[QODLink]
Americas
Bush nominates new attorney-general
Michael Mukasey, a retired judge, is named as the next US attorney-general.
Last Modified: 18 Sep 2007 03:30 GMT
Judge Mukasey, left, with Bush at
the White House on Monday [AFP]

George Bush, the US president, has chosen Michael Mukasey, a retired federal judge, to replace attorney-general Alberto Gonzales.
 
Announcing his choice for the high-profile job on Monday, Bush said: "Judge Mukasey is clear-eyed about the threat our nation faces."
If confirmed by the senate as the country's most senior US law enforcement official, Mukasey would become Bush's third attorney-general.
 
Bush said that as chief judge of a busy US district court in New York, Mukasey presided over high-profile security cases.
Standing next to Mukasey in the Rose Garden, Bush went on to say: "He knows what it takes to fight this war effectively and he knows how to do it in a manner consistent with our laws and our constitution."
 
Michael Mukasey

- Worked in federal prosecutor's office in New York, including under Rudy Giuliani, the current Republican presidential candidate and the city's ex-mayor.

- Nominated to the federal bench in 1987 by Ronald Reagan, then US president.

- Presided over case in which Omar Abdel Rahman, known as the "blind sheikh", and a dozen others were linked to the 1993 bombing of the US World Trade Centre.

Sources: Reuters, The Washington Post, The New York Times

Bush urged the senate to confirm Mukasey quickly.
 
If Mukasey is approved, he will take charge of a justice department where morale is low following months of investigations into the firings of nine US attorneys and Gonzales' sworn testimony on the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance programme.
 
Democrats say the dismissals were politically motivated.
 
Gonzales left after both Democratic and Republican legislators challenged his truthfulness and ability to do his job as the head of US law enforcement.
 
Mukasey said: "My finest hope and prayer at this time is that if confirmed, I can give them the support and the leadership they deserve.
 
"I look forward to meeting with members of congress in the days ahead and, if confirmed, to working with congress to meeting our nation's challenges."
Topics in this article
People
Country
Featured on Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera's exclusive publishing of a key Guantanamo prison military document lays bare the brutality of force-feeding.
Former military official says poverty and anger in indigenous communities mean conditions for an "insurgency" are ripe.
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
Featured
China Rising
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Al-Nakba
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
Syria: The War Within
Two years since the start of the uprising, rebels and Assad's forces remain locked in conflict.
China angles for Arctic power
China aims to expand its influence in the resource rich area.
Crisis in Bangladesh
Extensive coverage of war crimes tribunals and controversial calls for blasphemy laws.
join our mailing list