A sad day in America

There's something wrong when the nominee to become the new Attorney General has to promise not to condone torture. The AP's Jesse J. Holland reports on this disturbing development:

Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales plans to promise to abide by the government's non-torture policies and international treaties if he is confirmed by the Senate, The Associated Press learned Wednesday.

Gonzales, who had a hand in much of the White House's post-9/11 terrorism policies as President Bush's top lawyer, faces condemnation from Democrats at a hearing Thursday over his January 2002 memo arguing that the war on terrorism "renders obsolete" the Geneva Convention's strict prohibitions against torture.

A month later, Bush signed an order declaring he has the authority to circumvent the Geneva accords and reserving the right to do so "in this or future conflicts." The order also says the Geneva treaty's treatment of prisoners of war do not apply to al-Qaida or "unlawful combatants" from the Taliban.

Make no mistake. Gonzales will be confirmed. I just hope that he's asked the tough questions tomorrow in his confimation hearing.