"The confirmation of Alice Fisher as Assistant Attorney General for the Department's Criminal Division is very good news for law enforcement throughout the entire criminal justice system."
— Alberto Gonzales, Sept. 19, 2006, 7:02 PM
Why give her the nickname "gitmo"? Because she was the deputy head of the Criminal Division at DoJ while detainees were being abused at Guantanamo, and concerns about interrogation tactics were being raised within the Criminal Division. What did she know? Did she know about forcing a detainee to wear a dog leash and perform dog tricks? Did she know about inappropriate touching by female interrogators? Did she know about nudity; sleep deprivation; isolation; temperature extremes, both hot and cold? ALL occurring on her watch. What did she know and what did she do about it? And why was she confirmed?
continued...
Today, Senator Carl Levin asked important and as yet unansered questions about the newly confirmed Assistant Attorney General:
"The Administration has put up barrier after barrier, hurdle after hurdle to efforts to get legitimate information that bears on Ms. Fisher's fitness to serve in this important position. Why the Administration has stonewalled for so long instead of answering questions and providing information can only be speculated by me. Is it because it is part of an effort to prevent information about interrogation tactics from being provided to Congress, or does it relate directly to Alice Fisher? I don't know the answer, but the fact of the stonewalling is undeniable. It is part of a pattern of secrecy that this administration has engaged in in so many areas and so many ways.
"The information I have sought relates to what Ms. Fisher knew about aggressive and abusive interrogation techniques in use at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during the time that Ms. Fisher served as deputy head of the Criminal Division in the Justice Department from July 2001 to July 2003. From publicly-released FBI documents, we have learned that FBI personnel raised serious concerns about these DoD interrogation tactics at weekly meetings between FBI and Department of Justice Criminal Division officials. I have sought to find out what Ms. Fisher knew about these FBI concerns over aggressive DoD methods; what, if anything, was reported to Ms. Fisher; and what steps, if any, she took in response.
" If Ms. Fisher knew of aggressive interrogation techniques at Guantanamo and did nothing about it, or she knew about them but has denied knowing, then I would be deeply troubled. The Administration has repeatedly obstructed efforts to get this information, information which is, in my judgement, relevant to Ms. Fisher's suitability for the position to which she is nominated.
" The Administration has literally and figuratively covered up the Guantanamo abuses. This refusal by the Administration to provide relevant information is part of a larger pattern by the Executive Branch of denying the Senate the information needed to carry out confirmation and oversight responsibilities. Over and over again, the Administration seems to use every means at its disposal to deny documents or information to the Senate, or to withhold key portions of documents, or to limit access to information."
— Senator Carl Levin, Sept. 19, 2006
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peace