Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales

"WASHINGTON, March 13 — Under criticism from lawmakers of both parties for the dismissals of federal prosecutors, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales insisted Tuesday that he would not resign but said, “I acknowledge that mistakes were made here.”"

It would appear more heads are preparing to role, Libby-like, to protect the sensitive and vulnerable president. Gonzales backed the president on the still unresolved issue of domestic eavesdropping, and other important issues that have not received as much attention in the media, or on the Internet. Now, while the President is away on other urgent matters, in South America, Gonzales and a group of federal prosecutors are finding themselves criticized or ousted.
The concern about Gonzales is that his credibility is so damaged that he would be unable to advance the White House agenda on national security matters, including terrorism prosecutions.
The blame for the dismissals of federal prosecutors will fall on former White House counsel Harriet Miers, who was counsel when the prosecutors lost their jobs. and who stepped down in January.

From the NY Times:
"Already, Democrats are pressing the case for revoking the president’s authority, gained with the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act last year, to appoint interim federal prosecutors indefinitely, without Senate confirmation. The administration has argued that such appointments are necessary to speed the prosecution of terrorism cases. After the dismissals became a big political issue last week, Mr. Gonzales signaled that the administration would not oppose the changes sought by Democrats.
“We now know that it is very likely that the amendment to the Patriot Act, which was made in March of 2006, might well have been done to facilitate a wholesale replacement of all or part of U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation,” said Senator Dianne".