Posted on 03/05/2009 12:46:21 AM PST by seanmerc
WASHINGTON -- Can Americans face the truth about the Bush administration’s abuse of power?
I believe so, but clearly President Barack Obama and some Democratic lawmakers think they can’t. Or possibly they don’t want to be bogged down in a search which could be viewed as vindictive against the former regime. Too bad.
Obama -- a former constitutional law professor -- has ruled out a look backward, claiming that any review of possible illegalities by Bush and his coterie would lead to "politics that have made Washington dysfunctional."
Picking up on the last Bush mantra that we should move "forward," Obama with his don’t-rock-the-boat perspective is not about to nail his predecessor. After all, Obama is now a member of the club and shows signs of fitting in very quickly and easily.
President Richard M. Nixon had a more courageous opposition in the form of the Democratic-led impeachment drive that led to his resignation in disgrace.
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., quickly took any discussion of Bush impeachment off the table because she feared such a prosecution would disrupt the Democratic legislative agenda.
This double standard embraced by nervous politicians nourishes the perception that laws do not apply equally when politicians seek to protect each other.
Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, are the few congressional leaders who have the courage to say in effect: "Stop the music. We can’t go forward until we have a clear understanding of what travesties were perpetrated by the Bush administration."
They reflect the view of philosopher George Santayana that if we do not remember the past we are condemned to repeat it in the future.
But we’re not talking about grand jury indictments here.
Leahy is proposing the creation of a "truth-finding panel" designed "to get to the bottom of what happened -- and why -- to make sure it never happens again."
Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said: "For much of this decade, we have read about and witnessed such abuses as the scandal at Abu Ghraib (the notorious prison near Baghdad), the disclosure of torture memos and the revelation of warrantless surveillance of Americans."
He noted that some political leaders "say do nothing." A few senators even tried to make Attorney General Eric Holder promise in his confirmation hearings that he would not prosecute anyone for Bush-era lawbreaking.
"At the opposite end of the spectrum, others say that even if it takes many years and divides the country and distracts from the urgent priority of fixing the economy, we must prosecute the Bush administration to lay down a marker," Leahy said.
"It is easier for prosecutors to net those far down the ladder than those at the top, who set the tone and the policies," the senator noted.
Thus, low-ranking soldier-guards at Abu Ghraib were prosecuted, but their commanders and CIA personnel -- who inflicted cruel, inhuman "enhanced interrogation" such as "waterboarding," which simulates drowning, have gone free.
The inhumane policies on treatment of prisoners were set by Vice President Dick Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and legal advisers in Bush’s White House and Justice Department. Those higher-ups haven’t paid the price for approving torture.
Leahy said the truth panel should include people universally recognized as fair-minded and without axes to grind.
"Their straightforward mission would be to find the truth," he said. "People would be invited to come forward and share their knowledge and experiences, not for purposes of constructing criminal indictments but to assemble the facts."
Leahy also said that immunity from prosecution could be given in order to get the whole truth.
I suggest that former President Jimmy Carter would make a fine chairman of the suggested truth forum.
Leahy’s bottom line: "We need to get to the bottom of what happened -- and why -- to make sure it doesn’t happen again."
LMAO....Given the last 6 months...they’ve been few and far between...
Some people are just born lucky!
She makes that dog look beautiful!
I don’t know if you are a Christian or not, but I am, and I have learned that over a lifetime, sin causes ugliness. That which is inside comes out on the face as we grow old.
“I never would’ve believed that the USA would elect a Marxist, but with Soros money and ACORN, it was accomplished.
The only question remaining, is how long it is going to take for the American democrats among the voters to wake up.”
I recommend you don’t hold your breath until they do. American and world history have been so altered as to render the majority of people ignorant, and they don’t know it. That’s how BHO got elected.
I thought she died some time ago. I guess I was mistaken and she only looks like she did.
Change the width (or height) to whatever size you want:
< img src="" width=75>
Yikes! Well, you did say you’d be pinging about HT, lol.
“There is something deeply ugly about that woman, and it isn’t the way she looks.”...........
The dark ugliness that is inside that woman.... that is what I see when I look at ANY picture of her. I’ve seen pictures of other older, less than lovely elderly women, heck I even know some of them. Looking at them does NOT produce in my gut that sense of revulsion and disgust that I feel when I see pictures of Helen Thomas. It’s not her politics or her basic ignorance that repels me so much as the.... darkness. Evil can be defined as darkness, the absence of light. That darkness shows on her face. There is no light there.
To parahrase Jack Bauer from last monday’s 24, you’re weak Helen Thomas.
Now, you’ve found an image of Helen I can tolerate. Slainte!
ROTFLMBO!!!!!
The dog’s bug-eyed look is priceless!!!!
; )
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