ATTORNEY GENERAL TRIFECTA

With the nomination of retired New York trial judge Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General, President Bush has offered America possibly the worst three candidates ever for this critical post.

First Attorney General John Ashcroft engineered unnecessary restrictions to civil liberties in the hysterical aftermath of September 11, and trumpeted inaccurate or phony terrorist busts every time a distraction was needed to camouflage Administration embarrassments.

Second Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, infamous for calling the Geneva Conventions “quaint”, brought his office to such a low level he had to look up to look down. He mercifully resigned and hired a defense attorney after enduring a withering storm of criticism from Republicans as well as Democrats.

Now the President offers retired judge Mukasey, who is incapable of stating the obvious, that water boarding is torture. US military personnel were prosecuted for torture for water boarding Philippino insurgents after our takeover of the Philippines, a prize garnered in our victorious Spanish American War of 1898.

Did the President give Mukasey marching orders to avoid telling the truth which might expose American interrogators to prosecution for that same practice used on alleged bad guys in this century? Or, did Mukasey read the tea leaves and divine that an honest answer would have that precise consequence?

Bush’s three choices for the top law enforcement official in the land completes his trifecta of everything we do not need in a decent and effective Attorney General.

Originally published in Glen Ellyn Sun, November 9, 2007