To the editor:
Less than a week after he was elected president, Bush proposed to appoint as attorney general Alberto Gonzales, a man who rationalized ignoring the Geneva Conventions and using torture as a tool in interrogating prisoners. Contempt for the rules of international law undermines the credibility of the United States in its dealings with other nations; more importantly, it exposes future American captives to the same type of torture we have seen at Abu Ghraib.
This appointment is an insult to those who believe that all Americans are protected by our adherence to international law and flies in the face of Bush's pledge, made immediately after the election, to bring people in this country together. His appointment is also an insult to our military as well as to those foreign leaders and diplomats who value the protections of the Geneva Conventions.
We needed to pay serious attention after Bush's re-election when he said that he was going to reach out to those who shared his goals and that he was going to expend his political capital. The president has shown very clearly now that he will not be reaching out to the rest of us. In addition, he is preparing to spend some of his political capital on a nominee with contempt for the rules of international law whose position on enemy combatants has been repudiated by the Supreme Court.
Dinah Lovitch,
Lawrence
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