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Alberto Gonzales's picture for the torture accountability archives

Alberto Gonzales

Torture Connection: The rubber stamp
  • Born 1955, San Antonio, Texas.
  • Attended U.S. Air Force Academy. Graduated from Rice University, Harvard Law School.
  • Associate, eventually partner with Houston law firm, Vinson and Ellis.
  • Became General Counsel to then-governor George W. Bush, who appointed him as Secretary of State and then Texas Supreme Court Justice.
  • Served as White House Counsel, then Attorney General under President Bush. Resigned in 2007 under suspicion of improperly dismissing U.S. attorneys.
  • Since his resignation, he has reportedly encountered difficulty in finding a law firm that would hire him and has earned his income from speaking engagements.

In the White House, Gonzales built framework for torture policy

As Bush’s personal lawyer in the White House and a loyal ally of Cheney, Gonzales chaired a group of administration lawyers working on legal issues arising from the Cheney’s war policies. Gonzales signed off on a memo produced by Cheney’s lawyer David Addington that declared the Geneva Conventions inapplicable—in fact, “obsolete”—in the “new paradigm” of the Global War on Terror. He pressured lawyers throughout the administration to produce legal documents supporting torture, indefinite detention, and military tribunals for United States captives. Notoriously, he even attempted to pressure Attorney General Ashcroft while he was in the hospital in intensive care.

As Attorney General, Gonzales protected torture policy and torturers from legal scrutiny

When Gonzales became Attorney General in 2004, he fought off legal challenges to torture and other aspects of the administration’s detainee policy, both in the courts and in the bureaucracy. As one of the last remaining Cheney loyalists close to Bush, he helped keep Cheney’s torture program secret and active.

Sources on Alberto Gonzales

Washington Post A Different Understanding With the President by Barton Gellman and Jo Becker
Washington Post Pushing the Envelope on Presidential Power by Barton Gellman and Jo Becker
The New Yorker The Black Sites: A rare look inside the C.I.A.'s secret interrogation program by Jane Mayer
Vanity Fair The Green Light by Philippe Sands
Wall Street Journal Gonzales Defends Role in Antiterror Policies by Evan Perez
Seattle Times Secret Tactics Dictated Treatment of Detainees by Tom Lasseter
NPR.com / All Things Considered Did White House OK Earliest Detainee Abuse? by Ari Shapiro
Fire Dog Lake Did Abu Zubaydah’s Torture Begin After May 28, 2002? by Marcy Wheeler
Washington Post Gonzales Helped Set the Course for Detainees: Justice Nominee's Hearings Likely to Focus on Interrogation Policies by R. Jeffrey Smith and Dan Eggen
salon.com The 13 People Who Made Torture Possible by Marcy Wheeler
Fire Dog Lake Condi’s Okay Came After OLC Approval by Marcy Wheeler
The Washington Independent James Mitchell Asked, ‘Please Can I Torture Abu Zubaydah?’; Did Alberto Gonzales Say Yes? by Spencer Ackerman
Center for Grassroots Oversight History Commons: Daniel J. Dell'Orto by (na)