Alberto Gonzales in Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter

On Foreign Policy: Post-9-11 paradigm renders Geneva Convention obsolete

The basic changes in human rights policies were discussed and adopted in the White House, the Justice Department, and the Department of Defense--with spasmodic dissent from the State Department. Reports have revealed these kinds of official declarations:

"The President, despite domestic and international laws constraining the use of torture, has the authority as Commander in Chief to approve almost any physical or psychological actions during interrogation, up to and including torture."
--Department of Defense
"In my judgment, this new [post 9/11] paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."
--White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzales, now Attorney General, the chief law enforcement officer of the US

Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.127 Sep 26, 2006

On Homeland Security: High premium on quick info from captured terrorists

Aside from the humanitarian aspects, it is well known that, under excruciating torture, a prisoner will admit almost any suggested crime. Such confessions are, of course, not admissible in trials in civilized nations. Some of our leaders have found that it is easy to forgo human rights for those who are considered to be subhuman, or "the enemy combatants."

Quoting America's new attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, the policy "places a high premium on the ability to quickly obtain information from captured terrorists and their sponsors in order to avoid further atrocities against American civilians." He justifies an extension of the program permitting CIA agents to deal with suspects in foreign prison sites by claiming that the ban of the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment does not apply to American interrogations of foreigners overseas.

Source: Our Endangered Values, by Jimmy Carter, p.129 Sep 26, 2006

The above quotations are from Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis, by Jimmy Carter. Click here for other excerpts from Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis, by Jimmy Carter. Click here for other excerpts by Alberto Gonzales. Click here for a profile of Alberto Gonzales.
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