Questions raised about politician's record

The Blair chapter of Amnesty International collected signatures on Dec. 10 in the SAC petitioning Maryland Senators Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski to raise questions at the confirmation hearings for Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales.

The petition regarded Gonzales' record on human rights and his positions on torture and the Geneva Conventions. Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), the Americans Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Human Rights Watch are also currently raising questions on these positions.

Gonzales wrote the White House memo that surfaced during the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. The document advised that the Geneva Conventions might not protect prisoners captured in the War on Terror, referring to the conventions as "quaint" and "obsolete." Gonzales has also stated that torture could be redefined to cover certain currently outlawed practices and that the executive branch may possibly have Constitutional justification for employing such tactics.

Although AIUSA is non-partisan and "takes no position on the appointment of individual nominees, the organization believes that [Gonzales' record] deserves close and careful scrutiny," according to its Nov. 10 press release.

Anne Manuel, sponsor of Amnesty International at Blair, an official AIUSA chapter, stressed the importance of speaking out against Gonzales' record. "It is important to make an issue about these things he has written and said because the administration has not yet dealt with Abu Ghraib and prisoner abuse," Manuel said. In addition to the petitions, Blair's Amnesty International has organized a letter-writing campaign to various congressmen. Although Manuel thinks that Gonzales will probably be confirmed, she sees the group's efforts as "a way to keep the issue alive."