[NYTr] Mr. Gonzales’s Never-Ending Story (NY Times Edit'l)

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

The Mew York Times - Jul 29, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/opinion/29sun1.html

Edtorial

Mr. Gonzales’s Never-Ending Story

President Bush often insists he has to be the decider — ignoring
Congress and the public when it comes to the tough matters on war,
terrorism and torture, even deciding whether an ordinary man in Florida
should be allowed to let his wife die with dignity. Apparently that
burden does not apply to the functioning of one of the most vital
government agencies, the Justice Department.

Americans have been waiting months for Mr. Bush to fire Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales, who long ago proved that he was incompetent
and more recently has proved that he can’t tell the truth. Mr. Bush
refused to fire him after it was clear Mr. Gonzales lied about his role
in the political purge of nine federal prosecutors. And he is still
refusing to do so — even after testimony by the F.B.I. director, Robert
Mueller, that suggests that Mr. Gonzales either lied to Congress about
Mr. Bush’s warrantless wiretapping operation or at the very least
twisted the truth so badly that it amounts to the same thing.

Mr. Gonzales has now told Congress twice that there was no dissent in
the government about Mr. Bush’s decision to authorize the National
Security Agency to spy on Americans’ international calls and e-mails
without obtaining the legally required warrant. Mr. Mueller and James
Comey, a former deputy attorney general, say that is not true. Not only
was there disagreement, but they also say that they almost resigned
over the dispute.

Both men say that in March 2004 — when Mr. Gonzales was still the White
House counsel — the Justice Department refused to endorse a
continuation of the wiretapping program because it was illegal. (Mr.
Comey was running the department temporarily because Attorney General
John Ashcroft had emergency surgery.) Unwilling to accept that
conclusion, Vice President Dick Cheney sent Mr. Gonzales and another
official to Mr. Ashcroft’s hospital room to get him to approve the
wiretapping.

Mr. Comey and Mr. Mueller intercepted the White House team, and they
say they watched as a groggy Mr. Ashcroft refused to sign off on the
wiretapping and told the White House officials to leave. Mr. Comey said
the White House later modified the eavesdropping program enough for the
Justice Department to sign off.

Last week, Mr. Gonzales denied that account. He told the Senate
Judiciary Committee the dispute was not about the wiretapping operation
but was over “other intelligence activities.” He declined to say what
those were.

Lawmakers who have been briefed on the administration’s activities said
the dispute was about the one eavesdropping program that has been
disclosed. So did Mr. Comey. And so did Mr. Mueller, most recently on
Thursday in a House hearing. He said he had kept notes.

That was plain enough. It confirmed what most people long ago
concluded: that Mr. Gonzales is more concerned about doing
political-damage control for Mr. Bush — in this case insisting that
there was never a Justice Department objection to a clearly illegal
program — than in doing his duty. But the White House continued to
defend him.

As far as we can tell, there are three possible explanations for Mr.
Gonzales’s talk about a dispute over other — unspecified — intelligence
activities. One, he lied to Congress. Two, he used a bureaucratic dodge
to mislead lawmakers and the public: the spying program was modified
after Mr. Ashcroft refused to endorse it, which made it “different”
from the one Mr. Bush has acknowledged. The third is that there was
more wiretapping than has been disclosed, perhaps even purely domestic
wiretapping, and Mr. Gonzales is helping Mr. Bush cover it up.

Democratic lawmakers are asking for a special prosecutor to look into
Mr. Gonzales’s words and deeds. Solicitor General Paul Clement has a
last chance to show that the Justice Department is still minimally
functional by fulfilling that request.

If that does not happen, Congress should impeach Mr. Gonzales.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company