Juvenile Court

IBD Editorials ^ | February 10, 2009

[Kaslin]

Washington: Sen. Pat Leahy has proposed a "truth commission" that would probe the activities of the Bush administration. Does the senator really want to take the U.S. down the road of radical Third World politics?

---

Don't forget this is "Leaky Leahy," a nickname the Vermont Democrat earned for his habit of revealing sensitive government information. A series of negligent — some might say deliberate — disclosures led to his 1987 resignation from the vice chairmanship of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Such a person has no moral authority to sit in judgment of anyone.

Lawmakers should shun Leahy's witch hunt. Any tribunal over which he presides will be less about getting "the truth out," as he claims, and more about trying to demonize a political opponent.

Truth commissions are the hallmark of Banana Republics and Leninist regimes, not of freely elected republics in which political adversaries settle their differences in a civilized manner. No self-respecting representative of the people should want to be associated with such a stunt.

[Cindy]

TOWNHALL.com: "WOULD YOU TURN YOUR CHEEK TO A TERRORIST?" by David R. Stokes (SNIPPET: "At a time when this country needs to be vigilant and focused on a very real enemy -- one determined to end our way of life as we know it -- Mr. Obama has blurred the issue. He is moving us away from a war mindset to something more surgical and limited. This should be no surprise to observant Americans. After all, he didn't really have much to say on the issue during his campaign. To minimize or marginalize danger is to ignore it. And to ignore danger is how to quickly become blind and vulnerable.") (February 8, 2009)