Abu Resigns

NPR is buzzing this morning with rumors that Attorney General Alberto "Abu" Gonzalez is resigning this morning. He is expected to announce this at a news conference at 10:30 AM Eastern Time.

I must say that this comes as a surprise. I figured the one person who'd be there at the end of the Bush Administration would be faithful old Abu, the man who always covers for the President. Unfortunately, it looks like the heat is just getting to be too much. That is to say, it's too much for his boss, not Abu. I think you can take it as a given that Abu's doing what he's told, and now he's been told to resign. The question is, why? My guess is that it has something to do with plans by the House and Senate judiciary committees to continue investigating the U.S. Attorney firings, along with the Justice Department's refusal to investigate the contempt of Congress complaint against Harriet Miers, the former White House Counsel who refused to appear before Congress after being subpoenaed.

Normally, I'd say good riddance, but this is the Bush Administration, where each appointee to a cabinet position is more heinous than the last one. Speculation seems to have centered on Michael Chertoff. As Christy Hardin Smith points out, this would be another appointment that fits that pattern:

It is worth a reminder on Mr. Chertoff that:

FEMA was unable to fully support the accuracy and completeness of certain unpaid obligations, and accounts payable, and the related effects on net position, if any, prior to the completion of DHS’s 2006 PAR. These unpaid obligations, as reported in the accompanying DHS balance sheet as of September 30, 2006, were $22.3 Billion or 46% of DHS consolidated unexpended appropriations at September 30, 2006. [emphasis mine]

To give some idea of proportionality, in fiscal year 2005 the entire Grants and Training (formerly know as State and Local Government Preparedness, a/k/a grants to get working radios for NYC firemen and protection for bridges, tunnels, chemical plants and nuclear facilities) was only $171 million.

So, follow me here, FEMA has lost and/or failed to account for a sum of money that is almost half of DHS’s entire budget and 130 times greater than the amount of money that the Department of Homeland Security is willing to spend to secure the homeland.

Close to half the budget for DHS, missing and unaccounted for — in any corporation, that would be a fraud investigation of massive proportions. In government, that’s sheer incompetence with your tax dollars. Certainly worth a lot of questions, isn’t it?

Alberto Gonzales Resigns As Attorney General

Nothing ever changes with these guys. It looks like Firedoglake will be covering this thing all morning. Stay tuned.

UPDATE (Aug. 28): Taylor Marsh has compiled a set of links showing why Bush's defense of Abu, particularly his assertion that the criticism of Gonzalez is politically motivated, is absurd.