Ok, we have gotten the Agenda thing going. Hopefully folks will continue to submit stuff there, and in future editions,
Time for the next project!
All of the “politically pragmatic” excuses for NOT Impeaching George and the boys are now….off the table! There is now no excuse for excusing their crimes.
But…
As always when there has been some sort of trauma…and we have had eight years of so much trauma that we are all suffering a sort of PTSD, I think, there is the urge, the instinct to …move on, to not dwell on the trauma. To put it behind us as fast as possible. But if we are to get over the PTSD, well
Meteor Blades put it far more eloquently than I can:
…..that healing cannot occur, not wholly, unless the crimes that have brought our nation to such a ruinous condition – morally, economically and politically – are investigated thoroughly and a proper penalty imposed. Most importantly, the bent machinery that allowed, nay encouraged, those crimes must be rebuilt with safeguards so that they never occur again. That’s not vengeance. It’s justice. And true healing and progress cannot come about without it.
(For more background on the Never Again theme you might want to read MB’s Palling Around with Terrorists as well, if you haven’t already.)
Healing, Justice, Repairing the past before and as we move into the future. It is not vengeance, though if anyone ever deserved retribution it is they and I am not without that impulse by a long shot, it is about doing the right thing. It is about being a people and a nation and a world that does the right thing. Retribution and revenge are not the important things here, reclamation, reparation and the Rule of Law are.
There is no doubt that they are guilty, none.
Of all of the laws, treaties, conventions and just plain moral codes they have violated, and they have violated nearly all of them, the one thing that stands out and the one thing that there is a smoking gun on is…torture.
From the Washington Post in October, when it was obscured by the election: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.
Guilty. Guilty of the most heinous of crimes. Beyond doubt, beyond question. The only question that does remain is…are they beyond justice? Can WE allow them to be beyond justice?
No one else is going to do this, it is up to us, up to the bloggers to push for justice, to push against pardons, and to push for prosecution.
To do so we need to make our case. We need to make a list of their crimes, and we need to present it solidly, lucidly and undeniably, free of too much rhetoric and backed up with facts and links.
There is a smoking gun on torture, certainly enough of one to demand the most thorough investigations possible, including a Special Prosecutor or an Independent Commission to investigate and expose the crimes of the Bush Administration. But we have to make a case, the best, most persuasive, most inclusive case we can, to overcome the instinct to move on and sweep these crimes under the rug. We need to present the entire shocking list, and then hammer them hard on the most provable crimes. They ARE undeniable…but they are NOT unignorable, unless we make sure they are not ignored.
To that end I ask you to present YOUR best case, your best evidence, your best reasoning, your best arguments for prosecution. For a new impeachment movement to prevent Bush from pardoning his fellow criminals on his way out the door. Let’s work together to get the most solid presentation we can, and then present it to the rest of the blogosphere wherever we can and gather all of the support we can to push for justice.
An impeached president cannot pardon. Impeached officials cannot hold government positions…never again. Let us be sure we have done all we can do to bring this about, whatever the outcome may be. We owe it to tourselves, to the nation, to the world….and especially to those who have been killed and torture….In OUR Names.
Put whatever you have, whatever you feel, in an essay or a comment and we will do OUR best to incorporate it and build the best case we can, and then present it with a petition and a plea for others to make as much noise as they can. If you are not a ‘joiner’ then do what you can on your own. Every word counts, if we are to be heard.
We may not win, but dammit we won’t…we can’t…let this go without a fight.
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Maybe not, If Rahm decides they are not?
But I think as the economy worsens and the more it becomes clear that our economic condition is part and parcel of Bushco’s general corruption, greed and disregard for the law, prosecutions will begin.
It is important to keep this in the limelight. And so I call for the O administration and the Congress to immediately scale back FISA and begin investigations into torture, war profiteering, etc.
…not to mention the congressional leaders, appear disinclined to engage in the kind of turmoil and upheaval which would be involved in impeachment proceedings. Much as I have worked for impeachment, I just don’t see them willing to do it now. They’re already looking to being smooth and building good will for Dem congressional wins in 2010. The chickens say, “Don’t ruffle any feathers!”
I think we should still call for impeachment, but we also need to work for a viable fallback position. We need to get some kind of legislative action to assure that Bush cannot proactively and retroactively pardon members of his administration from future prosecution and punishment. Not being an attorney, I am not able to figure out how to get around complexities and find a legal way to accomplish this.
I think it important for us to think in this direction however.
.. Vincent Bugliosi.
Get your state attorney to pursue Bush’s prosecution for murder. If the state attorney won’t do it, start a town to town campaign to get towns on record demanding the state AG pursue prosecution. The more towns the better. It’ll take a while for sure but that’s a good way to get press and get the AG’s attention. That’s just a first step but a very important one!!!
Other countries have done it. Personally, I’m not feeling one iota of reconciliation in my entire being at the moment. However, it’s going to be necessary if we really want the truth to see the light of day. I’ll do an essay on this soon. For now, head for Wiki and Google and check out the history and guidelines for doing these types of investigations and hearings.
One interesting bit of data you’ll find is that our friend Josh at TPM was ahead of the curve on this. It’s be nice to see if we can gather enough momentum to make this happen. It’s a lot less confrontational than impeachment, trial, conviction and some serious Gitmo time – which are my definite prefs at the moment.
For our children and grandchildren, we need to expose exactly the nature and true extent of what just went down these last eight years.
Satya.
One more thing – if you can spare $10 or $20, Jim Martin down in Georgia is going into a re-run against True Slime, Saxby Chambliss (the one who slimed Max Cleland). We still have time to put a cherry on top of this election.
December of 2001! Why has it taken so long for people to figure this out? It is a No brainer! And the fact and crimes have just kept piling up!!!!
To prevent these crimes from being repeated by future leaders of our country.
If we are going to say we are better than this then we need to be better for all time, not just when it’s convenient. Impeachment exposes the specifics of the Bush administration’s crimes and allows congress to write laws less generalized than something like, “Ahh, just don’t do stuff like that, ok?”
The days of the wink-wink, nudge-nudge need to be over and Congress needs to stop acting like children and own up to their responsibilities. The only way to honor the future of this country is to do the honorable thing now.
Yes, Buhdy, I agree…Impeach Now!!!