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There is something intensely familial about the scandal now engulfing the Bush Administration over the dismissal of eight U.S. Attorneys last year. The key players--Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former White House counsel Harriet Miers, political shaman Karl Rove--all rose from the tight web of Texas loyalists who owe their careers to George W. Bush and followed him to Washington in 2001. Bush even chose a member of his Texas tribe who wasn't implicated, counselor Dan Bartlett, for the task of defending those who were. Said Bartlett of the firings: "All the decisions ... were proper decisions...
More immediately accountable was the Attorney General's chief of staff, who did resign. And then there was Miers. She was no longer at the White House, so cable news ran old footage of her, attaching her face to yet another Bush fiasco and reminding us yet again of the risk involved when Presidents value loyalty over competence. Relishing the spectacle, Democrats are now demanding that four White House officials, including Rove, and six senior aides to Gonzales testify under oath. And, of course, Miers. If they balk, Democrats will issue subpoenas. At which point some of the President...
...case, according to John McKay, a fired U.S. attorney from Washington State, both White House counsel Miers and a Republican member of Congress raised the issue of voter fraud in the state's close 2004 election. McKay told lawmakers that when he met Miers and other Administration officials to review his fitness for a position as a judge, she asked him why he had "mishandled" the 2004 election, apparently by not bringing voter fraud cases that might have tipped the balance toward the Republican candidate, who ultimately lost. McKay did not receive a judicial nomination...
...Texas. But that could change if G.O.P. support for Gonzales slips further among Republicans in the event of new revelations surrounding the firings. Arlen Specter, the top G.O.P. figure on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has already suggested that Gonzales may be on his way out, and doubts about the Attorney General's performance are now being expressed publicly by stalwart Administration backers such as Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee...
...Anita Gorecki, Girouard's civilian attorney, said that her client did not order the men shot, but only tried to help his fellow soldiers afterward by covering it up. He would take the stand in his own defense, she said. "He realized that they had killed these three detainees, and in that moment, yes, he decided to help his squad members," she said...