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Senate Judiciary Committee with Alberto Gonzales-7/24/07 Pt8

Part 8 of 32 Senate Judiciary Committee with Alberto Gonzales. Senator Kohl questions Gonzales. 7/24/07KEEP IN MIND: Gonzales was given each and every question he would be asked beforehand. Nothing was a surprise - there was absolutely NO "GOTCHA!"Transcript of this portion of the hearing:LEAHY: Thank you very much. Senator Kohl?KOHL: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.Mr. Attorney General, the detention center at Guantanamo Bay continues to harm our image around the world. There's growing consensus on this. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told the House Committee, quote, "I came to this job thinking that Guantanamo Bay should be closed."KOHL: According to press reports, Secretary of State Rice has also supported efforts within the administration to close Guantanamo. And former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, quote, "If it was up to me, I would close Guantanamo -- not tomorrow, but this afternoon."Last year even the president himself recognized that Guantanamo has been the focus of international criticism and he said, I quote, "I'd like to, quote, 'close Guantanamo.'"Recent press reports have disclosed that efforts are under way in the administration to do that. According to the New York Times, however, these efforts, quote, "were rejected after Attorney General Gonzales and some other government lawyers expressed strong objections."So where are you on this? Do you think that we should close Guantanamo?GONZALES: I wish we could close Guantanamo. I'm with everyone else: We should close Guantanamo.However, a need remains -- and there are legitimate questions about what do you do with these individuals? I guess we could turn them loose, Senator, and they could end up fighting against us again. We could bring them into the United States, although I understand the Senate recently rejected that overwhelmingly. Bringing them into the United States raises some serious legal issues. And as the attorney general, my job was to make sure that all the policy-makers were aware that there were serious legal issues that would arise if in fact they were brought into the United States.But if your question is, would I support closing Guantanamo? Absolutely, but not at the risk of the lives of our men and women who are fighting overseas and not at the risk of the national security of our country.KOHL: But we can put them into the American justice system, an American justice system that you know has worked very effectively even with respect to dealing with terrorists and members of Al Qaida. There are ways in which we can restrict classified information, important information.So if you support closing Guantanamo, then why don't you put into motion the kinds of things that will result in just that?GONZALES: Senator, I do believe there are legitimate risks involved in bringing people into the United States and putting them into our system, quite frankly.KOHL: What are the risks?GONZALES: Let's say that the evidence that we have is not evidence that we want to compromise in order to bring someone to trial. Once they're into the United States, if they come from a country where if we send them back they may be tortured, they will have the right to ask for asylum. And so we may not have the ability to either hold them or to throw them out of the United States, and we have to let them go. And so those are, sort of, the nightmare scenarios that we worry about in bringing people into the United States.KOHL: Are you saying, therefore, that you do not support closing Guantanamo?GONZALES: I support closing Guantanamo, Senator, but I think we need to do it with our eyes wide open. I think we probably will come to the Congress and ask for legislation in order to ensure that we can protect this country.KOHL: Why don't we do that?GONZALES: That is certainly something that is of serious discussion and debate within the administration.KOHL: So you may in fact decide to close Guantanamo and come to Congress for authorization.GONZALES: Again, there's been no decision made by the president. My judgment is the president, like you, wants to close Guantanamo, but, like you, he doesn't want to do so if it means jeopardizing the security of our country.And so, we're trying to work through these. And you're right, it will ultimately, in my judgment, require additional consultation with the Congress.KOHL: Mr. Attorney General, consumers today, as you know, are suffering from near-record high gas prices, and most of this is due to the high price of crude oil. Despite this, the administration has threatened to veto our NOPEC legislation, which would enable the Justice Department, and only the Justice Department, to sue OPEC member nations for violating U.S. antitrust law when they conspire to fix the price of oil, which they do.This bill passed both the House and the Senate with overwhelming margins. Under this bill, the Justice Department, and only the Justice Department, could institute this kind of a proceeding. So why do you not want this authority?GONZALES: I think cartels are bad, and we ought to prosecute them and go after them.GONZALES: I agree with that.The question is whether or not going after this cartel in this way, through litigation, is the right approach, because you implicate questions of sovereignty and state action. And, you know, it calls into question the fact that, you know, we have a presence overseas and does that mean that either the American government or American businesses are going to be subject to litigation and the jurisdiction of other countries overseas?I think that that's a concern that we have is the downstream impact, or the result, the impetus that's going to arise as a result of this legislation.And we think that a better approach is to continue to try to work through this through the Department of Energy and the Department of State, through diplomatic means. And that's the concern that we have, Senator.Again, cartels are bad. We'd like to deal with it. I just -- we're concerned that this may not be the best approach.KOHL: But you don't have to use it. Because you don't -- you know that the only way in which the legislation can be effected is through the president and the Department of Justice. So if you think it's legislation that should not be used, so you won't use it.GONZALES: But once Congress passes the legislation and puts it on the books, what's going to be the response of another country who sees this action taken by the Congress? And are they going to take some kind of action in response to simply the legislation passing?It's hard to predict. I would simply urge the Congress to consider giving the Department of State and the Department of Energy additional time to try to work through this.KOHL: Mr. Attorney General, since our last oversight hearing, it seems that very little has improved at the Justice Department. And many of the people in senior positions have resigned, as you know. And according to press reports, these positions have not been filled, in many cases because people have turned down these jobs. The American public has lost confidence in you according to recent polls. Morale at the Justice Department remains low. The integrity of the Office of the Attorney General as an institution is obviously more important, I'm sure you would agree, than the person sitting in it. In other words, Mr. Attorney General, this cannot be just all about you.And so, would you please explain to us why the administration of justice and the American people would not be better served by somebody sitting in the office who does not have all of the problems that you possess with respect to believability, credibility, confidence, trust? What keeps you in the job, Mr. Attorney General?GONZALES: That's a very good question, Senator. Ultimately I have to decide whether or not it would be better for me to leave or just stay and try to fix the problems. I've decided to stay and fix the problems. And that's what -- and that's what I have been doing.You talked about vacancies. We're at a time in the administration where there are going to be vacancies in agencies. It's just natural.Obviously there have been changes in personnel at the leadership of the department. In many ways, that is a good thing. We've just identified a new interim deputy attorney general who's a career prosecutor. I think he'll do a great job.GONZALES: I've got a chief of staff who's also a United States attorney. And so we've got -- we're bringing in good, experienced people into these positions, because we want to address the question about lack of leadership. I think we have some strong leadership in the Department of Justice.We've changed policies. We've been made aware of some issues relating to some of our policies, with respect to hiring immigration judges, with respect to the honors program, with respect to hiring assistant United States attorneys, with respect to hiring in Civil Rights Division. And so we've implemented policies to address each and every one of these. We've also worked very hard to improve communication; not with just the U.S. attorney community, but also with respect to every employee at the Department of Justice. I think the way you measure morale is you measure output. And I think if you look at the output at the department these past six months, it's been outstanding. Sure, we've had to deal with these issues. They're my responsibility, and I've accepted responsibility for it. But the wonderful career people at the department continue doing their job day in and day out, and justice is being served in this country.KOHL: Thank you very much.Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Author: cspander
Keywords: senate judiciary committee transcript cspan kohl part 8 alberto gonzales 7/24/07 cssjcagpt872407
Added: July 25, 2007