Attorney general speaks to U.S. Air Force Academy cadets

  • Published
  • By Butch Wehry
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) --  U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told cadets here Nov. 18, that terrorists will not rise to the example of the United States. The judge addressed civil liberties and war on terrorism issues during his lecture to 700 cadets.

"The United States has rightfully positioned itself in this conflict and other conflicts
throughout history as a mature and moral leader -- an example to follow," the attorney general said.

"Yet we know that the fair and humane treatment of the detainees at Guantanamo will have absolutely no effect on how their confederates treat our soldiers and civilians," he said.

Al qaeda seeks to employ weapons of mass destruction as a means of achieving political goals against both the civilian and military capacity of the United States, Europe and American allies throughout the world, Attorney General Gonzales said.

"Its members continue to fight our Armed Forces on battlefields around the world, and they will continue to do so until we stop them," said Judge Gonzales, who attended the U.S. Air Force Academy for two years in the mid-1970s.

"Al qaeda has committed acts on a scale that transcends mere crime, as recognized by NATO immediately after the attacks of September 11th. Their crimes are therefore nothing less than war crimes. Given the magnitude of the atrocities al qaeda has committed, there can be no comparison between the crimes of its members and that of common civilian criminals."

The terrorist members do not and will not obey international law, the law of war or the moral laws of humanity, he said.

"In treating terrorist detainees humanely, we accept that there will be no reciprocity on
these issues," he said. "But we do it because of our values as a nation, and because the United States has always stood, and continues to stand, for the rule of law in the world."

Today's war is also fought at home by the law enforcement community that he is now a part of, Judge Gonzales told the cadets.

"From the prosecutors and investigators at the Department of Justice and the FBI to state and local police -- for all of us, just as it is for all of you, every day is Sept. 12," he said.

America's surveillance program is not damaging the civil rights of its citizens, Attorney General Gonzales told cadets.

The speaker told the cadets majoring in law and political science that the country's surveillance does not invade Americans' privacy.

"It protects citizens from terrorist attacks," he said. "Critics who say otherwise are perpetuating myths."

Since his time at the academy there have been many important changes, including the admittance of women, he noted.

"But some things have not changed and should not change ... such as the continued value of academy graduates in insuring the safety of our country from enemies across the world," he said.