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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
I agree that if Congress couldn't stomach impeachment at a time when it still could have done some good, it's unlikely the Dems will collectively grow a backbone under a President Obama and bring Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, et al. to justice. It's not just Obama who's inclined toward conciliation; the majority of the party has already shown it is more committed to harmony and business as usual than to prosecuting the Bushies' crimes.
One possible way to finesse this would be to have a Truth Commission keep a very low profile at first. It could do its initial fact-finding away from the cameras. However, it would eventually have to conduct public hearings - at the latest, when interviewing Cabinet-level and higher officials. Otherwise, too much secrecy would detract from its legitimacy.
Here's more fanciful - but not entirely loony - idea. How about subjecting these guys to one of their own tools: rendition. Let the Hague put them before a tribunal. There's ample evidence to try them as war criminals. I bet Cheney and Karadzic would have a lovely time as cellmates.
Bush is going to pardon everyone in his administration for crimes they may or may not have committed. Can he pardon himself?
Won't GW Bush simply do what his father did before him, and pardon various cronies and officials before leaving office? Just one last favor for his people before he leaves?
And likely have interns shredding the hell out of everything they can shred, so there's just not much left besides everybody's suspicion that something rotten happened to the country from 2001-08, with the difference being the majority of Americans think it's a bad thing, and a minority of Americans (the GOP's brimstone base) being just fine with it.
More frighteningly, perhaps, is that the precedents established by the Bush League, the extralegal machinery they created, will still be in place for future unitary executives to enjoy. Or, roundly booted from power in 2008, maybe the GOP's remaining magpies will suddenly flip-flop and become tireless advocates for curtailing (Democratic) executive power and upholding the rule of law. They have no shame, so best not hold your breath for it.
You can not imagine just how overwhelmed and repulsed I was upon entering Premium Salon to be confronted by a full page ad from "Samsung" showing their new cell phone. Another click on the screen and I arrived at "Would Barack Obama prosecute...". and behold another ad smaller and in better taste but an ad never the less for Grapenuts cereal... Now I'm rethinking what to do when my renewal to Salon comes due. It won't be Premium Salon! Does Joan Walsh wear a dress with an ads on it?
I'm sure that's what will happen.
And I'm equally sure Obama will echo Gerald Ford (instead of showing us something new!) and let the past stay in the past.
Which will suck rocks.
But, as a hypothetical, if people have been pardoned, can there still be an investigation? You know, for the history books?
I wonder how Mark Benjamin would feel if HIS family was in IMMINENT DANGER, not just of injury, but of death, and the authorities had some of the bad guys in custody? They were kidnapped, and would be EXECUTED very shortly. Do you think that he might have a little different perspective on the situation? Maybe not be such a PUNK? How far would Marky go, to have prevented 911? To save his family? He might be such a weak idiological PUKE, that he'ld rather see EVERYONE DIE, if it meant keeping himself pure. It's a tough call. Isn't it. And it takes tough men to make the tough decisions. Let's hope that no Mark Benjamin ever has to make those decisions on our behalf. EVER.
Why not go back to 911? Not only did the towers fall look oddly like a controlled demolition, but there has been some speculation that a thermalytic reaction may have been involved and testimony of firefighters at the scene confirms explosions at the base of the towers that can not be explained by impact of airplanes at the top. Even the heads of the 911 commission have said that the investigation was flawed and that the administration with held evidence. If we are looking for truth, and I surely want more of it, why should we stop at torture? If 911 was anything other than a terrorist attack, the Bush administration is guilty of everything from treason and sedition to murder. The basic requirements of motive and means are already evident. PNAC has put the motive into the record as far back as the Clinton administration. Let us not underestimate mans desire for power and wealth, which is something the Bush administration has boldly pursued.
Prosecutes and convicts every American, living or dead, for every crime ever perpetrated in the history of people.
Name the names!
-- GW Bush, War Criminal.-- Dick Cheney, War Criminal.
-- Members of this current War Criminal administration of the USA.
They certainly deserve to be impeached (all those impeachable) and they certainly deserve to be jailed (the whole sorry bunch of them, for the rest of their miserable lives)!
Will such justice be done?
I doubt it.
-- GSC
I have noticed already that any hearing regarding the actions of the Bush Administration with respect to executive authority, torture of detainees, Guantanamo Bay, or the conduct of the Iraq invasion and occupation, is portrayed by the Republican parties and some of the media as partisan theatrics. The Democrats have not responded to that charge with a message that is clear and effective: "This is about establishing facts and pursuing justice."
Barack Obama is a professional politician of the Democratic Party, and given the Democratic Party's unwillingness to dig in its heels and make a stand for justice, I doubt an Obama Administration would pursue legal action against Bush Administration officials in a first or second term. There will always be electoral politics, and the Democratic Party's pathological fear of Republican criticism will stay the hand the justice.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
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