Loyal to a Fault

President Bush, in announcing the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (effective September 17), expressed his displeasure over the way his longtime friend's "good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons". If he had been paying attention, he would have known why that is.

As one who rose from being Bush's counsel in Austin as Governor of Texas and later in the White House, to becoming the first Hispanic Attorney General, Gonzales was loyal to a fault. And that fault was in putting the needs of the administration ahead of the country's, especially when it came to Bush's War on Terror, doing untold damage to the reputation of the Department of Justice.

Let us count the ways:

• Gonzales supported military tribunals instead of civil trials for suspected terrorists.
• Helping draft a memo supporting harsh methods of interrogating terror suspects.
• Helped approve ways to spy on American citizens.
• Called the Geneva Convention accords on treatment of prisoners "obsolete" and "quaint" in the post-9/11/01 world.
• Allegedly firing nine U.S. attorneys who didn't go along to get along with the administration, replacing them with political appointees.

Trying to explain all this (and more) to congressional committees was an adventure for Gonzales, who didn't seem to know what his inquisitors were talking about. Or maybe he was playing dumb.

How Gonzales held on for as long as he did is no mystery, given that his biggest supporter was the President. But that wasn't enough. Now Gonzales joins Karl Rove, Karen Hughes and other members of Bush's original inner circle back in Texas, while the President must choose a successor who won't offend a Democratic-controlled Congress for the remainder of his term.

Any further rehabilitation of the institutions affected by Bush will have to wait until at least 2009.