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A Real Criminal Investigation of Bush/Cheney; No Truth Commission!

Judges and jurors, not politicians or unelected commission members, should determine whether Bush & Co. broke the law.
March 9, 2009  |  
 
 
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It's really quite simple. Truth and Reconciliation commissions, Congressional committees and blue ribbon commissions like the 9/11 Commission, are not deterrents to torture, illegal surveillance or lawyers on the Justice Department who attempted to justify the torture. They have a very limited function.

But they don't punish anyone; don't deter anyone, don't even put pressure on the people who committed the acts and cannot really get at the truth to determine responsibility. They do not bring the full force of America's 230 years of law down on the offenders. They don't truly help rein in the powers of future presidents or defense secretaries who want to do the same or similar acts the next time they react to what they see as an extraordinary crisis. And different presidents, Democrats and Republicans from Woodrow Wilson and the prosecutions during the Red Scare, to Franklin D. Roosevelt and the internment of 110,000 Japanese, Lyndon Johnson, lying about the Gulf of Tonkin and to dramatically increase troop strength, nearly always find crisis and overreact.

Senator Patrick Leahy, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has called at different times for either a Truth and Reconciliation commission or a Blue Ribbon commission. Neither is appropriate.

The best truth and reconciliation model comes from the South African experience. In South Africa, these commissions were used to begin the healing after the brutality of apartheid. It grants the confessing wrongdoers immunity. It was for a different time and place.

The Blue Ribbon commission gets attention and, along with Congressional committees, can get exposures and may help lead to better laws. But they create the danger of interfering and at times making impossible criminal trials of criminals. And they let criminals go unpunished.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of both the Judiciary Committee and Intelligence Committees and a former U.S. Attorney, supporting Leahy's call, said that a torture commission might need the power to immunize witnesses on a case-by-case basis, and "it is beside the point" if it endangers criminal prosecutions.

We should go ahead with criminal prosecutions. It is the only way, through grand juries, subpoenas and trials, to get the facts and help America clean up some of its recent past.

The American people, immersed as they are in the economic crisis, are angry about torture and other illegalities of the Bush administration and want those prosecutions.

The February, 2009 USA Today/Gallup Poll shows 38 percent of Americans favor criminal prosecution of torturers, 38 percent for prosecution of those who used illegal surveillance, and 41 percent for those involved in the subversion of the Justice Department. Americans by a wide margin are in favor of criminal prosecutions than independent or Congressional panels. Seventy-five percent of Americans believe something must be done -- we can't walk away from the crimes against humanity committed in our name.

The argument is made that criminal prosecutions area too difficult, too lengthy, too expensive, too political and will keep the country divided. But there have always been political expensive and difficult trials. We have had long, expensive, political trials for John Dean during Watergate, Eliot Abrams during Iran-Contra, Scooter Libby today and even Aaron Burr nearly two hundred years ago.

Leahy argues against criminal prosecutions because "a failed attempt to prosecute for this conduct might be the worst result of all if it is seen as justifying dishonest actions." But that's true for every criminal prosecution -- should murderers, John Ehrlichmann, Scooter Libby or Enron officials not be prosecuted because the possibility of an acquittal justifies their actions? If so, junk the criminal system.

We can't leave it to politicians. Many Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are alleged to have known about the torture and surveillance programs and either approved or said nothing. Pelosi (who, interestingly, has called for criminal prosecutions) has consistently equivocated on what she knew and when she knew it. It's unlikely Democrats on commissions, let alone Republicans, are going to pursue the inquiry to its final end. They will undermine Congressional Commissions, and blue ribbon Commissions, but they cannot so easily undermine criminal prosecutions.

The criminal trials of the chief of the Bush defendants can certainly be shorter and probably less expensive than the Barry Bonds or Scooter Libby prosecution, and less purely political than Thomas Jefferson's presidentially controlled prosecution of Aaron Burr.

The Bush people violated some clear specific crimes. Failing to get wiretaps permission from the Federal Internal Security Courts is a felony. Representatives of the Justice Department, local police and federal agent who participated in break-ins or wiretaps without warrants, are guilty of clear and unambiguous federal crimes. Federal Agents who did illegal surveillance even when the Justice Department refused to sign off on its illegality can be found guilty. Violation of the Federal Anti-Torture Act, which has been on the books for years, bars citizens from committing torture abroad, is a felony.

The War Crimes Act of 1996 is violated even if there is not what the Bush defendants would claim is "torture." That act punishes those who act cruelly and inhumanely. Waterboarding, vicious dogs, and exposing detainees to temperature extremes could all be punished by a jury.

Bush's people, afraid of the applicability of the War Crimes Act, inserted a provision into a 2006 law that made the War Crimes Act retroactively ineffective. But Congress can change that now, that law can be used for prosecutions.

The defense will claim, say opponents of criminal trials, that defendants relied on the now infamous August 1, 2002 legal opinion of the Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, and his assistants justifying torture and the opinions on illegal surveillance creating fog and evasion and therefore, they will get off. And that all the lawyers did was give their albeit controversial opinions, a full defense. Jurors will get confused by legal experts who support the views of the Bush lawyers. It's too complicated for a jury, we are told.

But we have prosecuted lawyers, experts and those who rely on legal or accounting opinions in many cases. Kenneth Lay could refer to legal or accounting documents prepared to justify his case all day long and not be saved. The legal opinions rendered by Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo and David Addington are such transparent documents that an American jury of citizens is, at the very least entitled to have an opportunity to pass judgment on them. Even as lawyers within the Bush administration repudiated the opinions, the illegal practices went on. No jury would have difficulty in rejecting John Yoo's memorandum that reject the basic tenets of an American democracy.

Can a jury really decide the tough questions, such as whether Alberto Gonzales' opinion, concluding the Geneva Convention Protections do not apply to prisoners of war captured for Al Qaeda or the Taliban? Of course. A jury can determine if the legal opinion was a facade to justify actions already taken -- only the legal process with grand juries and subpoenas has any hope of piercing the wall of defense that will be used to block that inquiry. Those memos were not used to interpret the law -- they were intentionally written to change the law. No Commission can hope to get facts behind these opinions as quickly as the Courts.

Our criminal law has specific status that reach overseas to punish torturers. Section 2340A of our Federal Criminal Code makes it a crime for any person "outside the United States to commit or attempt to commit torture." But, say the critics of criminal prosecution, torture is too vague a word for a prosecution. Not so. Judges and juries routinely define much vaguer terms - what does "reasonable doubt of guilt" or "reasonable doubt of guilt with a degree of moral certainty." What does cruel and inhuman treatment mean? They are always past precedents to help us define these terms.

Juries determine competency in cases interpreting wills and estates, and sanity in criminal cases, with the help of experts, whom they often barely understand.

It is wrong to say that lower level officials, or lower level military personnel can get off by claiming they followed higher orders. They did what fellow soldiers did - they followed the morality culture created by their environment and superiors. That's not a defense. When police officers in Los Angeles, Jackson, or New York beat prisoners, or deny them rights, most know they are violating the laws -- they do it nonetheless. And they can be and often are prosecuted.

At times CIA personnel and people within the White House knew with certainty they were acting illegally. When the CIA destroyed at least 92 interrogation tapes to cover up what was done to the detainees, they violated a specific court order that prohibited that destruction.

I don't have a religious faith in the majesty of the law. It is just the far best alternative.

Is the criminal prosecutors and the process itself often flawed? Of course. At times, are the guilty declared innocent and the innocent declared guilty? Of course. Do conviction make it far less likely that torture will continue? Probably so. Will a string of successful prosecutions ensure that we will never have Americans participate in torture or illegal surveillance? Probably not. Does it make torture and illegal surveillance less likely? Yes.

At the end of the day, I would rather have American jurors, bound by the Constitution and the law, make the decision rather than politicians or unelected blue ribbon commission members. I would rather have the judges, bound by precedent and law, determine what is, and is not legal.

President Obama has said this is not the time to look back but to look forward. There was a claim that the need for bipartisanship argued against prosecution. But the illusion of bipartisanship, if it ever truly existed, has been broken.

President Obama and the Congress should now name a Special Prosecutor.
 


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Americans
Posted by: EinMD on Mar 9, 2009 1:45 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm still trying to come to grips with the fact that my nation - the nation that was supposedly the light of the civilized world - only has 38% of the people thinking that people who commit crimes such as torture should be prosecuted.

If it were some swarthy middle easterner committing the torturous acts against white people we'd be invading their countries, deposing their leaders and ... oh wait... we did.

So what the is the excuse, people? Are you all feckless cowards or does all that high and mighty talk about honor and duty only exist in the movies and the ideas of good and evil end at the doorstep of your particular political party?

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» That 38% includes . . . Posted by: dustdevil
» RE: Americans Posted by: luzmejor
» RE: Americans Posted by: barefeet
» RE: first in and best said! Posted by: watching-n-waiting

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Why the current problem is not the same as South Africa's apartheid solution
Posted by: KokorHekkus on Mar 9, 2009 8:40 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My comment speaks to the difference in the situations between South Africa and the U.S.A.
The situation in South Africa can more profitably be compared to the situation immediately following Watergate, in the U.S.A. It was a mess, but, almost exclusively having repercussions domestically. I, personally, was flabbergasted and appalled when Ford pardoned Nixon. I assume many, especially many black, South Africans felt the same when the Truth commission was established there. However, as stated earlier, these 2 kettles of stinking fish were mostly concerned with what went on inside a country. Therefore,
each of those countries was more or less free to decide how to handle its own garbage.

The present brouhaha of the U.S.A. vs. the world is somewhat different. The U.S.A. and its officials ran rampant over the earth, killed people for no good reason, overthrew governments for no cause, imprisoned and tortured people without even a ghost of a justification, and in general acted the fool and the villain. This is not a situation where a country can take care of its own waste.
It is a situation where one country has massively violated the rights of individuals and countries around the world. The U.S.A. must be brought in front of a court, inside or outside the U.S.A., to answer for its vast indifference to law, decency and decorum.

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W/out 9/11 this war/theft had little traction
Posted by: weathered on Mar 10, 2009 3:22 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Arrest Silverstein/Bushcon and heal or stay stuck and sick in denial.

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dory in lake havasu
Posted by: dorym930 on Mar 11, 2009 10:42 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
how 'bout the crime of exploding the twin towers... and sending a missile into the pentagon..(the day AFTER rumsfeld said he "lost" 3 trillion dollars??!!)...or shooting down united #93???!!!.....all false flag events that were covered up, re-worked...and fed to the world as our reason for war???!!! THAT'S WHAT THEY NEED TO BE PROSECUTED FOR!!!!!...and i say...OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!....they're telling us to "go eat cake"...well... it's high time we, the people, do something about it..... this torture stuff is egregious..... and horrific....and un-american....but, the REAL crime was 9/11...amd thE ensuing "war on terror".... THE TERRORISTS WERE IN THE WHITE HOUSE.....GO GET THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!

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» NOT SO LOUD PLEASE . . . Posted by: dustdevil
» *points and laughs* Posted by: rickiey
» RE: *points and laughs* Posted by: Stew

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Should Saddam Hussein have been hanged for what he did to
Posted by: thekidde on Mar 12, 2009 1:34 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
the Iraqi people and his war against Iran - certainly. What he did is not one whit different than what BushCo has done to the Middle East and Americans serving in our military. The justice should be the same - a fair trial (unlike what Guantanamo's inhabitants have gotten) and then the gallows.

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Wolfgang Kaleck - interviewed on The Jeff Farias Show
Posted by: BlueBerry PickN on Mar 12, 2009 1:39 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Tues.17.Feb.09
Wolfgang Kaleck, General Secretary of the European Center for Constitutional & Human Rights e.V. (ECCHR, long-time president ('00-08) of the progressive Republican Lawyer’s Association (RAV) & former vice-president & general secretary of European Democratic Lawyers, has been working in the field of national & international human rights for the past ten years.
He has worked closely with Amnesty International, CCR and Human Rights Watch on cases regarding Germans disappeared in Argentina, the detainees in Abu Ghraib & Guantanamo, & the former Uzbek Minister of the Interior.
Together with CCR he filed two lawsuits in Germany against former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld & other high-ranking members of the US administration & military for gross violations of international law in regard to human rights abuses in Abu Ghraib.

Although dismissed by courts of First Instance, they stimulated positive discussions in Germany & elsewhere re: command responsibility & the modern-day Nuremberg precedent significance
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This interview is a FREE PODCAST discussing:

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YOU WANT THE INFORMATION FROM THIS INTERVIEW in your ARGUMENTATION REPERTOIRE

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- Dr Vandana Shiva, a world-renowned environmental leader & thinker. Director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology, & Ecology, she is the author of many books, including:
- ‘Water Wars: Pollution, Profits, & Privatization’ (South End Press, '01),
- ‘Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature & Knowledge’ (South End Press, '97),
- ‘Monocultures of the Mind’ (Zed, 1993),
- ‘The Violence of the Green Revolution’ (Zed, '92), &
- ‘Staying Alive’ (St. Martin’s Press, '89).

Dr. Shiva is a leader in the International Forum on Globalization, along with Ralph Nader & Jeremy Rifkin. She addressed the WTO Seattle Summit '99, as well as the recent World Economic Forum in Melbourne, '00. In '93, Shiva won the 'Alternative Nobel Peace Prize' (the Right Livelihood Award). The founder of Navdanya (”nine seeds”), a movement promoting diversity & use of native seeds, she also set up the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, & Ecology in her mother’s cowshed in '97.


The Jeff Farias Show
streaming LIVE & FREE, 6-9pmEST, Mon-Fri.
free podcasts

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Bush League
Posted by: Jest2007 on Mar 12, 2009 2:09 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Only 38% of Americans favor criminal prosecution of torturers? This is appalling. However, why should anyone be surprised. After all, this is the country that gave George Bush eight years in the White House and then proceeded to ignore his continual transgressions. We have a serious problem in this country--ignorance. To allow malfeasance to go unpunished is a dangerous precedent and insures that circumvention of the law and the Constitution will continue. One newspaper headline referred to the United States as the "axis of stupidity." Are we to be a country of "Sarah Palins?"

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Equality
Posted by: mayathree on Mar 12, 2009 2:44 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If one of us (citizens) had behaved in the illegal, immoral, clandestine manner that Bush & Company did.....well, we would be paying mightily for our errors.
So where's the "equality" that we're supposed to have in the United States of America???
Maya

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» RE: quality Posted by: Sister_Lauren

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Retired Veteran
Posted by: jodemarco on Mar 12, 2009 3:42 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We cannot move ahead UNLESS we correct the unlawful crimes committed by the Bush administration. We cannot regain the respect we once had UNLESS we prosecute those who broke the law. We must again show the world that we ARE a country of LAWS and that NO ONE is above the LAW. THOSE IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WHO BROKE THE LAW OR THE GENEVA CONVENTION MUST BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW.

JOE DEMARCO
WW TWO VETERAN

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» Please free US from Israel Posted by: weathered
» RE: Please free US from Israel Posted by: Sister_Lauren

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Retired Veteran
Posted by: jodemarco on Mar 12, 2009 3:43 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We cannot move ahead UNLESS we correct the unlawful crimes committed by the Bush administration. We cannot regain the respect we once had UNLESS we prosecute those who broke the law. We must again show the world that we ARE a country of LAWS and that NO ONE is above the LAW. THOSE IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WHO BROKE THE LAW OR THE GENEVA CONVENTION MUST BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW.

JOE DEMARCO
WW TWO VETERAN

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» RE: etired Veteran Posted by: Sister_Lauren

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How could they resist their own Death Squads it only follows, go ask the Federalist Society..
Posted by: TJColatrella on Mar 12, 2009 11:09 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Whatever Bush and Cheney did they are not going to be tried by this President's administration and especially this Attorney General Holder...

Our Congress well they'll fold like broken lawn chairs at the very idea of something like this...

I'm all for it I think Bush should be tried for so many reasons murder for me might be the least of it..

There's murders everyday, this country is one big killing field an NRA game preserve and we're all the game..or prey, but destroying the U.S. Constitution and balance of powers our very system of governance doesn't happen every day even the Mafia had respect for that..Italian Mafia that is, not Texas Mafia ever...

All this Unitary Scumbaggery comes from the Federalist Society, and until we see their demise our nation and Republic will never be safe...

Death Squads how could they resist..they had KBR build concentration camps here in America didn't they..?

We have private prisons don't we, that's Fascism, we torture people with electric shock daily using tasers..little kids and young girls all tasered how many killed 129..?

Let's just remember we are still living under the Nancy Pelosi abridged Constitution she can take things out and or maybe even add them at will take anything off the table...

Tomorrow Free Speech could be "off the table" just like Impeachment...

People think we can allow all this evil for 8 years and that when they finally leave office it's all over...

To bad there's no Marshall Plan for America because that's what we need after G.W. Bush..

From Sam Alito to Dick Cheney to Condi Rice to Karl Rove and of course George Bush there are many criminals who ran our government these last years and until today...

It's just not gonna happen President Obama and his Attorney General are not liberals or crusaders or radical reformers they're New Democrats...or Bankercrats, or Bildercrats or some even Demo-rats...

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Starting a War is Itself a War Crime....WHY is This Overlooked?
Posted by: Jayzer on Mar 12, 2009 11:17 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
With all due respect to Martin Garbus and his report and to the posters who responded, I still feel that one important charge is missing. In addition to prosecuting key members of the Bush junta for torture and illegal surveillance, they should also be prosecuted for launching wars of aggression, especially against Iraq. While the case may be arguable that going into Afghanistan was necessary in order to capture or kill members of al Qaeda deemed responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, there is absolutely NO proof that the regime of Saddam Hussein had anything to do with the attacks.

Iraq had already been hemmed in by two no-fly zones; had been under economic sanctions imposed since the days of the George H.W. Bush administration, which carried on throughout the Clinton years; was subjected to periodic air strikes by US jets throughout those same years; had made NO aggressive moves toward any other state since its moves against Iran and Kuwait and YET was alleged to have been stockpiling "weapons of mass destruction" while under intense surveillance, sanctions, two no-fly zones and near-total loss of sovereignty over the northern half of its territory occupied by the Kurds.

By now, we ALL know that the WMD-accumulation tale was a myth and most of us are also aware that George W. Bush had been planning a war against Iraq all along---well before the Sept. 11 attacks, as former Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill has stated on more than one occasion.

Since Iraq had NOT attacked the US, no matter how hard Dick Cheney tried to link Muhammad Atta (one of the 9/11 hijackers) to a meeting in Prague with an officer from Iraqi intelligence, the fact that Atta was already in the US when the alleged meeting had occurred demonstrated that this was a total fabrication on Cheney's part---never mind the missing pieces from Cheney's own tale---as in: no indication WHAT, if anything, was discussed even IF such a meeting had occurred. You could look it up---not even Cheney could claim any knowledge of the substance of such a conversation---because it NEVER happened.

At the end of World War II, the Nazi brain trust was charged with war crimes, not only for the planning and commission of the murders of civilians during the Holocaust, but with the launching of the war itself. General Alfred Jodl and Hermann Goering, just to name two major German military officials, were condemned to death by the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal for the crime of military aggression.

There is no doubt in my mind that Nuremberg established, once and for all, that military aggression is to be deemed a major violation of international law.

Having said that, I believe that we should NOT wait for prosecution by the International Criminal Court, but should take responsibility for the crimes committed by our government against others. The major flaw of Nuremberg---and one does NOT need to be an apologist for the Nazis or Japanese war criminals to say this---was that the administration of justice was left to the victors of the war.

By taking responsibility for the crimes of our elected and appointed officials, our sense of responsibility to the world community can be restored and demonstrated.

I admit that it will still fall short unless and until we also remove our troops from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. Yet, charges against the Bush regime for the crime of military aggression must accompany charges related to torture and illegal surveillance.

What concerns me right now is whether or not the Obama administration is trying to avoid leveling those charges because they intend to follow the same foreign policy. In which case, like it or not, the responsibility for the continuation of such crimes will be Obama's.

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It is way past time to deal with the Bush/Cheney war crimes!
Posted by: symcokid on Mar 13, 2009 10:25 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I don't know what into hell the holdup is in the first place when the war crimes were committed right in front of the whole wide world? Where is the International Criminal Court in all of this sordid noncompliance pursuant to initiating the investigations of these two thugs and their cronies?

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Don't forget treason and starting a civil war
Posted by: Perry Logan on Mar 14, 2009 2:42 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Don't forget various acts of treason (Plame, et al) and stealing a Presidential election--an act of civil war if there ever was one.

In a just universe, we would be fighting Republican in the streets right now, or arresting them en masse.

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Shame On Us
Posted by: DrBrian on Mar 14, 2009 3:20 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's instructive that the very same conservatives and "moderates" who were outraged that the palpably guilty O.J. Simpson got away with brutally killing 2 people are happy to let Bush, Cheney et al. get away with killing over a million, torturing dozens to death, kidnapping and disappearing people--many of whom were later found to have been innocent.

An unenforced law is no law at all, and abandoning justice for the multitudes of victims of the 8 year crime spree, alias the Bush Administration, marks us as a nation of hypocrites and war crimes supporters. Shame on us.

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America Tortures
Posted by: Revolutionary (Direct) Democracy on Mar 14, 2009 3:45 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Wire up Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzalez and zap 'em til they squeal.


FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY

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» RE: LOL! Posted by: watching-n-waiting

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USA is a corporate Propaganda Police State
Posted by: PointMan on Mar 14, 2009 4:03 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
President Obama and the Congress should now name a Special Prosecutor.

If they ever do "investigate" it will be a whitewash a la the 9/11 Commission and Warren Commission that were both a travesty of omissions and lies. Obama is a smile-a-minute front puppet for the typical Wall Street "bailout" corporate suspects as is the majority of DC and the MSM.

the fact 9/11 is still a blatant coverup driving the killing fields of scam "war on terror" is all anyone needs to know how corrupt and debased America has become.

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I Don't Believe in the Death Penality . . .
Posted by: Javan on Mar 14, 2009 4:13 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
But this time I'll make an exception!

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For Everything, a Time and Place
Posted by: ProgressiveManiac on Mar 14, 2009 6:11 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
There was a time for the Congress to investigate the crimes of the Bush administration and that was while that administration was in office. That time is past and all we can do is regret that the Congress refused to exercise its responsibility under the Constitution to perform oversight and impeach.

Now it is time for the Justice Department to take over and prosecute. If the Justice Department refuses to do so then it becomes appropriate for the Congress to exercise its oversight over the Justice Department and find out why they are not prosecuting, but this would be an investigation of the current administration, not the former one.

The only real justification for a fact-finding investigation by Congress over the Bush administration activities is to inform the Congress about necessary legislation, to keep it from happening again.

From where I sit, however, this seems wrong-headed since the failures were not in the law but in the enforcement of the perfectly adequate laws that were already on the books. New laws cannot be much help with this problem.

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Forget it people. Kissyface BHO is working towards "protecting" those criminals.
Posted by: JenniferBedingfield on Mar 14, 2009 6:22 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Obama Admin Moves to Protect Military Officials

by Nedra Pickler

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/03/13-9

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Plenty of hard evidence to begin Prosecutions
Posted by: Purple Girl on Mar 14, 2009 7:16 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In fact it is so overwhelming we could run these multitudes of cases like 'American idol'-10 minutes to the prosecution,10 mins to the defendant and everyone gets to E-mail, call or text their vote.Prosecution need only replay tapes, recount historical facts and review the Founding documents verbatium. In fact W's 'So What' and Cheney's 'So' can be considered admissions of guilt, since they are mere public Servants to a country founded on the declaration of 'For the people & By the people'."So" nor any derivitive of it, when confronted with the Will of the People is Treason.Hell we could get through the main players in the Bush admin within one episode!
Treason (including Economic),War Crimes andCrimes against Humanity get you the best PARTING gifts too!Would you like the method of Capitol punishment behind door #1 or Door #2?
"I don't need no Stinkin" Truth commission- I'm a barely breathing suvivor!What they have done to US and the World is an Atrocity!Cheney & Rumsfeld have been at it for 4 decades!
Let's make good use of that pacemaker, since one way or another WE bought it- hang him, zap him and hang him again, repeat for as many high crimes as he has committed!

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Law just for the little people.
Posted by: undead on Mar 14, 2009 7:30 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The ruling elite don't care what you think. They will do as they please, but make believe it is all for our own good.

Examples:

Looting of the treasury to bail out the banksters.

Illegal wars to Keep us "free."

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exit interviews?
Posted by: luzmejor on Mar 14, 2009 9:29 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Here we have the highest, most powerful job in the nation and everyone is too squeamish to demand an accounting from a presidential failure who thought torture, kidnapping and other war crimes was delightful fun?

I'm sorry, but that is taking politeness and deference to a ridiculous extreme!

Either we correct our stupid and venal leaders or someone else will charge them with war crimes.

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I agree with the Author We NEED Procecutions IF
Posted by: madmax427 on Mar 14, 2009 9:30 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
for no other reason than to SHOW the "ruling" Class Enough is enough & too much is Dangerous to Your Freedom! This is the PERFECT time for Trials, Convictions & Sentencing of All those found Guilty of BREAKING the LAW!

Anything short of throwing the full force of the LAW at these Crimes/Criminals will ENSURE the S.O.S. will continue to happen!

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Moveon.org should start a petition drive for prosecutions.
Posted by: KeepsonTickn on Mar 14, 2009 9:29 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Patrick Leahy has been getting signatures on a petition to support his "truth commission" idea. If he succeeds, we will have an even more draconian successor to the Nixon Reagan Bush serial crime spree in four or eight or twelve years.

Doesn't Leahy get it? These people won't give up, and milquetoast responses only encourage them. The constitution isn't that hard to understand. The rule of law isn't that hard to understand. Prosecution is the only way to put the country right.

Between the DC Madam's books, which were last in possession of the Bush justice department and their illegal wiretaps of anyone they had an interest in, we don't know who among our Democratic politicians may be acting under duress. Somehow I doubt Bush & Co. left the fruits of those efforts for Obama's people.

We need an outside organization such as Moveon.org to counter Leahy's ploy, and run their own petition drive for prosecutions instead of a "truth commission."

I wrote Leahy's office asking that he not do this, but that is like pissing in the wind. He has his own reasons for doing it, and will not be convinced otherwise. Whether he is on one of those lists or is still suffering from beaten Democrat syndrome, his actions will only enable this amoral, power-hungry clique in their quest for resurrection.

Looking at how close we came to losing our democracy forever as HAVA wreaked its damage on the electoral system, I can only think the next time we may not be so lucky. We cannot survive in a world where Republicans investigate and prosecute a Democratic President and everyone around him throughout two terms over trivialities and Democrats fail to prosecute serial high crimes and misdemeanors by a Republican administration.

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"Land of the free, home of the brave"?
Posted by: monkeywrench on Mar 14, 2009 9:37 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
How embarrassing will it be if America, which thinks of itself as the world's shining beacon of democracy and fair play, dithers and is shown up by the World Court in The Hague – or some other European country, or even Canada – indicting, arresting and prosecuting Bush criminals first?

If our corrupt government cannot bring itself to right even the worst and most pervasive wrongs ever committed against its own populace AND many other peoples of the world, then I hope that some other country does; maybe we need the wordlwide embarrassment to wake us up.

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» Dismantle AIPAC Posted by: weathered

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A RETIRED AMERICAN CITIZEN
Posted by: foxxx on Mar 14, 2009 11:03 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I CONCUR WITH GOING AFTER THE TERRORIST THAT ATTACKED AMERICA IN IRAQ, WHERE THEY ALSO WENT AFTER A PRESIDENT THAT WAS KILLING PEOPLE JUST FOR THE SAKE OF POWER. HIS SON WAS PRACTICING WITH 1 GALLON OF POISON GAS AND A WEEK LATER 5,000 KURDS WERE DEAD. I CONCUR WITH THE TRIAL OF HUSEIN BY HIS OWN PEOPLE, BUT CANT UNDERSTAND WHY THE IRAQI'S WERE AGAINST US FOR HELPING THEM WITH JUST A FEW RESERVES THAT ALMOST ANILIATED THE TERRORIST ALQUIDDA. IN MY OPINION BUSH DID RIGHT BY GOING AFTER THE TERRORIST THAT ATTACKED AMERICA, BUT A YEAR HOLD UP BY THE SENATE WAS THE PROBLEM. IF WE'D HAD GONE THERE RIGHT AFTER THEIR ATTACK, THEIR WOULD'NT HAVE BEEN A WAR, BECAUSE WE WOULD HAVE DELETED THE PROBLEM, BUT OUR SENATORS HELD IT OFF, BUT TALKED AND THAT WAS THE PROBLEM IN MY OPINION. THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION ON MOBILE LAUNCHERS WOULD'NT HAVE BEEN SO MANY BY THAT TIME. =( IRAQ AT THAT TIME THE 2ND RICHEST OIL COUNTRY ON EARTH). IN MY OPINION IRAQ SHOULD REIMBURSE ALL COALITION COUNTRIES FOR FREEING THEIR PEOPLE FROM THE TERRORISTS AND RETRAINING THEIR FORCES WITH OIL PER EACH COUNTRY NOW, BY 50% OF OIL COMING OUT OF IRAQ AND WHEN THE WAR IS COMPLETELY FINISHED, THEN ALL IRAQI'S IN ALL FREE COUNTRIES SHOULD BE RETURNED HOME. BUT BUSH IN MY OPINION DID RIGHT UP TO THE LAST 6 MONTHS OF HIS TIME IN OFFICE. THE SCIENTISTS HE HIRED TO FIND THE CAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING RECEIVED WORD FROM A SURVEY TAKEN BY THE SCIENTIST THAT MAN WAS NEVER THE CAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING, BUT BUSH DID'NT LIKE THAT AND HAD SUMMIT MEETINGS TO TELL ALL LEADERS THAT MAN WAS RESPONSIBLE, WHEN MAN WAS'NT. INFACT THE CAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING IS INFACT TRIGGERED BY EARTH'S ROTATION. BUSH HAD AND PROBLEY STILL HAS THE CIA OR FBI BLOCKING MOST OF MY EMAILS SO I COULD'NT LET THE OTHER NATION LEADERS KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CAUSE, BUT I HAVE MY WAYS OF GETTING IT OUT AND BECAUSE OF IT, MAY HAVE STOPPED THE ANNILATION OF ALL SPECIES ON EARTH. ALSO TO IS THE FACT THAT WHEN I SPEAK ALMOST 12 BILLION PEOPLE ON EARTH IN MANY COUNTRIES CAN HEAR MY WORDS, BUT WE WONT TELL THEM. ABOUT 6 WEEKS BEFORE BUSH LEFT OFFICE HE CHANGED FEDERAL LAWS PROTECTING ENDANGERED SPECIES, OLD GROWTH FORESTS, GRAND CANYON, REDWOODS,ETC. AND ADVISED OBAMA TO SPEND MORE OF OUR FEDERAL RESERVES. HAVE A NICE DAY. MIKE

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Prosecution IS looking forward
Posted by: susanhathaway on Mar 14, 2009 11:47 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
President Obama clearly floated his line about "looking forward and not backward" in order to test public opinion on letting the entire Bush/Cheney crime syndicate off the hook. It must have come as a surprise to him and his politics-as-usual administration to learn that many Americans do, in fact, favor prosecution of these criminals; we see it not as looking backward, but as simple enforcement of the law (which would be a REAL change we could believe in).

Accountability for crimes, misdemeanors, and lesser bad decisions was purposely driven almost out of existence during the Bush years. Bringing it back--all the way back, not going only as far as toothless "truth commissions"--is one of many types of change we voted for in 2008. We're not getting it because of the timidity the Obama administration has shown so far.

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‘Frauds-R-Us.’
Posted by: Sister_Lauren on Mar 14, 2009 1:29 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Bushed

As Iran-Contra insider Al Martin told journalist Uri Dowbenko, “Harken was one of those deals that was a combination fraud as well as a manipulation. There’s different types of fraud when you get into securities. When George Jr. was put in charge of Harken Energy by his father, he essentially took it down the tubes. You have to realize that every business that George Jr. has ever had has failed. That’s the man’s business record.

“George Bush, Sr. and James Baker and Senator Tower would heavily short Harken stock. I have a list of everybody because I was one of them but to a much smaller extent. Harken stock was trading at 7-3/4 or 8, when George Jr, was put in charge of it. A year later, the stock was trading at 1-1/8 bid, 3/8 offer.

They pumped the stock back up through a lot of bogus press releases and by using essentially worthless leases in Bahrain and essentially worthless South American oil leases and through sympathetic geologists making them appear to be really worth something and making it appear that Harken’s about to make a strike when in fact it’s all made up.

It’s all fictitious. And through carefully crafted broker releases and broker statements and press releases, you can pump the stock back up. This has happened sixteen times to my knowledge.

Harken would get pumped back up from the dead, from say a buck, buck and a half, back to seven, seven and a half, then it would get dumped again. Originally George Jr. had control of the company. He stayed on the board.

“You have to look at the entire Bush Family in this context—as if the entire family ran a corporation called ‘Frauds-R-Us.’ Each member of the family, George Sr., George Jr., Neil, Jeb, Prescott, Wally, etc., have their own specialty of fraud.

“George Jr.’s specialty was insurance and security fraud. Jeb’s specialty was oil and gas fraud. Neil’s specialty was real estate fraud. Prescott’s specialty was banking fraud. Wally’s specialty was securities fraud. And George Bush Sr’s specialty? All of the above.”[131]

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Do the crime, do the time
Posted by: ecsd on Mar 14, 2009 5:38 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Street punk mugs someone, everyone's out to get them: punish them! Teach them a lesson!

Republicans love to add offenses to the list of crimes punishable by death.

Here we have between 35 and 60 Impeachable Offenses, 269 War Crimes, 4,250 DEAD Americans, 855,000 DEAD IRAQIS, and a projected $3 TRILLION pricetag, apart from intangibles like an INCREASE in terrorism worldwide and the fact that an American is more likely to be UNwelcome in a foreign country than welcome.

But it would appear that "someone" or "some group" insists that people doing WORK FOR THEM can never be PROSECUTED for ANY CRIME - and thus we hardly even hear a reference to ACCOUNTABILITY.

It has been written many times that the reason to punish this lawbreaking is to insure that it will not happen again. That suggests that the people interfering in the administration of justice NOW are looking forward to COMMITTING the SAME ABUSES in the FUTURE. That to me is the BEST reason to PROSECUTE IMMEDIATELY.

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Gonzales must all GO TO JAIL for their abuse of our country, our laws, our people and the people of the world. I would prefer that we join the International Criminal Court and see our WAR CRIMINALS prosecuted in the Hague, JUST LIKE Slobadan Milsevic. Except they really deserve to be there.

See

Dennis Kucinich, "The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush", Feral Press, 2008

Michael Haas, "George W. Bush, War Criminal?", Praeger, 2009

Vincent Bugliosi, "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder", 2008 (BBC Audiobooks; need to find hardcopy.) If you direct a person to go where you know they may be killed, and they are killed, then you are liable. Bush sent our soldiers to Iraq, where half the population (at least) considers us invaders, and who wished to kill our soldiers. He sent them in with scant protection and left them that way for four years. Having done that, he is responsible for their deaths at Iraqi hands.

Bush has to be INCARCERATED for his crimes or the rest of the world has no reason to believe anything we say ever again.

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Take one full day from your busy life
Posted by: willymack on Mar 14, 2009 5:39 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
And devote it to RESEARCH of the crimes of the bush regime. From the looks of what I read here and other forums, many posters have done this and more. The evidence is there, and it's unambiguous and plain as the nose on your face. Start with google, and read a few of the many books on the subject. Stalling by saying investigations have to be made is pure bullshit; it's time for ACTION, and NOW.

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It is natural
Posted by: Ahimsa on Mar 14, 2009 6:05 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I, like many, like most, work my head off to pay for my life and the things I have and do. I pay my taxes and do my civic duties. I expect to be punished if I commit a crime, which is part of my contract with my society, with my people, with my country.
The same contract binds us all.
No exceptions. Democracy is also equality.
Trial and Prison to the Crooks.

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» RE: Well said, if only... Posted by: watching-n-waiting

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Bob Barr would have done a better job pushing for prosecution than the currently dingbatty Obama and
Posted by: superfeduphoosier on Mar 14, 2009 6:19 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
his set of weak retards !

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caronome
Posted by: Bayardtom on Mar 14, 2009 10:52 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I say it's time for another revolution. If this government will not respond to the wants and needs and demands of the people, lets throw the bums out! They work for us, dammit and they either do what we tell them to do or they can find their fat asses on the street.
I'm sick to death of writing letters and emails and making phone calls to my representatives and getting no response.

PAY ATTENTION Congress, you are on notice. Either prosecute the Bush crime family or you will be voted out of office!!!!!

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This comment has been removed from the site due to non-compliance with AlterNet's community policies.

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Complicity
Posted by: dplainview on Mar 15, 2009 9:44 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Far too many of both political parties here and heads of state elsewhere have complicity in these crimes to permit any gestures to justice from being made. Germany was a vanquished nation following WW2 incapable of sheltering its high profile criminals. This is not the present circumstance. Sub-$2 gasoline and cell phone narcissism will continue to effectively divert attention from these issues.

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Who needs a criminal investigation?
Posted by: leafsong1 on Mar 15, 2009 11:06 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Bush committed one of the most heinous crimes ever proscribed by human law: he waged aggressive war. He did it in broad daylight. The definition of the crime is so clear, there can be no denial or defense. It is crime typically subject to universal jurisdiction. Any citizen can arrest him.

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Re: Oh Please!
Posted by: watching-n-waiting on Mar 15, 2009 5:20 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Come on, we're still waiting on a Kissinger trial and a Negroponte or even a Chertoff trial (we got our North trial and they were all pardoned)!
Hell we can't even get Rove to comply with a single subpoena! Face it, if this is left up to us it won't happen. No, we're happy to have the 1st and 4th amendments used as toilet paper because we have a long history of "looking forward not backward" (the euphemism for "America can do what it likes without ramifications" rooted deeply in the belief that a "white christian nation" should overlord the worlds "lesser" minion nations), YUCK!
No, our best bet is Germany, Canada or perhaps Paraguay agreeing to extradite Bush once he scurries away (hope he chokes on a cassava root!). Indeed, IF this is gonna happen it has to be in The Hague, somewhere where "WE" can't interfere.
In the meantime can we PLEASE let Richard Scrushy out of prison and drop all charges against Don Siegelman! I'm sick of this shyt! It makes me crazy with frustration knowing Rove is out there flouting the law (continuing to control and manipulate the media which supports his lies) while his victims, innocent men, either languish or are facing bankruptcy trying to defend themselves.
BTW: Madoff, going to prison? Yeah, right! I'll believe it when I see it. Ken Lay was facing prison but was allowed to stage his death. There's no justice within a serfdom just rich white men ripping off herds of dumbed-down zombies grazing on a steady diet of willful ignorance and trans-fat saturated food units...we're so sick in so many different ways we don't have the will to see this through... prosecutions or even a toothless commission. We're so easily jerked around and dumped on.
Sometimes I wonder if... at board meetings at "companies" such as the Carlyle Group..."they" actually laugh about us, if they pour their drinks while joking about how easy it is to crap on us and then toast to how complacent were are about the erosion of the constitution, war without end and complete corporate control.

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Every President breaks the law
Posted by: The Jesus Anarchist on Mar 15, 2009 5:28 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If anyone is going to have a trial for Bush and Cheney, they need to have one for Clinton, Bush Sr., Reagan, Carter, and they may as well begin the investigation of Obama/Biden for their involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, and every other country that gets raped by the Commander-in-Chief in this country. Bush is the least of the U.S.'s worries now. Why was everyone vehemently outraged with Bush, but when a Democrat gets into office, increases the military spending, suspends the Iraq War indefinitely, continues an illegal war against Afghanistan civilians, proliferates bombing runs in Pakistan, funds Israeli destruction of Palestine then gives money to help rebuild Palestine, and does all at the expense of domestic needs everyone is back on the "Screw the rest of world" bandwagon? Every President breaks the law. If people want to find true hope, they will stop looking to the government for their own welfare.

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When Criminal Behavior Becomes Systemic
Posted by: edgar_michel on Mar 15, 2009 6:07 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When criminal behavior becomes systemic, what then constitutes criminal behavior?

When killing nearly 3,000 innocent people, to enlist public to support for a radical foreign policy, is considered a legitimate method of public persuasion, what then could ever be considered illegitimate?

While the law never renders absolute justice and never exacts the absolute truth, wholesale disregard for the law ushers in the most egregious injustices.

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As with
Posted by: wormfarmer on Mar 15, 2009 6:54 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
most of the comments to this article, I too would like to see justice prevail. But I've not seen any political action suggested or pursued by the present administration. Are we going to be complicit in the lack of resolve to prosecute these many offenses and offenders? I don't think Obama has the political will to stand up to his corporate paymasters, and pursue justice. And the list keeps getting longer.........If we, as Americans, had any spine, we should recall Obama and seek someone that will do what this article suggests. Pursue justice. Are we a nation of fair and just people, or one of easily distracted cowards?
We should have elected Ralph.

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» If American's had spine Posted by: hedgewytch

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the Law
Posted by: om7buss on Mar 17, 2009 9:34 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Are we going to get back to Honesty?..'Goverment is essentially the negation of liberty'...www.Mises.com

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Alternet Comments:

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Americans
Posted by: EinMD on Mar 9, 2009 1:45 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm still trying to come to grips with the fact that my nation - the nation that was supposedly the light of the civilized world - only has 38% of the people thinking that people who commit crimes such as torture should be prosecuted.

If it were some swarthy middle easterner committing the torturous acts against white people we'd be invading their countries, deposing their leaders and ... oh wait... we did.

So what the is the excuse, people? Are you all feckless cowards or does all that high and mighty talk about honor and duty only exist in the movies and the ideas of good and evil end at the doorstep of your particular political party?

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» That 38% includes . . . Posted by: dustdevil
» RE: Americans Posted by: luzmejor
» RE: Americans Posted by: barefeet
» RE: first in and best said! Posted by: watching-n-waiting

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Why the current problem is not the same as South Africa's apartheid solution
Posted by: KokorHekkus on Mar 9, 2009 8:40 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My comment speaks to the difference in the situations between South Africa and the U.S.A.
The situation in South Africa can more profitably be compared to the situation immediately following Watergate, in the U.S.A. It was a mess, but, almost exclusively having repercussions domestically. I, personally, was flabbergasted and appalled when Ford pardoned Nixon. I assume many, especially many black, South Africans felt the same when the Truth commission was established there. However, as stated earlier, these 2 kettles of stinking fish were mostly concerned with what went on inside a country. Therefore,
each of those countries was more or less free to decide how to handle its own garbage.

The present brouhaha of the U.S.A. vs. the world is somewhat different. The U.S.A. and its officials ran rampant over the earth, killed people for no good reason, overthrew governments for no cause, imprisoned and tortured people without even a ghost of a justification, and in general acted the fool and the villain. This is not a situation where a country can take care of its own waste.
It is a situation where one country has massively violated the rights of individuals and countries around the world. The U.S.A. must be brought in front of a court, inside or outside the U.S.A., to answer for its vast indifference to law, decency and decorum.

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W/out 9/11 this war/theft had little traction
Posted by: weathered on Mar 10, 2009 3:22 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Arrest Silverstein/Bushcon and heal or stay stuck and sick in denial.

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dory in lake havasu
Posted by: dorym930 on Mar 11, 2009 10:42 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
how 'bout the crime of exploding the twin towers... and sending a missile into the pentagon..(the day AFTER rumsfeld said he "lost" 3 trillion dollars??!!)...or shooting down united #93???!!!.....all false flag events that were covered up, re-worked...and fed to the world as our reason for war???!!! THAT'S WHAT THEY NEED TO BE PROSECUTED FOR!!!!!...and i say...OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!....they're telling us to "go eat cake"...well... it's high time we, the people, do something about it..... this torture stuff is egregious..... and horrific....and un-american....but, the REAL crime was 9/11...amd thE ensuing "war on terror".... THE TERRORISTS WERE IN THE WHITE HOUSE.....GO GET THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!

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» NOT SO LOUD PLEASE . . . Posted by: dustdevil
» *points and laughs* Posted by: rickiey
» RE: *points and laughs* Posted by: Stew

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Should Saddam Hussein have been hanged for what he did to
Posted by: thekidde on Mar 12, 2009 1:34 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
the Iraqi people and his war against Iran - certainly. What he did is not one whit different than what BushCo has done to the Middle East and Americans serving in our military. The justice should be the same - a fair trial (unlike what Guantanamo's inhabitants have gotten) and then the gallows.

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Wolfgang Kaleck - interviewed on The Jeff Farias Show
Posted by: BlueBerry PickN on Mar 12, 2009 1:39 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Tues.17.Feb.09
Wolfgang Kaleck, General Secretary of the European Center for Constitutional & Human Rights e.V. (ECCHR, long-time president ('00-08) of the progressive Republican Lawyer’s Association (RAV) & former vice-president & general secretary of European Democratic Lawyers, has been working in the field of national & international human rights for the past ten years.
He has worked closely with Amnesty International, CCR and Human Rights Watch on cases regarding Germans disappeared in Argentina, the detainees in Abu Ghraib & Guantanamo, & the former Uzbek Minister of the Interior.
Together with CCR he filed two lawsuits in Germany against former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld & other high-ranking members of the US administration & military for gross violations of international law in regard to human rights abuses in Abu Ghraib.

Although dismissed by courts of First Instance, they stimulated positive discussions in Germany & elsewhere re: command responsibility & the modern-day Nuremberg precedent significance
http://www.aed-eda.com

This interview is a FREE PODCAST discussing:

- why the Bush Administrations' non-pardon status was a PLOY to avoid international prosecution
- what a 'Truth Commission' really means...
- what INTERNATIONAL COURTS are doing...
to ensure that if Americans lack the WILL
to comply with HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS
to ensure that the WORLD'S CITIZENS may demonstrate what civilization & humanity are TRULY about...
- updates on Kaleck's German WarCrimes charges against the American ReichWing Administrative Cabal.

YOU WANT THE INFORMATION FROM THIS INTERVIEW in your ARGUMENTATION REPERTOIRE

This podcast ALSO features interviews with:

-Safwan Javed, "Wide Mouth Mason"drummer responds to the introduction of the controversial Canadian DMCA & alternative issues of copyright laws that treat artists fairly & allows the consumer & other artists fair usage.
a Canadian issue? Think again: take a look at new American & British rulings!
- Copyfight: the politics of IP : "Examining the nexus of legal rulings, policy-making & technical standards development."
- http://copyfight.corante.com/
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOBLExSiaDY
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOCyJDDTWxA

- Dr Vandana Shiva, a world-renowned environmental leader & thinker. Director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology, & Ecology, she is the author of many books, including:
- ‘Water Wars: Pollution, Profits, & Privatization’ (South End Press, '01),
- ‘Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature & Knowledge’ (South End Press, '97),
- ‘Monocultures of the Mind’ (Zed, 1993),
- ‘The Violence of the Green Revolution’ (Zed, '92), &
- ‘Staying Alive’ (St. Martin’s Press, '89).

Dr. Shiva is a leader in the International Forum on Globalization, along with Ralph Nader & Jeremy Rifkin. She addressed the WTO Seattle Summit '99, as well as the recent World Economic Forum in Melbourne, '00. In '93, Shiva won the 'Alternative Nobel Peace Prize' (the Right Livelihood Award). The founder of Navdanya (”nine seeds”), a movement promoting diversity & use of native seeds, she also set up the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, & Ecology in her mother’s cowshed in '97.


The Jeff Farias Show
streaming LIVE & FREE, 6-9pmEST, Mon-Fri.
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Bush League
Posted by: Jest2007 on Mar 12, 2009 2:09 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Only 38% of Americans favor criminal prosecution of torturers? This is appalling. However, why should anyone be surprised. After all, this is the country that gave George Bush eight years in the White House and then proceeded to ignore his continual transgressions. We have a serious problem in this country--ignorance. To allow malfeasance to go unpunished is a dangerous precedent and insures that circumvention of the law and the Constitution will continue. One newspaper headline referred to the United States as the "axis of stupidity." Are we to be a country of "Sarah Palins?"

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Equality
Posted by: mayathree on Mar 12, 2009 2:44 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If one of us (citizens) had behaved in the illegal, immoral, clandestine manner that Bush & Company did.....well, we would be paying mightily for our errors.
So where's the "equality" that we're supposed to have in the United States of America???
Maya

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» RE: quality Posted by: Sister_Lauren

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Retired Veteran
Posted by: jodemarco on Mar 12, 2009 3:42 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We cannot move ahead UNLESS we correct the unlawful crimes committed by the Bush administration. We cannot regain the respect we once had UNLESS we prosecute those who broke the law. We must again show the world that we ARE a country of LAWS and that NO ONE is above the LAW. THOSE IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WHO BROKE THE LAW OR THE GENEVA CONVENTION MUST BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW.

JOE DEMARCO
WW TWO VETERAN

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» Please free US from Israel Posted by: weathered
» RE: Please free US from Israel Posted by: Sister_Lauren

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Retired Veteran
Posted by: jodemarco on Mar 12, 2009 3:43 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We cannot move ahead UNLESS we correct the unlawful crimes committed by the Bush administration. We cannot regain the respect we once had UNLESS we prosecute those who broke the law. We must again show the world that we ARE a country of LAWS and that NO ONE is above the LAW. THOSE IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WHO BROKE THE LAW OR THE GENEVA CONVENTION MUST BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW.

JOE DEMARCO
WW TWO VETERAN

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» RE: etired Veteran Posted by: Sister_Lauren

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How could they resist their own Death Squads it only follows, go ask the Federalist Society..
Posted by: TJColatrella on Mar 12, 2009 11:09 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Whatever Bush and Cheney did they are not going to be tried by this President's administration and especially this Attorney General Holder...

Our Congress well they'll fold like broken lawn chairs at the very idea of something like this...

I'm all for it I think Bush should be tried for so many reasons murder for me might be the least of it..

There's murders everyday, this country is one big killing field an NRA game preserve and we're all the game..or prey, but destroying the U.S. Constitution and balance of powers our very system of governance doesn't happen every day even the Mafia had respect for that..Italian Mafia that is, not Texas Mafia ever...

All this Unitary Scumbaggery comes from the Federalist Society, and until we see their demise our nation and Republic will never be safe...

Death Squads how could they resist..they had KBR build concentration camps here in America didn't they..?

We have private prisons don't we, that's Fascism, we torture people with electric shock daily using tasers..little kids and young girls all tasered how many killed 129..?

Let's just remember we are still living under the Nancy Pelosi abridged Constitution she can take things out and or maybe even add them at will take anything off the table...

Tomorrow Free Speech could be "off the table" just like Impeachment...

People think we can allow all this evil for 8 years and that when they finally leave office it's all over...

To bad there's no Marshall Plan for America because that's what we need after G.W. Bush..

From Sam Alito to Dick Cheney to Condi Rice to Karl Rove and of course George Bush there are many criminals who ran our government these last years and until today...

It's just not gonna happen President Obama and his Attorney General are not liberals or crusaders or radical reformers they're New Democrats...or Bankercrats, or Bildercrats or some even Demo-rats...

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Starting a War is Itself a War Crime....WHY is This Overlooked?
Posted by: Jayzer on Mar 12, 2009 11:17 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
With all due respect to Martin Garbus and his report and to the posters who responded, I still feel that one important charge is missing. In addition to prosecuting key members of the Bush junta for torture and illegal surveillance, they should also be prosecuted for launching wars of aggression, especially against Iraq. While the case may be arguable that going into Afghanistan was necessary in order to capture or kill members of al Qaeda deemed responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, there is absolutely NO proof that the regime of Saddam Hussein had anything to do with the attacks.

Iraq had already been hemmed in by two no-fly zones; had been under economic sanctions imposed since the days of the George H.W. Bush administration, which carried on throughout the Clinton years; was subjected to periodic air strikes by US jets throughout those same years; had made NO aggressive moves toward any other state since its moves against Iran and Kuwait and YET was alleged to have been stockpiling "weapons of mass destruction" while under intense surveillance, sanctions, two no-fly zones and near-total loss of sovereignty over the northern half of its territory occupied by the Kurds.

By now, we ALL know that the WMD-accumulation tale was a myth and most of us are also aware that George W. Bush had been planning a war against Iraq all along---well before the Sept. 11 attacks, as former Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill has stated on more than one occasion.

Since Iraq had NOT attacked the US, no matter how hard Dick Cheney tried to link Muhammad Atta (one of the 9/11 hijackers) to a meeting in Prague with an officer from Iraqi intelligence, the fact that Atta was already in the US when the alleged meeting had occurred demonstrated that this was a total fabrication on Cheney's part---never mind the missing pieces from Cheney's own tale---as in: no indication WHAT, if anything, was discussed even IF such a meeting had occurred. You could look it up---not even Cheney could claim any knowledge of the substance of such a conversation---because it NEVER happened.

At the end of World War II, the Nazi brain trust was charged with war crimes, not only for the planning and commission of the murders of civilians during the Holocaust, but with the launching of the war itself. General Alfred Jodl and Hermann Goering, just to name two major German military officials, were condemned to death by the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal for the crime of military aggression.

There is no doubt in my mind that Nuremberg established, once and for all, that military aggression is to be deemed a major violation of international law.

Having said that, I believe that we should NOT wait for prosecution by the International Criminal Court, but should take responsibility for the crimes committed by our government against others. The major flaw of Nuremberg---and one does NOT need to be an apologist for the Nazis or Japanese war criminals to say this---was that the administration of justice was left to the victors of the war.

By taking responsibility for the crimes of our elected and appointed officials, our sense of responsibility to the world community can be restored and demonstrated.

I admit that it will still fall short unless and until we also remove our troops from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. Yet, charges against the Bush regime for the crime of military aggression must accompany charges related to torture and illegal surveillance.

What concerns me right now is whether or not the Obama administration is trying to avoid leveling those charges because they intend to follow the same foreign policy. In which case, like it or not, the responsibility for the continuation of such crimes will be Obama's.

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It is way past time to deal with the Bush/Cheney war crimes!
Posted by: symcokid on Mar 13, 2009 10:25 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I don't know what into hell the holdup is in the first place when the war crimes were committed right in front of the whole wide world? Where is the International Criminal Court in all of this sordid noncompliance pursuant to initiating the investigations of these two thugs and their cronies?

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Don't forget treason and starting a civil war
Posted by: Perry Logan on Mar 14, 2009 2:42 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Don't forget various acts of treason (Plame, et al) and stealing a Presidential election--an act of civil war if there ever was one.

In a just universe, we would be fighting Republican in the streets right now, or arresting them en masse.

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Shame On Us
Posted by: DrBrian on Mar 14, 2009 3:20 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's instructive that the very same conservatives and "moderates" who were outraged that the palpably guilty O.J. Simpson got away with brutally killing 2 people are happy to let Bush, Cheney et al. get away with killing over a million, torturing dozens to death, kidnapping and disappearing people--many of whom were later found to have been innocent.

An unenforced law is no law at all, and abandoning justice for the multitudes of victims of the 8 year crime spree, alias the Bush Administration, marks us as a nation of hypocrites and war crimes supporters. Shame on us.

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America Tortures
Posted by: Revolutionary (Direct) Democracy on Mar 14, 2009 3:45 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Wire up Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzalez and zap 'em til they squeal.


FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY

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» RE: LOL! Posted by: watching-n-waiting

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USA is a corporate Propaganda Police State
Posted by: PointMan on Mar 14, 2009 4:03 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
President Obama and the Congress should now name a Special Prosecutor.

If they ever do "investigate" it will be a whitewash a la the 9/11 Commission and Warren Commission that were both a travesty of omissions and lies. Obama is a smile-a-minute front puppet for the typical Wall Street "bailout" corporate suspects as is the majority of DC and the MSM.

the fact 9/11 is still a blatant coverup driving the killing fields of scam "war on terror" is all anyone needs to know how corrupt and debased America has become.

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I Don't Believe in the Death Penality . . .
Posted by: Javan on Mar 14, 2009 4:13 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
But this time I'll make an exception!

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For Everything, a Time and Place
Posted by: ProgressiveManiac on Mar 14, 2009 6:11 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
There was a time for the Congress to investigate the crimes of the Bush administration and that was while that administration was in office. That time is past and all we can do is regret that the Congress refused to exercise its responsibility under the Constitution to perform oversight and impeach.

Now it is time for the Justice Department to take over and prosecute. If the Justice Department refuses to do so then it becomes appropriate for the Congress to exercise its oversight over the Justice Department and find out why they are not prosecuting, but this would be an investigation of the current administration, not the former one.

The only real justification for a fact-finding investigation by Congress over the Bush administration activities is to inform the Congress about necessary legislation, to keep it from happening again.

From where I sit, however, this seems wrong-headed since the failures were not in the law but in the enforcement of the perfectly adequate laws that were already on the books. New laws cannot be much help with this problem.

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Forget it people. Kissyface BHO is working towards "protecting" those criminals.
Posted by: JenniferBedingfield on Mar 14, 2009 6:22 AM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Obama Admin Moves to Protect Military Officials

by Nedra Pickler

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/03/13-9

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Plenty of hard evidence to begin Prosecutions
Posted by: Purple Girl on Mar 14, 2009 7:16 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In fact it is so overwhelming we could run these multitudes of cases like 'American idol'-10 minutes to the prosecution,10 mins to the defendant and everyone gets to E-mail, call or text their vote.Prosecution need only replay tapes, recount historical facts and review the Founding documents verbatium. In fact W's 'So What' and Cheney's 'So' can be considered admissions of guilt, since they are mere public Servants to a country founded on the declaration of 'For the people & By the people'."So" nor any derivitive of it, when confronted with the Will of the People is Treason.Hell we could get through the main players in the Bush admin within one episode!
Treason (including Economic),War Crimes andCrimes against Humanity get you the best PARTING gifts too!Would you like the method of Capitol punishment behind door #1 or Door #2?
"I don't need no Stinkin" Truth commission- I'm a barely breathing suvivor!What they have done to US and the World is an Atrocity!Cheney & Rumsfeld have been at it for 4 decades!
Let's make good use of that pacemaker, since one way or another WE bought it- hang him, zap him and hang him again, repeat for as many high crimes as he has committed!

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Law just for the little people.
Posted by: undead on Mar 14, 2009 7:30 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The ruling elite don't care what you think. They will do as they please, but make believe it is all for our own good.

Examples:

Looting of the treasury to bail out the banksters.

Illegal wars to Keep us "free."

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exit interviews?
Posted by: luzmejor on Mar 14, 2009 9:29 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Here we have the highest, most powerful job in the nation and everyone is too squeamish to demand an accounting from a presidential failure who thought torture, kidnapping and other war crimes was delightful fun?

I'm sorry, but that is taking politeness and deference to a ridiculous extreme!

Either we correct our stupid and venal leaders or someone else will charge them with war crimes.

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I agree with the Author We NEED Procecutions IF
Posted by: madmax427 on Mar 14, 2009 9:30 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
for no other reason than to SHOW the "ruling" Class Enough is enough & too much is Dangerous to Your Freedom! This is the PERFECT time for Trials, Convictions & Sentencing of All those found Guilty of BREAKING the LAW!

Anything short of throwing the full force of the LAW at these Crimes/Criminals will ENSURE the S.O.S. will continue to happen!

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Moveon.org should start a petition drive for prosecutions.
Posted by: KeepsonTickn on Mar 14, 2009 9:29 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Patrick Leahy has been getting signatures on a petition to support his "truth commission" idea. If he succeeds, we will have an even more draconian successor to the Nixon Reagan Bush serial crime spree in four or eight or twelve years.

Doesn't Leahy get it? These people won't give up, and milquetoast responses only encourage them. The constitution isn't that hard to understand. The rule of law isn't that hard to understand. Prosecution is the only way to put the country right.

Between the DC Madam's books, which were last in possession of the Bush justice department and their illegal wiretaps of anyone they had an interest in, we don't know who among our Democratic politicians may be acting under duress. Somehow I doubt Bush & Co. left the fruits of those efforts for Obama's people.

We need an outside organization such as Moveon.org to counter Leahy's ploy, and run their own petition drive for prosecutions instead of a "truth commission."

I wrote Leahy's office asking that he not do this, but that is like pissing in the wind. He has his own reasons for doing it, and will not be convinced otherwise. Whether he is on one of those lists or is still suffering from beaten Democrat syndrome, his actions will only enable this amoral, power-hungry clique in their quest for resurrection.

Looking at how close we came to losing our democracy forever as HAVA wreaked its damage on the electoral system, I can only think the next time we may not be so lucky. We cannot survive in a world where Republicans investigate and prosecute a Democratic President and everyone around him throughout two terms over trivialities and Democrats fail to prosecute serial high crimes and misdemeanors by a Republican administration.

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"Land of the free, home of the brave"?
Posted by: monkeywrench on Mar 14, 2009 9:37 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
How embarrassing will it be if America, which thinks of itself as the world's shining beacon of democracy and fair play, dithers and is shown up by the World Court in The Hague – or some other European country, or even Canada – indicting, arresting and prosecuting Bush criminals first?

If our corrupt government cannot bring itself to right even the worst and most pervasive wrongs ever committed against its own populace AND many other peoples of the world, then I hope that some other country does; maybe we need the wordlwide embarrassment to wake us up.

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» Dismantle AIPAC Posted by: weathered

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A RETIRED AMERICAN CITIZEN
Posted by: foxxx on Mar 14, 2009 11:03 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I CONCUR WITH GOING AFTER THE TERRORIST THAT ATTACKED AMERICA IN IRAQ, WHERE THEY ALSO WENT AFTER A PRESIDENT THAT WAS KILLING PEOPLE JUST FOR THE SAKE OF POWER. HIS SON WAS PRACTICING WITH 1 GALLON OF POISON GAS AND A WEEK LATER 5,000 KURDS WERE DEAD. I CONCUR WITH THE TRIAL OF HUSEIN BY HIS OWN PEOPLE, BUT CANT UNDERSTAND WHY THE IRAQI'S WERE AGAINST US FOR HELPING THEM WITH JUST A FEW RESERVES THAT ALMOST ANILIATED THE TERRORIST ALQUIDDA. IN MY OPINION BUSH DID RIGHT BY GOING AFTER THE TERRORIST THAT ATTACKED AMERICA, BUT A YEAR HOLD UP BY THE SENATE WAS THE PROBLEM. IF WE'D HAD GONE THERE RIGHT AFTER THEIR ATTACK, THEIR WOULD'NT HAVE BEEN A WAR, BECAUSE WE WOULD HAVE DELETED THE PROBLEM, BUT OUR SENATORS HELD IT OFF, BUT TALKED AND THAT WAS THE PROBLEM IN MY OPINION. THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION ON MOBILE LAUNCHERS WOULD'NT HAVE BEEN SO MANY BY THAT TIME. =( IRAQ AT THAT TIME THE 2ND RICHEST OIL COUNTRY ON EARTH). IN MY OPINION IRAQ SHOULD REIMBURSE ALL COALITION COUNTRIES FOR FREEING THEIR PEOPLE FROM THE TERRORISTS AND RETRAINING THEIR FORCES WITH OIL PER EACH COUNTRY NOW, BY 50% OF OIL COMING OUT OF IRAQ AND WHEN THE WAR IS COMPLETELY FINISHED, THEN ALL IRAQI'S IN ALL FREE COUNTRIES SHOULD BE RETURNED HOME. BUT BUSH IN MY OPINION DID RIGHT UP TO THE LAST 6 MONTHS OF HIS TIME IN OFFICE. THE SCIENTISTS HE HIRED TO FIND THE CAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING RECEIVED WORD FROM A SURVEY TAKEN BY THE SCIENTIST THAT MAN WAS NEVER THE CAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING, BUT BUSH DID'NT LIKE THAT AND HAD SUMMIT MEETINGS TO TELL ALL LEADERS THAT MAN WAS RESPONSIBLE, WHEN MAN WAS'NT. INFACT THE CAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING IS INFACT TRIGGERED BY EARTH'S ROTATION. BUSH HAD AND PROBLEY STILL HAS THE CIA OR FBI BLOCKING MOST OF MY EMAILS SO I COULD'NT LET THE OTHER NATION LEADERS KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CAUSE, BUT I HAVE MY WAYS OF GETTING IT OUT AND BECAUSE OF IT, MAY HAVE STOPPED THE ANNILATION OF ALL SPECIES ON EARTH. ALSO TO IS THE FACT THAT WHEN I SPEAK ALMOST 12 BILLION PEOPLE ON EARTH IN MANY COUNTRIES CAN HEAR MY WORDS, BUT WE WONT TELL THEM. ABOUT 6 WEEKS BEFORE BUSH LEFT OFFICE HE CHANGED FEDERAL LAWS PROTECTING ENDANGERED SPECIES, OLD GROWTH FORESTS, GRAND CANYON, REDWOODS,ETC. AND ADVISED OBAMA TO SPEND MORE OF OUR FEDERAL RESERVES. HAVE A NICE DAY. MIKE

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Prosecution IS looking forward
Posted by: susanhathaway on Mar 14, 2009 11:47 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
President Obama clearly floated his line about "looking forward and not backward" in order to test public opinion on letting the entire Bush/Cheney crime syndicate off the hook. It must have come as a surprise to him and his politics-as-usual administration to learn that many Americans do, in fact, favor prosecution of these criminals; we see it not as looking backward, but as simple enforcement of the law (which would be a REAL change we could believe in).

Accountability for crimes, misdemeanors, and lesser bad decisions was purposely driven almost out of existence during the Bush years. Bringing it back--all the way back, not going only as far as toothless "truth commissions"--is one of many types of change we voted for in 2008. We're not getting it because of the timidity the Obama administration has shown so far.

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‘Frauds-R-Us.’
Posted by: Sister_Lauren on Mar 14, 2009 1:29 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Bushed

As Iran-Contra insider Al Martin told journalist Uri Dowbenko, “Harken was one of those deals that was a combination fraud as well as a manipulation. There’s different types of fraud when you get into securities. When George Jr. was put in charge of Harken Energy by his father, he essentially took it down the tubes. You have to realize that every business that George Jr. has ever had has failed. That’s the man’s business record.

“George Bush, Sr. and James Baker and Senator Tower would heavily short Harken stock. I have a list of everybody because I was one of them but to a much smaller extent. Harken stock was trading at 7-3/4 or 8, when George Jr, was put in charge of it. A year later, the stock was trading at 1-1/8 bid, 3/8 offer.

They pumped the stock back up through a lot of bogus press releases and by using essentially worthless leases in Bahrain and essentially worthless South American oil leases and through sympathetic geologists making them appear to be really worth something and making it appear that Harken’s about to make a strike when in fact it’s all made up.

It’s all fictitious. And through carefully crafted broker releases and broker statements and press releases, you can pump the stock back up. This has happened sixteen times to my knowledge.

Harken would get pumped back up from the dead, from say a buck, buck and a half, back to seven, seven and a half, then it would get dumped again. Originally George Jr. had control of the company. He stayed on the board.

“You have to look at the entire Bush Family in this context—as if the entire family ran a corporation called ‘Frauds-R-Us.’ Each member of the family, George Sr., George Jr., Neil, Jeb, Prescott, Wally, etc., have their own specialty of fraud.

“George Jr.’s specialty was insurance and security fraud. Jeb’s specialty was oil and gas fraud. Neil’s specialty was real estate fraud. Prescott’s specialty was banking fraud. Wally’s specialty was securities fraud. And George Bush Sr’s specialty? All of the above.”[131]

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Do the crime, do the time
Posted by: ecsd on Mar 14, 2009 5:38 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Street punk mugs someone, everyone's out to get them: punish them! Teach them a lesson!

Republicans love to add offenses to the list of crimes punishable by death.

Here we have between 35 and 60 Impeachable Offenses, 269 War Crimes, 4,250 DEAD Americans, 855,000 DEAD IRAQIS, and a projected $3 TRILLION pricetag, apart from intangibles like an INCREASE in terrorism worldwide and the fact that an American is more likely to be UNwelcome in a foreign country than welcome.

But it would appear that "someone" or "some group" insists that people doing WORK FOR THEM can never be PROSECUTED for ANY CRIME - and thus we hardly even hear a reference to ACCOUNTABILITY.

It has been written many times that the reason to punish this lawbreaking is to insure that it will not happen again. That suggests that the people interfering in the administration of justice NOW are looking forward to COMMITTING the SAME ABUSES in the FUTURE. That to me is the BEST reason to PROSECUTE IMMEDIATELY.

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Gonzales must all GO TO JAIL for their abuse of our country, our laws, our people and the people of the world. I would prefer that we join the International Criminal Court and see our WAR CRIMINALS prosecuted in the Hague, JUST LIKE Slobadan Milsevic. Except they really deserve to be there.

See

Dennis Kucinich, "The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush", Feral Press, 2008

Michael Haas, "George W. Bush, War Criminal?", Praeger, 2009

Vincent Bugliosi, "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder", 2008 (BBC Audiobooks; need to find hardcopy.) If you direct a person to go where you know they may be killed, and they are killed, then you are liable. Bush sent our soldiers to Iraq, where half the population (at least) considers us invaders, and who wished to kill our soldiers. He sent them in with scant protection and left them that way for four years. Having done that, he is responsible for their deaths at Iraqi hands.

Bush has to be INCARCERATED for his crimes or the rest of the world has no reason to believe anything we say ever again.

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Take one full day from your busy life
Posted by: willymack on Mar 14, 2009 5:39 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
And devote it to RESEARCH of the crimes of the bush regime. From the looks of what I read here and other forums, many posters have done this and more. The evidence is there, and it's unambiguous and plain as the nose on your face. Start with google, and read a few of the many books on the subject. Stalling by saying investigations have to be made is pure bullshit; it's time for ACTION, and NOW.

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It is natural
Posted by: Ahimsa on Mar 14, 2009 6:05 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I, like many, like most, work my head off to pay for my life and the things I have and do. I pay my taxes and do my civic duties. I expect to be punished if I commit a crime, which is part of my contract with my society, with my people, with my country.
The same contract binds us all.
No exceptions. Democracy is also equality.
Trial and Prison to the Crooks.

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» RE: Well said, if only... Posted by: watching-n-waiting

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Bob Barr would have done a better job pushing for prosecution than the currently dingbatty Obama and
Posted by: superfeduphoosier on Mar 14, 2009 6:19 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
his set of weak retards !

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caronome
Posted by: Bayardtom on Mar 14, 2009 10:52 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I say it's time for another revolution. If this government will not respond to the wants and needs and demands of the people, lets throw the bums out! They work for us, dammit and they either do what we tell them to do or they can find their fat asses on the street.
I'm sick to death of writing letters and emails and making phone calls to my representatives and getting no response.

PAY ATTENTION Congress, you are on notice. Either prosecute the Bush crime family or you will be voted out of office!!!!!

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This comment has been removed from the site due to non-compliance with AlterNet's community policies.

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Complicity
Posted by: dplainview on Mar 15, 2009 9:44 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Far too many of both political parties here and heads of state elsewhere have complicity in these crimes to permit any gestures to justice from being made. Germany was a vanquished nation following WW2 incapable of sheltering its high profile criminals. This is not the present circumstance. Sub-$2 gasoline and cell phone narcissism will continue to effectively divert attention from these issues.

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Who needs a criminal investigation?
Posted by: leafsong1 on Mar 15, 2009 11:06 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Bush committed one of the most heinous crimes ever proscribed by human law: he waged aggressive war. He did it in broad daylight. The definition of the crime is so clear, there can be no denial or defense. It is crime typically subject to universal jurisdiction. Any citizen can arrest him.

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Re: Oh Please!
Posted by: watching-n-waiting on Mar 15, 2009 5:20 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Come on, we're still waiting on a Kissinger trial and a Negroponte or even a Chertoff trial (we got our North trial and they were all pardoned)!
Hell we can't even get Rove to comply with a single subpoena! Face it, if this is left up to us it won't happen. No, we're happy to have the 1st and 4th amendments used as toilet paper because we have a long history of "looking forward not backward" (the euphemism for "America can do what it likes without ramifications" rooted deeply in the belief that a "white christian nation" should overlord the worlds "lesser" minion nations), YUCK!
No, our best bet is Germany, Canada or perhaps Paraguay agreeing to extradite Bush once he scurries away (hope he chokes on a cassava root!). Indeed, IF this is gonna happen it has to be in The Hague, somewhere where "WE" can't interfere.
In the meantime can we PLEASE let Richard Scrushy out of prison and drop all charges against Don Siegelman! I'm sick of this shyt! It makes me crazy with frustration knowing Rove is out there flouting the law (continuing to control and manipulate the media which supports his lies) while his victims, innocent men, either languish or are facing bankruptcy trying to defend themselves.
BTW: Madoff, going to prison? Yeah, right! I'll believe it when I see it. Ken Lay was facing prison but was allowed to stage his death. There's no justice within a serfdom just rich white men ripping off herds of dumbed-down zombies grazing on a steady diet of willful ignorance and trans-fat saturated food units...we're so sick in so many different ways we don't have the will to see this through... prosecutions or even a toothless commission. We're so easily jerked around and dumped on.
Sometimes I wonder if... at board meetings at "companies" such as the Carlyle Group..."they" actually laugh about us, if they pour their drinks while joking about how easy it is to crap on us and then toast to how complacent were are about the erosion of the constitution, war without end and complete corporate control.

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Every President breaks the law
Posted by: The Jesus Anarchist on Mar 15, 2009 5:28 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If anyone is going to have a trial for Bush and Cheney, they need to have one for Clinton, Bush Sr., Reagan, Carter, and they may as well begin the investigation of Obama/Biden for their involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, and every other country that gets raped by the Commander-in-Chief in this country. Bush is the least of the U.S.'s worries now. Why was everyone vehemently outraged with Bush, but when a Democrat gets into office, increases the military spending, suspends the Iraq War indefinitely, continues an illegal war against Afghanistan civilians, proliferates bombing runs in Pakistan, funds Israeli destruction of Palestine then gives money to help rebuild Palestine, and does all at the expense of domestic needs everyone is back on the "Screw the rest of world" bandwagon? Every President breaks the law. If people want to find true hope, they will stop looking to the government for their own welfare.

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When Criminal Behavior Becomes Systemic
Posted by: edgar_michel on Mar 15, 2009 6:07 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When criminal behavior becomes systemic, what then constitutes criminal behavior?

When killing nearly 3,000 innocent people, to enlist public to support for a radical foreign policy, is considered a legitimate method of public persuasion, what then could ever be considered illegitimate?

While the law never renders absolute justice and never exacts the absolute truth, wholesale disregard for the law ushers in the most egregious injustices.

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As with
Posted by: wormfarmer on Mar 15, 2009 6:54 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
most of the comments to this article, I too would like to see justice prevail. But I've not seen any political action suggested or pursued by the present administration. Are we going to be complicit in the lack of resolve to prosecute these many offenses and offenders? I don't think Obama has the political will to stand up to his corporate paymasters, and pursue justice. And the list keeps getting longer.........If we, as Americans, had any spine, we should recall Obama and seek someone that will do what this article suggests. Pursue justice. Are we a nation of fair and just people, or one of easily distracted cowards?
We should have elected Ralph.

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» If American's had spine Posted by: hedgewytch

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the Law
Posted by: om7buss on Mar 17, 2009 9:34 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Are we going to get back to Honesty?..'Goverment is essentially the negation of liberty'...www.Mises.com

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