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• Monday, January 5, 2009 12:17 PM

  Scott Horton

  interviews Louis Fisher author of The Constitution and 9/11.

  1. As we come now to the final days of the Bush Administration, the question of accountability looms large. You make clear that the Bush Administration broke with legal tradition and precedent in a number of areas—in disregarding the laws of war and undertaking domestic surveillance at odds with FISA, for instance. What advice would you give President Obama about how to deal with this legacy? Should there be an investigation? And if it suggests that criminal conduct occurred, how should this be dealt with? -Horton

  A large agenda for domestic and foreign policy already awaits President Obama and he will want to put his time and energy into moving forward. But it would be a mistake to sweep the illegalities and executive branch corruption of the past seven years under the rug. It is important to get the full story out on the removal of U.S. attorneys, the process within the Office of Legal Counsel that produced such documents as the torture memos, the continued withholding of legal memos from Congress and the public, and other matters that cast a shadow over the Bush Administration and will cast the same shadow over the Obama Administration. Only a thorough and transparent airing of these issues will bring accountability and provide lessons learned. It matters less that there be criminal prosecution against the U.S. officials who engaged in these actions than that the actions be fully investigated and made public. Otherwise, the implied message is that U.S. officials can engage in secret and illegal actions without any cost to themselves or their agencies. -Fisher

  —bystander Read bystander's other letters
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