Bush picks Hispanic to succeed Ashcroft

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Wednesday nominated White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, who helped shape the administration's controversial legal strategy in the war on terror, to be attorney general. He would be the first Hispanic to serve as the nation's top law enforcement officer.

"He is a calm and steady voice in times of crisis," Bush said, his eyes glistening with emotion as he stood next to Gonzales. "He has an unwavering principle of respect for the law."

After complaints about civil rights abuses in the name of fighting terror, Gonzales said, "There should be no question regarding the department's commitment to justice for every American. On this principle there can be no compromise."

A Harvard-educated attorney whose parents were migrant workers, the soft-spoken Gonzales would succeed Attorney General John Ashcroft, one of the most powerful and polarizing Cabinet members.

"'Just give me a chance to prove myself' — that is a common prayer for those in my community," said Gonzales. "Mr. President, thank you for that chance."

Some of Ashcroft's harshest critics welcomed his selection, while others voiced doubts.

"It's encouraging that the president has chosen someone less polarizing," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "We will have to review his record very carefully, but I can tell you already he's a better candidate than John Ashcroft." Another Democrat, Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, said the Senate generally allows the president to choose his own team.

The American Civil Liberties Union reserved judgment on Gonzales., but its executive director, Anthony Romero, said, "What we do know raises some significant doubts and trouble."

Gonzales drew criticism after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks when he wrote a memo in which Bush claimed the right to waive anti-torture law and international treaties providing protections to prisoners of war. That position drew fire from human rights groups, who said it helped lead to the type of abuses uncovered in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

Specifically, Gonzales' memo said the Geneva Convention that had long governed the treatment of prisoners did not apply to al-Qaida or the war in Afghanistan. The memo called some of the Geneva Convention's provisions "quaint."