Torture survivors opppose nomination of Alberto Gonzales

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January 2005

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Torture survivors opppose Gonzales nomination
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Torture survivors opppose Gonzales nomination
An international organization of survivors of torture seeking the global abolition of torture has condemned the nomination of Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General of the United States. President Bush has proposed Gonzales as a replacement for the retiring Attorney General John Ashcroft.

His proposed appointment has proved controversial after Gonzales was revealed as the author of a memo that described the Geneva Conventions as "quaint" and, according to critics, laid the foundation for a warped policy on the treatment of detainees in the war on terror that ultimately led to the devastating abuses of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

According to the statement from the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC): "The damage Mr. Gonzales has done is irreparable. That he is being considered for one of the highest offices in our land, an office specifically devoted to the rule of law, is a scandal of epic proportions.

"Anyone who condones, foments, or encourages torture is morally reprehensible. Mr. Gonzales did not do so while idly theorizing but set forth his opinions on the permissibility of torture as White House Counsel in a memo to the President of the United States, knowing that his opinions had a likelihood of being translated into policy and that torture could well be the result. And torture was the result."

The group urged the president to revoke the nomination of Alberto Gonzalez as Attorney General and urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to refuse to confirm him. "To allow him to assume the position of Attorney General is to affirm and reward the work he has done in opening the gate to atrocities." The group calls on American citizens to contact members of the Judiciary Committee "and voice opposition to the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General of the United States."

Below is the full text of the TASSC statment:

Anyone who condones, foments, or encourages torture is morally reprehensible. Mr. Gonzales did not do so while idly theorizing but set forth his opinions on the permissibility of torture as White House Counsel in a memo to the President of the United States, knowing that his opinions had a likelihood of being translated into policy and that torture could well be the result. And torture was the result.

We have seen the photos from Abu Ghraib. We have heard the accounts from Guantanamo. Those who suffered the torture encouraged by Mr. Gonzales do not have the opportunity to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. We, as survivors of torture ourselves, can only approximate their voices as we say that torture is a life sentence, if one survives. The use of tactics that have been deemed by some to be “torture light”—a blindfold, dogs, shaking, slaps, near drowning, and threats—even those leave in the sufferer a fear that never departs. Even those destroy the ability to trust another human being. The first treatment center was established in Copenhagen twenty years after the end of World War II because it was found that survivors of the tortures of the Holocaust were still having symptoms. The effects of torture never go away.

The damage Mr. Gonzales has done is irreparable. That he is being considered for one of the highest offices in our land, an office specifically devoted to the rule of law, is a scandal of epic proportions. Members of TASSC from countries around the world are not united by any political philosophy. Our only commonality is that we have all been tortured. As one voice we call on President Bush to revoke the nomination of Alberto Gonzalez as Attorney General and on the Senate Judiciary Committee to refuse to confirm him. To allow him to assume the position of Attorney General is to affirm and reward the work he has done in opening the gate to atrocities.

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