Ex-Navy officer Matthew Diaz kept it real. Now he may go to jail.

Raised in San Bernardino, California, Lieutenant Commander Diaz had a rough childhood. His parents divorced when he was six and he attended nine different schools before starting junior high. By the time he was 17, Diaz had dropped out of high school and was living in a motel after his father, a nurse, was convicted of murdering his elderly patients – a conviction Diaz helped to fight by investigating the court transcripts.

Determined to turn his life around, Diaz enlisted in the Army, earning an associate's degree in law enforcement and a bachelor's in criminology. He eventually left the Army to pursue a law degree in the Navy, partly inspired by Latino actor Jimmy Smits, who appeared in the popular '80s TV drama L.A. Law.

Recognized for his outstanding service record, Diaz joined the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps (the Navy's lawyers) and was assigned to the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in 2004 to investigate allegations of prisoner abuse. The infamous military prison, nicknamed "Gitmo," houses suspected terrorists, all designated enemy combatants – a designation that strips them of many legal rights. Just before Diaz was assigned to Guantánamo, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the detainees at the prison had the right of habeas corpus – the ability to challenge his or her detention.

In early 2005, as Diaz was nearing the end of his six-month tour of duty, he came to believe Guantánamo detainees were still being denied their rights: they were being held in secret, their complaints were suppressed, and the military was failing to document their conditions.

Shocked and disgusted, Diaz copied the names of all 551 prisoners being held in Guantánamo; the names had not been marked secret though they should have been. On his last day, Diaz stuffed this list into a Valentine's Day card and sent it to Barbara Olshansky, a lawyer at the liberal Center for Constitutional Rights. Diaz wanted to make the names public so the detainees could dispute their detention.

Olshansky, who had previously requested the names of prisoners from the federal government without success, thought the valentine was a hoax. She contacted a federal agent who traced the leak back to Diaz. Within weeks, he was court-martialed for "improper disclosure of classified information" and was later sentenced to six months in prison.

For exposing government secrets, the 42-year-old Diaz, who served in the military for 19 years, has been called both a traitor and a hero. Diaz is currently appealing his sentence and says he may have gone about things the wrong way but is certain he had to do something: “I knew that if I didn’t do anything, nobody else was going to.” He is now reviewing the transcripts of his hearing — as he once reviewed those of his father.

As a child, Alberto Gonzales dreamed of becoming a pilot. But it was his decision to become a lawyer which eventually rocketed him to great heights and, perhaps, an imminent crash. The most important Latino in the history of U.S. law may soon become a national embarassment.

Alberto Gonzales was born in San Antonio, Texas, the second of eight children. His parents, Mexican migrant workers with only elementary school education, struggled to keep the large family afloat in a two bedroom house – without a phone or hot water. As a young teen, Gonzales helped his parents by selling sodas at Rice University football games. The experience sparked his interest even though there wasn't any talk about going to college in his family. After graduating from MacArthur High School in Houston, Texas, Gonzales enlisted in the Air Force and attended the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado before transferring to Rice University, where he earned a degree in Political Science.

Gonzales was one of the few Mexican-Americans to attend Harvard Law School in the '80s, the nation's most elite law school. After graduation, Gonzales joined private practice Vinson & Elkins, the Texas-based international law firm who famously represented now-defunct energy giant Enron. Gonzales' loyalty to clients and determination to win cases caught the eye of former Enron associate and ex-energy executive George W. Bush, who was then in a new role as the governor of Texas. Gonzales, who had previously rejected a White House job offer from Bush's father, was appointed general counsel – the governor's personal lawyer. Gonzales soon transitioned from serving the Governor to serving the people, after Bush named him Texas Secretary of State, and later, Texas Supreme Court justice.

Gonzales, who names his parents and George W. Bush as the biggest positive influences in his life, followed his mentor to the White House as general counsel in 2001. He was one of the architects of the USA Patriot Act – an increasingly controversial set of laws intended to combat terrorism. In 2002, Gonzalez whole-heartedly defended the Bush Administration's right to detain terror suspects without the protection of the Geneva Conventions, which he called quaint. That assertion put Gonzalez on the hot seat when graphic pictures of tortured Abu Ghraib prisoners were released in mid-2004. Often cited as a possible candidate for the Supreme Court, Gonzales was instead nominated to replace departing Attorney General John Ashcroft, who resigned in late 2004. In early 2006, Gonzales was forced to deflect criticism of President Bush's decision to authorize warrantless spying by the National Security Agency.

These controversies, however, pale in comparison to the scandal that has now engulfed the prominent Mexican-American. The Attorney General is accused of firing eight U.S. Attorneys in December of 2006 for strictly political reasons – some for investigating Republicans on alleged criminal charges, others for not aggressively prosecuting voter fraud cases against Democrats. There is speculation that the purge was executed to suppress minority voting in political swing states. Minorities such as African-Americans and Latinos tend to vote for Democrats. Gonzales has been unclear about his involvement in the firings, at first appearing to divert the blame to his staff, but recently revealed documents show that he may have been directly involved in the dismissals. Last week, Gonzales had a difficult time testifying before the U.S. Senate. Both Republican and Democratic senators have called for Gonzalez to resign. This week, one of his key aides was granted immunity in exchange for her testimony – presumably against him.

Gonzales' days appear to be numbered, though it's not at all certain that President Bush will say goodbye to the man he affectionately nicknamed "mi abogado."

Update: On Monday, August 27, Gonzales resigned, saying that he had "lived the American Dream" and that his worst days as attorney general were better than his father's best.