June 11, 2007 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S7419 the removal of eight U.S. attorneys sons for their dismissal. Here we have The reasons given for their firings have not last year. Attorney General Gonzales them. been consistent with my experience. . . . has claimed that he had no involve- David Iglesias, New Mexico—there And that: ment in the firing of the U.S. attor- was a probe of Democrats not com- I had very positive encounters with these neys. In fact, this is his statement. He pleted quickly enough. We had promi- folks. said: nent Republicans complaining that he Comey was effusive in his praise of several of the fired prosecutors. I was not involved in seeing any memos, had not reached conclusion on a probe was not involved in any discussions about of Democrats quickly enough. Comey was the Deputy Attorney what was going on. That’s basically what I Carol Lamm, in California—she se- General, and he described Paul knew as the Attorney General. cured the conviction of a Republican Charlton of as ‘‘ one of the That is really a stunning claim. His Congressman, also had indicted the No. best.’’ He said he had a very positive own Chief of Staff, , ad- 3 official at the CIA, and was inves- view of David Iglesias of New Mexico, mitted the Attorney General misled tigating a Republican Congressman. and called Daniel Ogden of Las Vegas the country. He is not alone. Kyle Daniel Ogden, Nevada—investigated ‘‘straight as a Nevada highway and a Sampson, former Chief of Staff to the a Republican Governor and former Re- fired-up guy.’’ Attorney General, said: publican Congressman. Of John McCay of Seattle, Comey I don’t think the Attorney General’s state- in Arkansas—was re- said: ment that he was not involved in any discus- placed by a operative. He in- I was inspired by him. sions . . . was accurate. I remember dis- vestigated a Republican Governor of Now, it doesn’t take long to figure cussing with him this process of asking cer- . out what has happened. The Attorney tain U.S. attorneys to resign. John McCay, in Washington State— General comes and testifies he can’t re- reported, on to the dismay of local GOP partisans, call, he doesn’t remember, that he Michael Battle, the former Director of did not investigate the gubernatorial wasn’t really a part of it. He is contra- the Executive Office for U.S. Attor- election won by a Democrat. dicted by his own staff. Then he says it neys, and I quote from that story: Paul Charlton, Arizona—he inves- is performance based, but the perform- The former Justice Department official tigated Republican Congressman Jim ance reviews are without exception who carried out the firings of eight U.S. at- Colby and . positive for these people who have been torneys last year told Congress . . . that a You start to connect the dots here. fired. Their supervisor, who was Dep- memo on the firings was distributed at a No- They said the reason these people were uty Attorney General, has rave reviews vember 27 meeting attended by Attorney removed was because of poor perform- for virtually all of them. General Alberto R. Gonzales. ance. At least that is the assertion of Let’s connect the dots. These are po- NBC News reported on William Mer- the Attorney General. But if you look litically motivated firings. I don’t cer, the Acting Associate Attorney at the written reviews of these same know what other conclusion one can General: U.S. attorneys, ones who had been re- come to, and that is a very serious Justice Department official William W. moved and ones for whom you can find matter. I have been in the Senate for Mercer told congressional investigators on a clear partisan reason for their re- more than 20 years. I have never come April 11 that he attended a meeting with the moval—look at the written reviews of to the floor and raised questions about Attorney General . . . to discuss ‘‘fired U.S. the political motivation of an Attorney Attorney Carol Lamm’s situation.’’ their performance, which is the reason given by the Attorney General for their General—never. I do so now, and I do it It is simply not credible that the At- removal. because I believe this is a serious mat- torney General of the David Iglesias, New Mexico, written ter. had no role in the removal of eight U.S. review: When the administration of justice attorneys. After all, he is the head of becomes politically tainted in this the Justice Department. To his credit, Respected by the judiciary, agencies and staff . . . complied with department prior- country, that is an enormously serious the Attorney General did eventually ities. matter. There is no longer, in my admit that he had misspoken in de- Carol Lamm, California: mind, any question but that this Attor- scribing his lack of involvement. Given ney General has tainted his office. Effective manager and respected leader. the growing public record, I don’t That is only further demonstrated by think he had much choice. Daniel Ogden, Nevada: his late night visit to the hospital bed However, to the great disappoint- Overall evaluation was very positive. of the Attorney General of the United ment of people on both sides of the Bud Cummins of Arkansas: States, at that time , to aisle, the Attorney General failed mis- Very competent and highly regarded. get him to sign documents that he re- erably in his attempt to set the record John McCay, Washington State: fused to sign about the legality of cer- straight. In his testimony before the tain actions of this administration. Senate Judiciary Committee, the At- Effective, well-regarded and capable lead- er. We have seen enough. This Attorney torney General used the words, ‘‘I don’t General needs to leave his office. He recall,’’ or a variant on those words, 64 Paul Charlton, Arizona: has tainted his office. He does not de- times. ‘‘I don’t recall,’’ ‘‘I don’t have Well respected . . . established goals that serve the high responsibility and enor- any recollection,’’ ‘‘I have no mem- were appropriate to meet the priorities of mous honor serving as Attorney Gen- the department. ory’’—64 times. Some counts have that eral of the United States. number at over 70. Some even approach What do we have here? The Attorney I yield the floor. 90. General says he wasn’t involved. Oth- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Time after time, the Attorney Gen- ers of his own staff say he was in- pore. The Senator from Missouri. volved. Then he says it was perform- eral was unable to respond to even f basic questions. He couldn’t explain or ance reasons for which these people couldn’t remember why the U.S. attor- were removed, but if you look at the MEDIA BIAS neys were fired or how he was involved. written reviews of the people who were Mr. BOND. Mr. President, recently I Again, his performance was truly stun- removed, their performance reviews returned from Iraq where I visited ning. His inability or refusal to answer were excellent. Tikrit, Baghdad, Bamadi, and Balad basic questions raises serious issues. Is But what you do have is a clear polit- with three of my congressional col- he incompetent or is he simply playing ical motivation in case after case in- leagues. We had the opportunity to the loyal soldier? Why were these U.S. volving these U.S. attorneys. When you meet with the commanding officers attorneys removed? go back to the reason the Attorney and troops on each location. On the Unfortunately, the answer that im- General is giving now, that it is per- floor of the Senate I spoke to you mediately suggests itself is that these formance based, here is what the about witnessing firsthand some of the firings were politically motivated. former supervisor of these prosecutors progress being made. Since I have seen Let’s look at some of the fired U.S. at- said: so little coverage of that progress, I torneys and the possible political rea- Comey added that: think progress bears repeating.

VerDate Mar 15 2010 21:51 Mar 13, 2014 Jkt 081600 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\2007SENATE\S11JN7.REC S11JN7 mmaher on DSKCGSP4G1 with SOCIALSECURITY S7420 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 11, 2007 The new plan, the counterinsurgency Our correspondent wrote that he was The U.S. military has made a real plan, is showing initial signs of shocked. He checked it out every way difference in Iraqi communities. There progress. Violence in al-Qaim, Haditha, he could, but it appears to have been a are examples of good stories, such as Hit, Ramadi, and Falluja has dramati- false report. The headlines refer to the the local new precinct joint command cally decreased due to local leaders failed attack but depicted a dramati- headquarters. But somehow we are not now siding with coalition forces pur- cally different outcome. There has doing an adequate job of spreading the suing al-Qaida in Iraq. been no apparent retraction, so thou- news. Let me cite an example from to- In Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi security sands upon thousands, maybe hundreds day’s Washington Post page A11: ‘‘Trib- forces are clearing and holding some of of thousands who saw the headline as- al Coalition In Anbar Said To Be Crum- the most dangerous areas, and sec- sumed yet another tragic incident oc- bling.’’ Well, I have missed it, perhaps, tarian violence has decreased. curred in Falluja and just lumped that if I saw anything in the Washington I was especially impressed with the in with all the other bad news that Post about the coalition. About 23 successes in Ramadi, where only a few makes up a grim picture of Iraq. And sheiks in the tribal areas are cooper- months ago some were claiming it lost you see why our men and women fight- ating with the United States. But when forever, and al-Qaida said it was going ing over there are frustrated. you read the story a little farther, you to establish its headquarters there. In The following morning our cor- see the headline is about one Sunni April, attacks in Ramadi decreased by respondent found himself in another leader who has great concern about an- 74 percent. All 23 tribal areas in situation. He learned a combined Iraqi other Sunni leader, and calls him a Ramadi are cooperating with U.S. Army police and U.S. Marine patrol in ‘‘traitor.’’ Unfortunately, this happens forces to fight al-Qaida militants, 263 Falluja encountered a small band of in- to go on frequently among tribes. weapons caches were discovered in the surgents at a suicide vehicle factory. When you read farther down in the preceding 3 months, and Iraqis are vol- The police engaged the enemy, killing story, we finally interview General unteering by the thousands to join the four of them, and the Iraqi Army and Petraeus. General Petraeus said: I Army and local police force. Marines trapped additional escaping think they have done this for their I am disappointed this progress has insurgents, killing three more. Two lives. This is not just a business deal not been widely covered by the media large trucks laden with explosives and that they have struck; when you op- in the United States. In fact, the only rigged to be suicide vehicles were pose al-Qaida, you are putting it all on TV coverage I have seen was a 60-sec- found. the line. This is not an economic issue. ond clip by Nick Johnson of CNN, who This was a best case scenario: enemy That was the message from our com- did an excellent job. I see the LA Times killed in his tracks, weapon was discov- mander. He did not get the headline. had a story, ‘‘Iraqi Tribal Chiefs Form- ered before it caused any harm, there There was another member of the ing an Anti-Insurgent Party.’’ were no civilian casualties whatsoever, council who said that: The salvation is The frustration at the failure of our and U.S. demolition forces blew up the like one family. There are no problems media to call the successes what they two suicide vehicles. Instead of cele- were is very high. Earlier last week, between us and the members. brating this success, the e-mail noted— U.S. military officials said virtually my office received an e-mail from one the writer noted it was disappointing everyone in Anbar belongs to a tribe of our troops serving in Iraq. He de- to read a headline, ‘‘Children Killed.’’ and that rather than ignore that fact, tailed an exciting success story, the es- According to the story, the U.S. tank they were trying to exploit it. tablishment of a new joint command fired a high-explosive round at insur- precinct for Iraqi police, Iraqi Army There is an overlay of government struc- gents placing an IED in Fallujah yes- ture and tribal structure, and the two, when and Marines, the first such precinct terday, killing three Iraqi children. they work well, mesh and, in a sense, com- headquarters to be established in The insurgents got away. To anyone plement each other in Anbar. Falluja. His e-mail detailed what a suc- watching the news that day, it would I was able to see an article, a TV cess the operation had been. Almost 200 seem the war in Iraq is being lost and story by Ollie North this past Sunday, Iraqis volunteered for police recruit- the terrorists are winning. While there a war story. He was talking about the ment, hundreds more received out- has been significant progress in Iraq, good old days in World War II. If there patient medical care, damage claims there is no doubt we are losing the war was anything good about the old days were settled, and all present received of information. I couldn’t have said it in World War II, Hollywood and the food and oil rations. And the Iraqis better than the young man who wrote media were on the same side as our seemed to be very pleased to be cooper- my office in frustration, who said: troops. What a wonderful vestige of the ating with the United States. What incredible economy of effort the old times. But the enemy, being very clever, enemy is afforded when U.S. media is their I thought this was a great oppor- working to thwart any and all megaphone. Why spend precious resources on progress, reacted to this success story developing your own propaganda machine tunity to see what had happened in the by sending in some poor suicide bomb- when you can make your opponent’s own past. The war of ideas and public opin- er. Thanks to aggressive patrolling ef- news outlets scream your message louder ion is not just critical in Iraq, it is forts by Iraqi forces, the bomber was than you ever hoped to do independently. critical in the broad war on terror. forced to detonate his vest almost half The young man ended his e-mail by As we know from reading the state- a mile away when he was halted by po- saying the incidents he detailed were ments of Ayman al-Zawahari, the No. 2 lice. He caused superficial wounds to very important to him and his com- in command, he knows they cannot win one Iraqi civilian and killed himself. rades who were serving in Iraq. Typical the war militarily; they can win it only No one else was injured, no other dam- of our brave warfighters, the young by influencing public opinion in the age caused. In the aftermath of the in- man stressed that he and his fellow sol- United States. Unfortunately, recent cident the precinct signed up an addi- diers will continue to fight the fight. congressional action indicates the ter- tional 75 recruits for police service. He acknowledged there will be mis- rorists may not be far off base. Resolu- As this American warrior wrote to takes, setbacks, and casualties that tions to withdraw from Iraq, delaying us: the world will hear about, but there funding for the troops, telling the This bomber failed. He failed to kill inno- will also be successes, victories over Sunni terror cells and the Shia militias cents and he failed to deter the progress of enemy combatants, progress, stability, that America’s political will is waver- standing up Iraqi police. and growth in the new Iraq, but, trag- ing—the supporters of these resolu- But to his frustration there was no ically, it appears no one is going to tions are sending a message: Hang on, coverage of this good news story. In- hear about that in our media since it the United States will not have the po- deed, the media, the U.S. media totally has been increasingly clear that our litical will to outlast them. Our men misreported the story. A number of media is unwilling or able to report and women in uniform are right to be media outlets carried these headlines. anything except bloody headlines and disheartened that we have not only the From the Baltimore Sun, ‘‘Attack on bad news. The U.S. Government has a media but some Members of Congress Iraq Police, At Least 20 Dead.’’ responsibility to do a better job of pub- who are unduly influenced by our From the Los Angeles Times, ‘‘Twen- lic diplomacy, strategic influence get- enemy. It is critical that we not fall ty Iraqis Die in Suicide Attacks.’’ ting our story out. into this trap set by al-Qaida and the

VerDate Mar 15 2010 21:51 Mar 13, 2014 Jkt 081600 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\2007SENATE\S11JN7.REC S11JN7 mmaher on DSKCGSP4G1 with SOCIALSECURITY June 11, 2007 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S7421 other Islamic terrorists who wish to on this matter possibly mean? By a President. Neither the Constitution defeat us. It is about time we realize negative vote, would the House be say- nor this statute say anything about the our brave men and women in Iraq are ing that what the Senate has expressed confidence of the Senate for the con- putting their lives on the line, they are as its own opinion is really not the tinued service of officials the President under fire every day. They are fighting Senate’s opinion? This makes no sense has authority to appoint. a battle and they are making progress whatsoever. In fact, the House already The separation of powers, a principle in the global war on terror. They need has its own resolution regarding the fundamental to our constitutional sys- the funds for equipment, which we fi- Attorney General’s service, and it is a tem itself, is becoming a casualty of nally passed to them, but they also de- regular House resolution. partisan politics. serve our moral support and support in The sponsors of S.J. Res 14 either do The brand new Congressional Re- winning the hearts and minds not only not understand or have disregarded search Service report I mentioned ear- of the United States but of the world. how the legislative process is supposed lier could not identify a single resolu- I yield the floor, and suggest the ab- to work. I suspect it is the latter, using tion like this one even being offered in sence of a quorum. this political ploy to force the Presi- the past and this should not be the The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- dent’s involvement. first. No matter what its substance, a pore. The clerk will call the roll. Either way, this body should reject it joint resolution is inappropriate for ex- The assistant legislative clerk pro- out of hand. pressing the sense of the Senate about ceeded to call the roll. The Senate has not used a joint reso- his issue. No matter what its form, a Mr. HATCH. I ask unanimous consent lution in the past on the rare occasion resolution expressing a lack of con- that the order for the quorum call be when it has sought to criticize execu- fidence in an executive branch official rescinded. tive branch officials. Resolutions in the is inappropriate in our system of gov- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. 109th Congress to censure the President ernment. WEBB). Without objection, it is so or- or condemn remarks by a former Cabi- Let me now address two points re- dered. net Secretary were Senate resolutions. garding the substance of this inappro- priate joint resolution. The first point f The resolution to censure the Presi- dent introduced in the 106th Congress, is about the real purpose behind its NO CONFIDENCE RESOLUTION offered by one of the cosponsors of to- words. Even though expressing a lack Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, this day’s joint resolution, was a Senate of confidence in an executive branch afternoon the Senate will decide resolution. Resolutions in the 81st and official is irrelevant in our system of whether to end debate on proceeding to 82nd Congresses demanding the res- government, we all know that the real Senate Joint Resolution 14, which ex- ignation of Secretary of State Dean purpose behind this resolution is to presses the sense of the Senate that the Acheson were Senate resolutions. The pressure the Attorney General to re- Attorney General no longer holds the resolution to censure and condemn sign. On the one hand, if its sponsors want confidence of the Senate or the Amer- President James Buchanan in 1862 was to call for the Attorney General’s res- ican people. a Senate resolution. Our only attempt ignation, they should be honest and do I rise to oppose this so-called no con- to censure the Attorney General, back so. On the other hand, Senators cer- fidence resolution on both procedural in 1886, was through Senate resolu- tainly do not need a resolution—espe- and substantive grounds and will urge tions. This unprecedented use of a joint cially one as fundamentally flawed and my colleagues to vote against ending resolution would distort our legislative inappropriate as this one—to call for debate. To paraphrase Shakespeare, procedure, and I urge my colleagues to the Attorney General’s resignation. As whether or not this joint resolution reject it. a number of this resolution’s sponsors amounts to sound and fury, it signifies The second point about the form of have already done, with the rapt atten- nothing. It is nothing more than a bit this measure is that it purports to be a tion and constant repetition of a com- of political theater which should be re- no confidence resolution. Parliaments pliant media, Senators can demand the jected out of hand. take no-confidence votes for an obvious Let me make two points about its Attorney General’s resignation any reason. In a parliamentary system of time they choose. form and two points about its sub- government, the legislative body’s con- My second point about the substance stance before offering a few comments fidence or support is necessary for the of this misguided joint resolution con- about the controversy from which it head of government and cabinet min- cerns its actual content, the words arose. The first point I want to make isters to serve. themselves. about its form is that this measure For an equally obvious reason, the This joint resolution does not con- would express the sense or opinion of so-called no-confidence resolution be- demn or criticize the Attorney General the Senate through a joint resolution. fore us should be rejected. This is not a for anything he has done or said. It As opposed to regular Senate resolu- parliament. In our Presidential system does not call for his censure. And, just tions that require only Senate passage, of government, the separation of pow- to repeat, this joint resolution does not joint resolutions are legislative vehi- ers means that the chief executive is call for the Attorney General’s resigna- cles requiring passage by both houses elected separately from the legislature, tion. and signature by the President. and cabinet officials such as the Attor- In the past, the Senate has consid- We use joint resolutions to propose ney General serve at the pleasure of ered resolutions doing each of these, al- constitutional amendments and some the President. beit through regular Senate resolu- other legislative business, but this leg- Under the Constitution, the Senate’s tions properly suited to the task. But islative vehicle is simply the wrong consent was required for the Attorney this joint resolution before us does not way to conduct non-legislative busi- General’s appointment, but our con- even contain a single ‘‘whereas,’’ ness such as expressing the opinion of fidence is not required for the Attorney clause offering any indication of the one house. In a report dated today, the General’s continued service. The Attor- basis or any reason for what it says. Congressional Research Service con- ney General serves at the pleasure of Rather, this joint resolution speaks cludes that the form of this measure as the President, not at the confidence of vaguely of ‘‘holding confidence,’’ as if a joint resolution is inappropriate for the Senate. this were an all-or-nothing proposition, what it purports to do. The separation of powers has been a as if this were some kind of a pass-fail I think this is significant and the casualty throughout the controversy test. reason for this conclusion is obvious. If concerning the removal of U.S. Attor- Even when parliaments take no-con- this joint resolution should somehow neys that gave rise to this misguided fidence votes, those votes are at least pass the Senate—which I certainly ex- resolution. As with the Attorney Gen- limited to the confidence of parliament pect it will not—it will be sent to the eral—and with very few exceptions— itself. This joint resolution purports to House. U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of speak about all the confidence of all How on Earth can the House vote on the President. the American people. But what could a the sense of the Senate? What could a The U.S. attorney statute says that ‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘roll vote on such a resolu- House vote about the Senate’s opinion they are subject to removal by the tion possibly mean? Would a ‘‘no’’ vote

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