EXCLUSIVE: Gonzales Talks on Civil Liberties

By Melissa Charbonneau

February 22, 2007

CBNNews.com - NASHVILLE, Tenn. - It's a day in the life of the U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as he boards a plane to launch the first Freedom Initiative to protect religious liberties.

Along for the ride, we ask about a report that says discrimination against Muslims after 9/11 in part prompted this new program.

"It's something we worry about, naturally, when people see images on the television screen that these are the enemies of America, they may naturally assume anyone who looks like these people, or have the same religious belief - that, in fact, they constitute enemies of the United States. And that's just not true," Gonzales said.

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Excerpts from Gonzales

"The President sent a very clear message in the days following following the attacks of 9/11, going to a Muslim center, and expressing to the American people his clear belief in our country, we have many people of the Muslim faith that do not represent a danger to America and we need to be tolerant of the views of the people of the Muslim faith."

We asked Gonzales about "The Breach," the just-released film about the worst intelligence failure in the FBIs history - when it turned out an American was spying for the Russians.

Charbonneau: That was before your watch, but what has been done since that incident at the Justice Department to make sure spies like Robert Hanssen aren't still at the FBI?

Gonzales: Well, I can't tell you everything, otherwise I'd be tipping off someone about our efforts to ensure something like that doesn't happen.I think we're in much better shape today than we were just a few years ago.

Gonzales is at the center of the debate over much-publicized case of two imprisoned border patrol agents who were tried and found guilty for shooting an alleged illegal drug smuggler. He didn't say whether he will recommend a presidential pardon. He did say the facts in the case are not getting out.

"I've heard people complain about how could these people be convicted for doing their jobs," he said. "It's not part of their job to shoot an unarmed man from behind. It's not part of their job to conspire to conceal what they did. It's not part of their job to lie about what they did, to hide it from their superiors. So all that occurred in this particular case. And that's why these individuals were convicted."

Now Gonzales himself may become one of the political targets in a string of investigations from the new Democratic majority in Congress.

Charbonneau: Are you concerned that in the last couple of years of the Administration that your efforts will be bogged down by endless hearings and investigations by Democrats?

Gonzales: I think that the American people lose if I spend all my time worrying about congressional requests for information, if I spend all my time responding to subpoenas, to things of that nature. We will work with Congress, and we will do the very best we can to reach an accommodation with Congress, to give them the information, the appropriate information, they need for oversight. But that's an important part of my job. But I also believe that the American people expect me to do my job as Attorney General to protect their kids and make their neighborhood safer.

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