The Bush Administration - War Criminals

It really is that simple.

Torture is a war crime. We, as a nation, tried and convicted people after World War Two for these crimes. And the Bush Administration approved the use of torture in the middle east wars.

The Bush administration issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding against al-Qaeda suspects -- documents prompted by worries among intelligence officials about a possible backlash if details of the program became public.

Now some will try to hide behind the lie that we decided that these actions are not torture. That is just silly. I can decide to call a Bald Eagle a White Crested Super Pigeon but if I hunt one, if I shoot one, I am still breaking the law.

These 'harsh interrogation techniques' are more traditionally known as torture. This is against both international and domestic laws. These actions were approved as a war tactic by the leaders of the land.

Bush is, Cheney is, Rice is, Tenet is, Rumsfeld is and a great numbers of others are, quite simply, war criminals, and for the sake of history need to be treated as such.


Tags
Bush Administration, Iraq, War Crimes

Since We Are Taking A Second Swing

(or third) at getting an emergency bail out in place and we have a couple a days to consider our options, I would like to add my voice to the mix.

I am one of those who is disgusted by the thought of bailing out this industry but I think we have little choice but to take some action. As I told a friend; It is like having a advanced case of gangrene in your leg. You can end up with two very unpleasant options, cut off the leg or die.

So it looks like we have to find a way to cut off the leg, but it doesn't mean we should not try to save as much as we can. So what is the smart way to fix this mess, but save as much as we can?

My first thought is; Why are we giving $700,000,000,000.00 to the same people who screwed up in the first place? Maybe the new bill should address this in some manner. It is possible to let the bad firms fail, but protect the overall credit markets? Keeping bad businesses open and bad business-persons in place is not smart and prior to giving money away this has to be looked at.

My second thought is; Why are we expecting oversight from the same people who let this happen on their watch? Maybe a few new regulators would not be a bad idea. Lets start with the man who's initial thought was: Yall, just give me $700,000,000,000.00 and bugger off, while I decide what to do with it. Anyone who thinks this is a rational reaction to a situation that occurred on his watch is not thinking clearly. This is another example of the Republican style of regulation and oversight biting middle America on the ass, and can not be allowed to continue.

My third thought is; Why are we expecting a better outcome after the bail-out when we have not changed the way the rules of the game are written. How about some real regulation, starting with a return to the rules in place in the mid 90s. Otherwise I think the end result is throwing good money after bad. A business's job it to make money, in any way it can, no matter what. The only boundaries that exist for them are the ones that society forces on them by rules and then enforcing the rules. For the last 30 years we have been removing the rules and over the last 7 years the Bush administration have simply refused to enforce the few rules left in place. This has to change or our efforts will make no long term difference.

These are not detailed solutions, simply a starting place on issues to address prior to giving the folks who paid them self's billions of dollars a year for losing trillions of dollars a year, another $700,000,000,000.00 to play with.




Tags
Bush Administration, Economics, Republicans

A Timely Reminder

At some point this week the Democrats in the Senate will follow the lead of the Democrats in the House and give a free pass the the Bush administration and the telecommunication companies that spied on the people of the US by both making the spying legal and protecting those who allowed if from the consequences of their illegal activity.

The justification for this is that 9-11 'changed everything'. It is a cowards argument and provides no justification for shredding the constitution, but it is the main excuse we hear as to why this is important.

My question is, if 9-11 changed everything and made domestic spying acceptable, why did this spy program start before 9-11.

Former chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio, convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading, said the NSA approached Qwest more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to court documents unsealed in Denver this week.

Details about the alleged NSA program have been redacted from the documents, but Nacchio's lawyer said last year that the NSA had approached the company about participating in a warrantless surveillance program to gather information about Americans' phone records.

An now that the Democrats have caved in it is highly unlikely that we will ever know when the domestic spying began, who was spied upon illegally and why the person way spied upon.

Thanks guys, another great job of defending American principals.


Tags
Bush Administration, Congress, Spying

A Look Back At What Happened With Katrina

From Vanity Press some coverage on How Karl Rove played politics while people drowned.

Instead of supplying relief to the city, Rove had devised a scheme whereby he could blame the failure of government to take action on someone besides Bush.

.....


Instead of sending help, the administration had come up with a ploy. "I was on a conference call with the White House," Adam Sharp says, "where they were saying: If you want any help, you have to turn over all control of your state to the president. We won't help until you give us control of your National Guard and your law enforcement agencies, until Louisiana becomes a federal territory.


.....


It would not be until several days later, when Blanco's aides released the letter to the press and got frantic phone calls from Rove's aide Maggie Grant, that it became clear that Bush had taken the letter Blanco had personally handed to him -- and lost it.

And John McCain help blocked the investigation of the Governments response.


Tags
Bush Administration, Katrina

A Pair Of War Crimes Questions

has been asked at Crooked Timber.

I have two main questions:

1. Where, if at all, might charges be brought against Bush and others?
2. How would the hearing of these charges be prevented?

I suspect that the comments will be worth following.

Tags
Bush Administration, Iraq, War Crimes

War Criminals

There is now clear evidence that most of the senior members of the Bush administration are, by our nations own definition, War Criminals. This includes, but is not limited to:

Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, George Tenet and John Ashcroft

They engaged in detailed planning and approved "specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency".

As a reminded, the US has agreed to a set of standards that defines torture as:

any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity

After WWII we held trials and held accountable the leaders of Germany, Japan and Ital for their actions. Members of the Bush administration appear to have engaged in many of the same types of acts that we accused, convicted and punished some of these people for. Who is going to hold them accountable for this vile behavior?




Tags
Bush Administration, Iraq, TWAT, War Crimes