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Now that the Bush administration is at an end, it is time for Obama and Congress to SERIOUSLY consider investigations into the potential law breaking activities that were committed during his 8 year rule.
It is about whether Obama upholds his pledge to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution' by investigating those from the Bush years who abused their powers in office, or just pays lip service to this pledge by letting them 'walk away'...
I for one think there should be formal investigations.. especially into whether Bush and company INTENTIONALLY misled the country and got us involved in the war in Iraq under false pretenses.. I think they did...
It should also shed light on the politicization of the Justice Department, and appointing or removing attorney's based on their loyalty to Bush and his form of 'right thinking', rather than on their ability to do the job and uphold the law. Politicizing the judicial process is one of the more serious ways that Bush brought us closer to a dictatorship than any other president - surely in my lifetime...
Krugman makes an excellent point - to allow these people to walk away scott-free will only insure that in the future some other administration will do the same thing all over again...
I think people need to be held accountable and punished for their illegal, or unconstitutional, activities over the past 8 years...
Obama I suspect will either pardon them or not allow the Justice Department to persecute/prosecute them. These are difficult times and we don't need more to divide us and Obama made the promise to unite us. The time for the partisan wars being waged in the halls of government are over with this administration. We need to move on and solve are very significant problems and what you suggest is not a step in that direction.
I agree with you, but not on the issues you listed. They should be investigated for torture and for wiretapping. Those are much easier issues to prove, as Bush has already admitted that he violated the law in those two areas - and the standards for conviction are a bit less complicated.
For those of you making the silly claim that it would set a bad precedent - it only does so for Presidents who violate the law. Clinton may have come close, and he got impeached for it. I notice that the concept of "not setting a bad precedent didn't stop the GOP then. Now we have an administration that stomped all over the constitution. They should be held accountable. Aren't you all for personal responsibility and the rule of law?
Sorry my friend but if this is up there on your priority lists then we aren't reading about the same news. Are there issues with the Tim Geithner nomination yes but are they vastly out weighed by the crisis and his skill set? Yes. Remember what Orin Hatch says!
If I had my druthers, I would sieze them and all their property and leave them out in the wilderness in their underwear. In the winter. Torturers, theives and warmongers deserve no better.
If I had my druthers, I would sieze them and all their property and leave them out in the wilderness in their underwear. In the winter. Torturers, theives and warmongers deserve no better.
Yes then I am glad to see that you support our use of Gitmo to contain and interrogate torturers, theives and warmongers. I am surprised you are so harsh though and appear to suggest that Gitmo is a country club and they need even more harsh conditions. I suspect you lost love ones in 9/11 and can understand your intense bitterness towards the terrorists. My support is with you and your family as it is with all of the victims of the Bin Laden gang and associates. Certainly had they lived those involved in the Mubai attacks would have been on your lists also.
IF there is evidence that bushCo violated the Constituion or broke any laws it is Obama's administration's RESPONSIBILITY to investigate and prosecute if necessary.....it is their J O B !
He, Obama, can, of course, just ignore the Constitution JUST LIKE BUSH DID...but the repub/neocon faction better ignore it....think they will????
The American fetish of worshipping(fearing) as gods the wealthy and powerful should not allow the Constitution to be be trashed at will and the culprits quietly slither away ...
IF there is evidence that bushCo violated the Constituion or broke any laws it is Obama's administration's RESPONSIBILITY to investigate and prosecute if necessary.....it is their J O B !
But since there isn't, then there should be no prosecutions.
IF there is evidence that bushCo violated the Constituion or broke any laws it is Obama's administration's RESPONSIBILITY to investigate and prosecute if necessary.....it is their J O B !
He, Obama, can, of course, just ignore the Constitution JUST LIKE BUSH DID...but the repub/neocon faction better ignore it....think they will????
The American fetish of worshipping(fearing) as gods the wealthy and powerful should not allow the Constitution to be be trashed at will and the culprits quietly slither away ...
What laws did he break and what part of the Constitution did he violate?
Sorry my friend but if this is up there on your priority lists then we aren't reading about the same news. Are there issues with the Tim Geithner nomination yes but are they vastly out weighed by the crisis and his skill set? Yes. Remember what Orin Hatch says!
So you are O.K. with our treasury secretary, who is actually in charge of tax collection, being a tax cheat?
Were you aware that that is a violation of the Constitution. In fact it violates the very definition of the 16th ammendment.
If you or I did what he did, we would be jailed and fined.
I guess that if Geitner were an American corporation he would be considered too big to fail.
I also would have to assume by the way Obama is defending him, that somehow Obama thinks that this is normal.
Should not happen and won't happen. Obama and congress know what a can of worms that will open and don't want to set a precedence for future Presidencies including Obama and his four years.
Um, yeah, Obama will be quickly backing away from his one.
What laws did he break and what part of the Constitution did he violate?
He violated standing treaties by authorizing torture, and he violated the FISA law as well as the 4th Amendment by illegally wiretapping Americans without oversight. He also eliminated habeas corpus by holding an American citizen detained on American soil for over 3 years in solitary confinement without charging him or allowing a trial to be held.
Other arguments could be made for signing statements, diverting funding from Afghanistan to Iraq without congress's approval, fudging intelligence data to start an unnecessary and unjustified war, outing a CIA agent, etc., etc.
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