bystander, evidently there is a virus going around Washington that causes beltway "journalists" to exhibit the symptom of dyslexia whenever they write about the most recent USA/Gallup poll. I wonder who will be infected next? Maybe the CDC needs to get involved to find the original carrier of this sickening disease that seems to only attack those journalists who advocate no accountability for Bush criminals. Hopefully this terrible virus can be contained before it infects others.

I noticed last Friday during the Chris Matthews show that a right-wing radio personality was arguing against commissions and challenging the Obama administration to use the DOJ if they thought crimes had been committed. It struck me as odd that this Bush supporter would be taunting the administration to do exactly what I wanted them to do - follow the rule of law and go through the Justice Dept.

LARS LARSON, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hey, I have got to tell you something. If they want to have an investigation, the way the president said, the way everybody else is prosecuted, he has got an attorney general, he has got a Justice Department. Do it that way.

But I don‘t think the president has the guts to say to his attorney general, seek prosecution of the former president and his staff.

The fact is, is that most of my listeners are saying, the American government has enough problems on its plate, the economy, two wars, all these other problems. To go off on some kind of witch-hunt after the former administration is ridiculous.

And a congressional approach to it is also ridiculous. If you want it prosecuted as a regular crime is prosecuted, then assign it to the Department of Justice and have them assign professional investigators.

Then we have Rivkin and Casey pretty much doing the same thing.

Claims that the Bush administration abused presidential powers have been thoroughly reviewed by several congressional committees, and the Justice Department is capable of considering whether any criminal charges are appropriate.

Is this false bravado or do they guys already know that the fix is in and the DOJ will do nothing?

Wouldn't that be sweet. They could film Cheney as he exited the studio once he realized he'd been had. lol

Maybe we can save that one if all else fails but I'd much rather see the DOJ hauling him into a courtroom instead of a TV studio.

I was watching the MSNBC show 1600 with David Schuster and I could have sworn that the footage of Obama at the beginning of the show showed Obama getting off Air Force One with Phil Graham. They never talked about it so I'm not sure. Did anyone else see it? What a scary thought...Obama and Phil Graham. I can't find any news stories reporting that they were together today???

Based on what I've seen so far of Obama I'd say we better plan now for what we will do when he does continue the Bush policies. I don't think we should just sit by and wait until he does it because then it will be too late to try to organize something. We need to be pro-active instead of just reactive. Having said that I unfortunately have no immediate suggestion on what we can do. Perhaps we should begin a search for as many well known figures as possible so that we can get them preparing op-ed's that can be submitted to our national newspapers for publication. We also need to have a lineup of these people to appear on TV to counteract what is being cheered on by the beltway media. We must lay the groundwork before Obama has a chance to use his bully pulpit to sway the people.

We watched the movie The Life of Emile Zola last night for about the 20th time. During the movie I couldn't help but think about how so many of our politicians and media personalities want to bury the truth about the Bush administration war crimes much like the Army wanted to bury the truth about Dreyfus in Zola's time. After the movie I looked for quotes from Zola to see if there were any on point for this time in our history and I found one:

If you shut up truth and bury it under the ground, it will but grow, and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it bursts through it will blow up everything in its way.

Let's hope what Zola said is true and that at some point the truth will break through. I just hope that I'm alive to see that day.

I agree with General Taguba that you can't sweep unlawful activities under the table which is why I support criminal investigations and prosecutions. It may be "difficult" as General Taguba suggests but unless we follow the rule of law for everyone in this country, no matter their rank or station, then we cease to be a nation of laws.

I'm certainly not ready to give in to those who think accountability for high officials only includes getting at the truth but excludes the deterrence benefit of punishment. I don't want to ever see these Bush officials serving in another administration. I want them to be so radioactive that no future administration would dare place them in a position of authority ever again. And I want future officials to think long and hard about the risk of long prison sentences should they break the law or advocate law breaking.

I also agree with the other poster who said that all of us need to convey our beliefs to the president. He needs to hear from us on this issue so that he doesn't make the wrong decision that will link him with the Bush criminals forever.

www.whitehouse.gov