AGAG Doesn’t Recall What He Said Monday

Well, that’s not entirely correct. Rather, Alberto Gonzales is backing off what he said Monday, when he supported a torture investigation.

"Contrary to press reporting and based on the information that’s available to me," Mr. Gonzales said during an interview Thursday with The Washington Times, "I don’t support the investigation by the department because this is a matter that has already been reviewed thoroughly and because I believe that another investigation is going to harm our intelligence gathering capabilities and that’s a concern that’s shared by career intelligence officials and so for those reasons I respectfully disagree with the decision."

[snip]

"It’s an endorsement of his right to exercise his discretion," he said. "I’m just saying I would have exercised my discretion in a different manner, given the information I have."

So maybe the best explanation is that on Tuesday, Gonzales didn’t recall the investigation he purportedly did when he was still Attorney General.

Or maybe the better explanation is that someone finally gave him the sinecure he was looking for.

Update: My previous link went dead, so I replaced the content with the original Washington Times piece and fixed the timing.

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77 replies
  1. JimWhite says:

    Wow. Gonzo channels Palin:

    “I don’t support the investigation by the department because this is a matter that has already been reviewed thoroughly and because I believe that another investigation is going to harm our intelligence gathering capabilities and that’s a concern that’s shared by career intelligence officials and so for those reasons I respectfully disagree with the decision.”

    Also.

    • perris says:

      interesting quote that;

      I don’t support the investigation by the department because this is a matter that has already been reviewed thoroughly and because I believe that another investigation is going to harm our intelligence gathering capabilities and that’s a concern that’s shared by career intelligence officials and so for those reasons I respectfully disagree with the decision.”

      whatever “review” he’s talking about is the same thing as a thief claiming there is no business looking into his theft because he already looked into it

      • manys says:

        It’s not even definitional like that. The key word he uses is “thoroughly,” which is a (self-serving) value judgement and thus subject to a difference of opinion. That is: politics. In the continuing pushback I’d look for more words like this, where the opinions turn not on facts but descriptions of quality.

        I mean really, smoke: fire. There’s no use for fuzzy feel-good reasons, the trail is continually being cleared. It’s like saying (to continue the “trail”), that we don’t need to see where this is going, we’ve hiked long enough.

  2. scribe says:

    I say it’s the one behind Door Number 3: Someone reminded him there are people out there with weapons and skills and the will to use them when so ordered by the people he might implicate (not the current office-holders, FWIW), who would be be pointed in Gonzo’s silly-ass direction should he keep on speaking this way.

    In other words, pretty much the Fredo treatment, for Fredo.

    He should reconsider that idea about taking up fishing for relaxation.

    • fatster says:

      You’re in good company.

      Gonzales ‘flip-flops’ yet again on torture probe
      BY DAVID EDWARDS AND MURIEL KANE 

Published: September 3, 2009 
Updated -51 second ago

      ?John Dean believes Ridge was ‘pressured’ to back down on threat alert claims
      Either former Bush officials are being pressured to backtrack, or recent flip-flops are just more evidence that they had no convictions in the first place.”

      More.

      • pdaly says:

        just more evidence that they had no convictions in the first place

        Some day we’ll provide the convictions for these convictionless men and women.

      • scribe says:

        Oh, no, I don’t hink he needs to go that far. It would be entirely too unlikely for him to get shot in the face while hunting quail in South Texas….

        Oh, yeah. Right.

  3. Citizen92 says:

    Ridge and AGAG both pulled the ripcord.

    I wonder who’s writing the sinecure checks… It has been a busy week.

  4. bgrothus says:

    Either sinecure or they put a little drill to his head. Suddenly, he remembers everything. Until under oath.

  5. maryo2 says:

    He rattled off those talking points as if he had memorized them in that specific order. Using all of the “ands” is like a child reciting a story.

    Did the first Times article say that there would be a follow-up interview or did Gonzales request the follow-up?

    • BoxTurtle says:

      Yup. Like I said, Gonzo is a coward. Somebody got to him. His welfare package will likely improve, look for an endowed chair at some university.

      Boxturtle (but don’t worry, the threat of jail time will flip him right back)

  6. manys says:

    Both Gonzo and Ridge are working a classic political gambit: tease out some useful tidbits that create positive gloss on even the smallest players in the Bush Administration before walking them back immediately afterward. It’s a form of misinformation and is a corollary force to Cheney’s assertions that some documents will vindicate him while we eventually find out they don’t. The purpose is to gently tug the narrative in the direction of knowledge and information, such that the conventional wisdom around torture gets fed a little bit and thus becomes fuller, hopefully making the CW more satisfied. A hunger metaphor, to be sure, but the purpose is so that their philosophy participates in the knowledge gap of torture, but does not actually provide anything reliable.

    I suspect that nobody “got to them,” I think the revelations were planned this way.

    • prostratedragon says:

      I think some of these folks dangle something to make a false impression of someone who privately holds what everyone with any sense is actually a mainstream [I mean us, not the Village crowd] view on the wretched excrebility of the Bush administration and its policies, or what you will. They then mold the momentary impression of moderation into a device that eases their insertion into Village discourse, as it were, with a kind of privileged status.

      Of course, I’ll also bet there are some stick wielders out there to make sure that the largesse of sinecure is accepted; recall how hard it was even for someone as peripheral as Dr. Melfi to turn down a Tony Soprano favor.

  7. WilliamOckham says:

    Who is getting to these guys so quickly? Republicans walk things back faster than Usain Bolt runs the 100 meters.

  8. perris says:

    I wonder what the wingfare program they offered and I wonder how long before we hear about the think tank that’s hiring him

  9. pdaly says:

    What is the name of that Virginia law firm specializing in defending intelligence agents from lawsuits?
    I wonder if Gonzales’ prior statement (before the flip-flop) gave that firm a temporary up-spike in phone calls and billable hours.

      • MartyDidier says:

        Seems strange with discovering 404 errors doesn’t it? Maybe giving a little thought as to why or who may be behind this change may help surface something else. With what I do on the Internet this is very common especially if the information is damning towards something or someone who’s very important.

        Marty Didier
        Northbrook, IL

        • maryo2 says:

          The original is more damning than the linked to article! He said [Whether or not to investigate torture, mutilation, male and female rape, death, child kidnapping, forced drugging, and death threats against family members is] “no different than when a police officer sees someone perhaps speeding.”

  10. pdaly says:

    OT: still fuming at the Republican attempts to gloss over Ted Kennedy’s achievements for supporting the average citizen. The Republicans only want to mention how Kennedy represented the consummate Senator because he was so good at bipartisanship, blah blah. Now I have an idea for those Republicans flattering Kennedy’s record.
    Let us all agree to honor Kennedy’s bipartisanship by renaming Washington National Airport yet again.
    Instead of the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, VA, let’s agree to call it the

    “Ted Kennedy Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport,” or Kennedy National Airport when time is short.

    Bipartisanship all the way.

  11. maryo2 says:

    “I think it is legitimate to question and examine that conduct”

    “I don’t support the investigation by the department”

    Wow, just wow.

  12. maryo2 says:

    I still have it open in another tab. I’ll help them out by pasting it here (just in case the wording changes in the near future).

    Gonzo Backpedals on Support for CIA Torture Investigation
    By Stephanie Woodrow | September 3, 2009

    Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Thursday backed away from his comments earlier this week on Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to probe possible CIA interrogation abuses, saying he does not support the investigation, The Washington Times reported.

    On Tuesday, Main Justice reported Gonzales supported Holder’s decision. His comments came during an interview with The Washington Times’ “America’s Morning News” radio show. During the interview, Gonzales said if people go beyond the established parameters of how to deal with alleged terrorists, “I think it is legitimate to question and examine that conduct to ensure people are held accountable for their actions, even if it’s action in prosecuting the war on terror. ”

    On Thursday, in a follow-up interview with The Times, Gonzales said despite reports that he supports Holder’s probe, “I don’t support the investigation by the department because this is a matter that has already been reviewed thoroughly and because I believe that another investigation is going to harm our intelligence gathering capabilities and that’s a concern that’s shared by career intelligence officials and so for those reasons I respectfully disagree with the decision.”

    Regarding his earlier comments, Gonzales said he was not endorsing the investigations, simply Holder’s right to conduct the probe. He said, “It’s an endorsement of his right to exercise his discretion,” adding, “I’m just saying I would have exercised my discretion in a different manner, given the information I have.”

    Gonzales would not say what evidence was uncovered during the Bush administration that led him to deem Holder’s probe unnecessary. “This has been looked at, and I agree with President Obama that we ought to be looking forward,” he said.

  13. maryo2 says:

    “I would have exercised my discretion in a different manner.” Duh, you did. Hello, you were AG swirly-dot-signature Gonzales not very long ago.

  14. Hmmm says:

    Obviously firm, immediate pressure is being applied widely — cf. the Broder article as well. Whether in the AGAG case it’s positive pressure (sinecure), negative pressure (threats), or the oh-so-effective combo of both is hard to say.

    One thing we can ask is: Why now, exactly? Someone (probably but not necessarily Dick) must be feeling an immediate danger. But does Holder actually represent a credible threat? From his history it’s far from clear he’d be inclined to attempt any actual tackle in the first place, and certainly most Washington empowered types at least appear to be working hard against that. Still, I guess we can’t rule out the idea that some below-the-radar movement of truly offended career CIA and other USG types may have amassed and has been giving unignorable info to DoJ. Kind of a variation on “Make me do it”?

    • Peterr says:

      Why now?

      The reaction to Ridge’s book made certain people very nervous, such that (passive voice alert) pressure was applied to make sure Ridge walked it back a bit.

      Then add in AGAG’s comments on Monday.

      Ridge’s writing could be passed off as a one-time glitch, and his “I didn’t really mean to say it like that” certainly helps send that message. But when AGAG stepped up and said “Sure, investigating and holding people accountable is a good idea,” that made Ridge’s remarks in the book look more credible.

      I sense the looming presence of David Addington, lurking in the inky shadows as he places a phone call:

      DA: You *really* want to sit in a witness chair and have a little chat with a prosecutor like Fitzgerald?
      AGAG: Well, uh . . .

      DA: You *really* want a senator like Whitehouse or Leahy asking you some pointed questions in a Senate hearing room?
      AGAG: Umm . . .

      DA: You *really* enjoyed all that “I don’t recall” crap you spewed last time, and you *really* can’t wait to have a chance to do it again?
      AGAG: I, uh, that is . . .

      DA: W.T. . .

  15. Jeff Kaye says:

    Same script here, at WSJ Marketwatch:

    Noted Retired Army Psychologist Speaks Out on CIA Investigation Plan
    –Retired colonel served tours at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib as Joint Task Force Psychologist

    Note the threat:

    “Being an interrogator is a stressful, challenging and dangerous job,” he said. “If there is new evidence that suggests crimes have been committed, then it would make sense to move forward with an investigation. However, since at the time of the interrogations they were deemed legal and acceptable by that sitting administration, I do not believe the investigation is warranted or necessary. I advise the president to be supportive of our current mission and be very careful as he moves forward in this sensitive area.”

    • perris says:

      his statement is a contradiction of terms, the investigation is to find out if those standards were exceded, it can’t be “deemed legal” of anything even if the standards were obsurd since those standards were in fact ignored and exceeded

      so he contradicts himself

  16. SanderO says:

    They said it was OK upstairs. Who told them it was OK? Oh we did. We’re psychologists. We said this sh9t is ok and it works.

  17. RevBev says:

    I do know the answer…but I have to ask? Is there no end to the ways this man can embarrass himself? He may be delusional, I don’t know; but he is pitiful.

    • lllphd says:

      honestly, you guys, you have to check this out.

      there is an opera opening in philly this weekend all about gonzo’s senate hearing testimony; the gonzalez contata. i originally ran across it on sully, but scott horton has a great little note about it, and it’s been reviewed in wsj, etc. here are some cool links, including the website, which is a drudge report knockoff, replete with flashing sirens and american typewriter font. these and other reviews are listed, as well as a trailer. extremely clever, and fascinating.

      http://www.gonzalescantata.com/

      http://www.harpers.org/archive…..c-90005645

      http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2009/…..t-kidding/

      • fatster says:

        Amazing! I just sent the cantata link to everyone in my little part of the universe. They’ll love it. Many thnx!

        • lllphd says:

          oh, good! hope someone in your part of the universe is in philly this weekend.

          i knew it would gain appreciation here. just too classic to pass up. ya do gotta wonder what all this will look like in a few decades, especially if the retrospectives end up being revivals of stuff like this opera and will farrell’s remarkable you’re welcome, america. horton’s piece was edifying for the historical take on that sort of thing.

          • fatster says:

            So far, “Awesome” is the top response. Still waiting on my “serious musician” friends, including a retired NY Phil guy. Many, many thanks for this.

            • lllphd says:

              ooh, way cool; can’t wait to hear from the ny phil guy. did you listen to the trailer on the website? i found the aria actually beautiful, and the AGAG voice was stunning. love how the composer is gender switching; AGAG as a lovely young soprano is such a mind twist. the irony is that the soprano sings; AGAG has not. yet. (i think if he gets desperate enough, he will, tho)

              would love to see this done in full operatic staging. so cool.

              please keep me posted on input.

              • fatster says:

                You betcha! They’re mainly on the East Coast and it’s late there now (”late” gets earlier as one’s years pile up), but I surely will.

        • lllphd says:

          now that’s pretty funny. you should share it with the composer; seems she’s pretty accessible, and awfully bright.

  18. nahant says:

    Gonzo = Endzo for all the Bush Administration! These Perps are just digging their own graves deeper every time they open their mouths. I say skip all the BS and just send them all to the Hague and let the international Courts sort out the details. These criminals have done untold damage to our country!! Hope they all get to spend their reaming days in a deep dark hole isolated forever from real people!

  19. prostratedragon says:

    “… Mr. Gonzales had no further comment except to note that he had completely misconstrued the phrase ‘torture probe.’”

  20. Basharov says:

    Cheney made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: Back off or you’re coming dove hunting with me this week-end.

  21. RepackRider says:

    He’s lucky that there isn’t any way to permanently record, store and distribute what he said a few days ago so people can compare it to what he is saying today. If there were, we would be able to catch him in his lies.

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