Torture Victims Oppose Gonzalez Nomination for Attorney General

Interview with Orlando Tizon, human rights activist and torture survivor, conducted by Scott Harris

Before a Senate confirmation hearing Jan. 6, Alberto Gonzalez, President Bush's nominee to be the nation's next attorney general, repeatedly evaded questions about his involvement in writing memos that appear to authorize abuse and torture of prisoners held by the U.S. in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Guantanamo U.S. Naval base in Cuba. While denying that he or the White House approve of the torture of prisoners, Gonzalez in his role as counsel to President Bush signed off on a very narrow definition of torture, which many observers say opened the door to the widely publicized abuses at the U.S.- run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

A January 2002 memo signed by Gonzales described some provisions of the Geneva Conventions as "quaint and obsolete." At the Senate hearing, Gonzalez refused to renounce claims by the White House that the president has the authority to ignore anti-torture treaties -- and went on to say that the administration was considering amending the Geneva Conventions.

Among the many critics of the Gonzalez nomination are a dozen retired high-ranking U.S. military officers, including generals and admirals who assert that disregarding the Geneva Conventions undermines the rule of law and endangers the lives of American troops captured in battle. Also present at the hearings were members of Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International or TASSC. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with TASSC's assistant director Orlando Tizon, who survived torture under the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines during four years of imprisonment from 1982-1986. Tizon explains why he and other victims of torture strongly oppose the nomination of Alberto Gonzalez to be attorney general.

Contact Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International by calling (202) 529-2991 or visit their website at www.tassc.org

Related links:

Center for Constitutional Rights - (212) 614-6464, www.ccr-ny.org Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org

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