Alberto Gonzales Whines to WSJ.com
The Harvard Law School graduate, onetime corporate lawyer and Texas judge also hasn't been able to land a job. He has delivered a few paid speeches, done some mediation work and plans to do some arbitration, but said law firms have been "skittish" about hiring him.
Well, you know, there's just not a lot of demand in the corporate law world for lawyers whose specialty is politicizing criminal prosecutions and providing bogus legal cover for torturing people. Have you tried looking for work overseas? Say, Syria? How about Equatorial Guinea?
Here's the money quote:
"for some reason, I am portrayed as the one who is evil in formulating policies that people disagree with. I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror."
All I have to say to that is:
A victim of the war on terror? Maher Arar was a victim of the War on Terror, you asshole:
In 2002, Canadian citizen Maher Arar was flying through JFK airport on his way to Canada for a business trip, when he was detained by U.S. immigration officials based on faulty information in their database submitted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Arar was interrogated for 12 days by FBI officials and then deported, against his will, via Jordan, to Syria, where he was held for 10 1/2 months in a cell measuring 3 feet by 6 feet by 7 feet and tortured with steel cables, according to a Canadian inquiry. Arar was never a suspect or a target in any terrorist investigation.
Gonzales' reaction? "I never read the report."
Abdallah Higazy was a victim in the War on Terror:
Later, as hotel staff were inventorying guests' belongings, they found, supposedly in Higazi's room safe, a radio which could be used to communicate with airliners in flight. When Higazi came to get his stuff, he was taken into custody by the FBI.
Higazi at first denied owning the radio or knowing anything about it. So the FBI ratcheted up the pressure by threatening his family. If he didn't come clean, the agents said, the U.S. would "make sure Egyptian Security gives [his] family hell." Everyone knew exactly what that meant, including the agent doing the questioning, who later stated that he was talking "yeah, probably about torture."
Higazi's parents are in their 60s. He has a young sister in Egypt, and Egyptian security is reputed to be particularly creative with female prisoners. Faced with that threat, Higazi broke. He confessed and signed a statement written by the FBI saying he'd stolen the radio from the Egyptian military.
Three days later, an airline pilot showed up at the hotel. He wanted his radio back.
The FBI verified that the radio belonged to the pilot, not Higazi. The hotel began backpedaling about the radio being found in Higazi's safe. The government released him after 34 days in custody and dismissed all charges.
The DOJ's reaction? They demanded the details of Higazy's treatment be taken out of the official court record and replaced with a bland: "the government has stipulated that the confession was coerced."
Let's be real clear on this, Alberto: You are not a fucking victim of anything but your own arrogance and cowardice. You're lucky not being able to find a job is the biggest thing you have to worry about. President-elect Obama has not shown a great deal of enthusiasm for investigating and prosecuting the people who attempted to turn the country I love into a third world police state for whom torture was an official policy. I for one do not agree with the President-elect on this, but you, you sniveling cur, should be on your knees thanking your Dark Lord every damn day of your miserable existence on this Earth before he gathers you into the Hell you so
richly deserve, where hopefully you will be waterboarded throughout eternity.
A victim. Unbelievable.
The Harvard Law School graduate, onetime corporate lawyer and Texas judge also hasn't been able to land a job. He has delivered a few paid speeches, done some mediation work and plans to do some arbitration, but said law firms have been "skittish" about hiring him.
Well, you know, there's just not a lot of demand in the corporate law world for lawyers whose specialty is politicizing criminal prosecutions and providing bogus legal cover for torturing people. Have you tried looking for work overseas? Say, Syria? How about Equatorial Guinea?
Here's the money quote:
"for some reason, I am portrayed as the one who is evil in formulating policies that people disagree with. I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror."
All I have to say to that is:
A victim of the war on terror? Maher Arar was a victim of the War on Terror, you asshole:
In 2002, Canadian citizen Maher Arar was flying through JFK airport on his way to Canada for a business trip, when he was detained by U.S. immigration officials based on faulty information in their database submitted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Arar was interrogated for 12 days by FBI officials and then deported, against his will, via Jordan, to Syria, where he was held for 10 1/2 months in a cell measuring 3 feet by 6 feet by 7 feet and tortured with steel cables, according to a Canadian inquiry. Arar was never a suspect or a target in any terrorist investigation.
Gonzales' reaction? "I never read the report."
Abdallah Higazy was a victim in the War on Terror:
Later, as hotel staff were inventorying guests' belongings, they found, supposedly in Higazi's room safe, a radio which could be used to communicate with airliners in flight. When Higazi came to get his stuff, he was taken into custody by the FBI.
Higazi at first denied owning the radio or knowing anything about it. So the FBI ratcheted up the pressure by threatening his family. If he didn't come clean, the agents said, the U.S. would "make sure Egyptian Security gives [his] family hell." Everyone knew exactly what that meant, including the agent doing the questioning, who later stated that he was talking "yeah, probably about torture."
Higazi's parents are in their 60s. He has a young sister in Egypt, and Egyptian security is reputed to be particularly creative with female prisoners. Faced with that threat, Higazi broke. He confessed and signed a statement written by the FBI saying he'd stolen the radio from the Egyptian military.
Three days later, an airline pilot showed up at the hotel. He wanted his radio back.
The FBI verified that the radio belonged to the pilot, not Higazi. The hotel began backpedaling about the radio being found in Higazi's safe. The government released him after 34 days in custody and dismissed all charges.
The DOJ's reaction? They demanded the details of Higazy's treatment be taken out of the official court record and replaced with a bland: "the government has stipulated that the confession was coerced."
Let's be real clear on this, Alberto: You are not a fucking victim of anything but your own arrogance and cowardice. You're lucky not being able to find a job is the biggest thing you have to worry about. President-elect Obama has not shown a great deal of enthusiasm for investigating and prosecuting the people who attempted to turn the country I love into a third world police state for whom torture was an official policy. I for one do not agree with the President-elect on this, but you, you sniveling cur, should be on your knees thanking your Dark Lord every damn day of your miserable existence on this Earth before he gathers you into the Hell you so
richly deserve, where hopefully you will be waterboarded throughout eternity.
A victim. Unbelievable.
