House Democratic leader in 2004. http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003770.php
Gonzales' performance on Congress has been terrible and its amazing he's still in office. I have to believe that the only reason he is still around is he is protecting some sort of dirt on the Admin.. At this point Congress should start looking into removing him as its clear to me he's so wrapped up in politics that he's undermined faith in the department of Justice.
Process. Personally I wish they would release them more readily. It seems like they'd be more value to us in the field being tracked than a bunch of hacks housed at Guantanamo. Those who are innocent will prove to be dead-ends.
Yao Ming Kicks Ass, you're right, rookie, but only in part. Congress should have started taking real action against him long ago. D&D. Impeach Bush and Cheney, Along with Their Tool, Gonzales.
‘Other Intelligence Activities’ Senators once again, dispute Gonzales' recollection of the facts -- Rep. Harman: White House Never Sought Approval For ‘Other Intelligence Activities’ In his testimony yesterday, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales claimed that when James Comey raised objections to the administration’s spying program, he was referring to “other intelligence activities,” not the warrantless wiretapping program that Bush has confirmed. Yesterday, Sen. John Rockefeller (D-WV), who was ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time, said he was never told of “other intelligence activities.” “As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one” intelligence program, Rockefeller said. Today, Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), a former member of the so-called “Gang of Eight” who was briefing by the White House on the program, announced she too was unaware of other intelligence activities: Harman and Rockefeller claim that the only program they were told about was the NSA domestic surveillance program. But yet, in his testimony before Congress yesterday, Gonzales claimed that when he rushed to John Ashcroft’s bedside in 2004, he was seeking authorization for a separate intelligence activity — a program for which Gonzales claims he received “consensus” approval from the bi-partisan “Gang of Eight” on the same day he visited Ashcroft. Harman and Rockefeller are reporting that they never consented to “other intelligence activities.” Responding to a question about whether he believed Gonzales perjured himself Tuesday, Rockefeller responded, “Based upon what I know about it, I’d have to say yes.” http://thinkprogress.org/ It's very simple to confirm who is telling the truth here; ask the republican members of the "gang of eight."
Hindsight would say he shouldn't have even been confirmed, of course there's no telling who Bush would've put up in his place. At this point I think Congress is moving about as fast as they can as the Democrats didn't control congress until this year and its taken awhile to build the case against Gonzalez. The big difference between now and a few months ago is that even many Republicans appear exasperated on Gonzalez. The only thing keeping him from being impeached I'm guessing would be that Republicans on Congress wouldn't want to embarass the President that much but another performance like the one yesterday and Republicans might be looking to not embarass themselves having Gonzalez around.
Buh bye Gonzo -- Documents contradict Gonzales' testimony By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Documents show that eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The documents, obtained by The Associated Press, come as senators consider whether a perjury investigation should be opened into conflicting accounts about the program and a dramatic March 2004 confrontation leading up to its potentially illegal reauthorization. A Gonzales spokesman maintained Wednesday that the attorney general stands by his testimony. At a heated Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Gonzales repeatedly testified that the issue at hand was not about the terrorist surveillance program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on suspects in the United States without receiving court approval. Instead, Gonzales said, the emergency meetings on March 10, 2004, focused on an intelligence program that he would not describe. Gonzales, who was then serving as counsel to Bush, testified that the White House Situation Room briefing sought to inform congressional leaders about the pending expiration of the unidentified program and Justice Department objections to renew it. Those objections were led by then-Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey, who questioned the program's legality. "The dissent related to other intelligence activities," Gonzales testified at Tuesday's hearing. "The dissent was not about the terrorist surveillance program." "Not the TSP?" responded Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. "Come on. If you say it's about other, that implies not. Now say it or not." "It was not," Gonzales answered. "It was about other intelligence activities." A four-page memo from the national intelligence director's office shows that the White House briefing with the eight lawmakers on March 10, 2004, was about the terror surveillance program, or TSP. The memo, dated May 17, 2006, and addressed to then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert, details "the classification of the dates, locations, and names of members of Congress who attended briefings on the Terrorist Surveillance Program," wrote then-Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte. It shows that the briefing in March 2004 was attended by the Republican and Democratic House and Senate leaders and top Intelligence Committee members, as Gonzales testified. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070725/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/congress_gonzales_2 Come on Dennis! Whas up!?
Hell, Bush should be impeached simply for not firing this guy. Certainly, Gonzo should be impeached by Congress. Like, yesterday. D&D. Impeach Bush and Cheney.
