US Attorney General Gonzales resigns-NY Times

WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has resigned after a controversial tenure as the top US law enforcement officer, The New York Times said on its Web site today, citing a senior administration official.

The official said an announcement would be made later in the day. Justice Department officials were not immediately available to comment on the resignation report.

The 51-year-old Bush loyalist was at the center of a political firestorm for President George W Bush over the sacking of eight federal prosecutors, which critics in Congress complained were politically motivated.

The official told The Times that Gonzales had told Bush on Friday in a telephone call that he would resign. The official said the job would not be open for long.

Gonzales worked for Bush when he was governor of Texas in the 1990s. He served as White House lawyer in Bush's first term as president before becoming the first Hispanic attorney general in February 2005.

Gonzales drew fire from civil liberties groups for writing in January 2002 that parts of the half-century-old Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war were ''obsolete'' and some provisions were ''quaint.'' He also was criticized for Bush's warrantless domestic spying programme adopted after the Sept 11 attacks. Only in January, in an abrupt reversal, Gonzales said the program finally would be subject to court approval.

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