Gonzales Resigns as U.S. Attorney General

The friend of President Bush is the latest to resign his post from the Bush administration.

Embattled US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President George Bush Photo courtesy: The White House

(SALEM, Ore.) - US Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales has announced that he will step down from office. The embattled head of the nation's legal system submitted his resignation to President George Bush over the telephone Friday. The public announcement came today during a news conference in the nation's capitol.

As he became the butt of jokes on the late night talk shows over his inability to recall pivotal events surrounding the firing of US federal prosecutors, it is likely that the public will remember this man more vividly than he remembers those he was charged with serving.

Gonzales reacted to questions by stating, "It has been one of my greatest privileges to lead the department of justice."

Loaded with critics, the news of the resignation was hailed by leading politicians from the Democratic party as good news. It is reported that members of his own party also breathed a sigh of relief as the GOP seeks opportunities to rebuild credibility with voters.

Senator Barack Obama who is seeking the Democratic presidential nod, says he has long believed that Alberto Gonzales subverted justice to promote a political agenda, "and so I am pleased that he has finally resigned today. The President needs to nominate an Attorney General who will be the people's lawyer, not the President's lawyer."

Democratic presidential contender John Edwards says he first called on Alberto Gonzales to resign on March 13, 2007. With the news of Gonzales' decision to leave the Justice Department, Edwards released a very quick, very simple statement: "Better late than never."

Gonzales may also face a perjury investigation for his testimony before congress and the dismissals of the US attorneys and over the justice department's handling of FBI "terror investigations".

He said he first contacted the President with the decision to resign. He has in fact not resigned yet, but will do so in less than a month.

"Yesterday, I met with President Bush and informed him of my decision to conclude my government service as attorney-general of the United States effective as of September 17, 2007."

President Bush reacted to the news, citing the close personal friendship he and the outgoing Attorney General shared.

"Alberto Gonzales's tenure as Attorney General and White House Counsel is only part of a long history of distinguished public service that began as a young man when, after high school, he enlisted in the United States Air Force. When I became governor of Texas in 1995, I recruited him from one of Texas's most prestigious law firms to be my general counsel. He went on to become Texas's 100th secretary of state and to serve on our state's supeme court. In the long course of our work together this trusted adviser became a close friend."

President Bush who once stood surrounded by personal friends in the White House, is watching them go one by one.

Gonzales is the most recent member of Bush's inner circle to leave the White House as the administration heads into its final year.

His list of predecessors includes senior Bush adviser Karl Rove who departed last week. His resignation followed the departure of Dan Bartlett, the President's former communications director who left earlier this year.

The man Gonzales replaced, John Ashcroft, resigned after becoming ill. Many White House insiders say though that Ashcroft fell out of grace with the administration when he made a decision to not re-authorize a secret surveillance program.

Gonzales was one of the administration's leading advocates who sought to employ torture as a means of extracting information from prisoners in Iraq and Afghaninstan. He also went to great effort to convince Bush to declare that captured Taliban and al-Qaeda suspects 'enemy combatants' rather than 'prisoners of war'.

Additionally, he argued for a new definition of what constitutes torture. Critics say this opened the door for abuse of prisoners in US custody.

President Bush accused Gonzales' detractors of "dragging his name through the mud" and Vice President Dick Cheney echoed similar comments. But critics call that laughable, saying that a simple review of the man's tenure tells us that this is a better day for America.

Gonzales was the the first Hispanic attorney-general in US history.