Blowing the Whistle on the House of Death

DEA dissenter Sandy Gonzalez reveals the drug war's complicity in torture and murder south of the border.

Radley Balko from the May 2009 issue

(Page 6 of 6)

The key person here is the United States attorney. He’s independent from Washington in the sense that if he decides to conduct an investigation, it gets done. I guess conceivably he could get enough pressure from the DOJ to step on it, but by then so many people would know about it, it would turn into a major scandal. But if the U.S. attorney wanted this looked into, it would have happened.

reason: You’re now retired after a career in the federal government. What have you taken away from all of this?

Gonzalez: I think the American people would be justified in believing that their own government may be as corrupt as any of the countries our government criticizes for corruption.

reason: Are there any policy changes that could, if not prevent this kind of abuse from happening, at least ensure that people are held accountable when it does?

Gonzalez: Under the present system, I doubt it. The way the system is set up discourages accountability. Maybe if you had an inspector general who reports only to the legislative branch, who is totally independent from the executive branch.

If Congress were to take its oversight role seriously, that might work. Right now, the executive branch is all-powerful. They have all the discretion in the world to investigate or not investigate an allegation against their own people.

Comments

Divorce Lawyer|4.27.09 @ 12:49PM|#

Gonzalez called for an internal investigation, and was shortly thereafter transferred to El Paso, a move he describes as a demotion in retaliation for speaking out.

I can assure you that a transfer from Miami to El Paso is a demotion. A major demotion. Welcome to your new home.

Paul|4.27.09 @ 1:44PM|#

I think it was a combination of those two things. They were also using him in some huge cigarette smuggling case.

I uhh... never mind.

|4.27.09 @ 2:20PM|#

I have no interest in, or sympathy for, this gung-ho drug warrior of three decades. He's just the flip side of the Casa de la Muerte. Fuck him.

Paul|4.27.09 @ 2:37PM|#

I think what Widow White says has some merit to it. The first thing I thought while reading this article wasn't that Gonzales has a problem with the drug war, he's just got a problem with drug war procedure.

Randall|4.27.09 @ 2:38PM|#

"he's just got a problem with drug war procedure."

I thought that too.

Justen|4.27.09 @ 2:57PM|#

The big question is how many times has this happened without a whistleblower? It's clear that several agents were involved in this one situation and of them only Gonzalez had the slightest shred of integrity and humanity needed to find this outrageous. That puts the rest of them at the level of, I don't know, psychopathic zealots with sadistic streaks. It seems to be the norm for the DEA, doesn't it?

Bluto|4.27.09 @ 3:08PM|#

"Part and participle."

Sense and sensibility.

This is fun!

BTW Anne Hathaway was one hot Jane Austin.

Bluto|4.27.09 @ 3:09PM|#

Fuck! Cross-posted.

wayne|4.27.09 @ 3:14PM|#

Drug warrior spin: "Having the DEA engaged in a conspiracy with drug cartels and murdering people is a sign that the war on drugs is working."

|4.27.09 @ 3:29PM|#

Reading this I get the image of a bunch of government lawyers doing some killer blow on South Beach and then maybe only 9.7 kilos makes it way to a clandestine DEA op.

Atheist in Hell|4.27.09 @ 3:48PM|#

See, and this is why I wish I could be ignorant like the rest of this country.

johnl|4.27.09 @ 3:58PM|#

When was Raul Bencomo fired?

|4.27.09 @ 11:47PM|#

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