Tag: Patrick Leahy

Senate Judiciary Committee: Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry

Starting at 10 AM Eastern/ 7 AM Pacific

Watch it here:

Webcast on Committee Page

C-SPAN 3

Witness List:

Thomas Pickering

Vice Chairman

Hills & Company, International Consultants

Washington, D.C.

Retired Vice Admiral Lee Gunn

President

The American Security Project

Washington, D.C.

John Farmer

Partner

Arsenault, Whipple, Farmer, Fasset and Azzarello, L.L.P.

Chatham, NJ

Frederick A. O. Schwarz, Jr.

Senior Counsel

Brennan Center for Justice

New York University School of Law

New York, NY

David B. Rivkin, Jr.

Baker & Hostetler, L.L.P.

Washington, D.C.

Jeremy Rabkin

Professor of Law

George Mason University School of Law

Arlington, VA

There is no longer any doubt as to whether the Bush administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.

~Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba

Also posted at Kos

Roland Burris spoke to Rod Blagojevich! Name a Politician in Illinois who hasn’t? We all knew he was lying…but in the matter of lies…this was a tiny one.

Heck Bill Clinton lied too and he got Impeached!

George Bush lied….so what.

The difference was, “under oath”!

Bush testified, but not under oath, with no transcripts and with Cheney to help him out.

Burris got videotaped.

Maybe he needs to change parties.

I normally wouldn’t post a diary on something so short, but I think this would be of interest to the Docudharma community. Senator Patrick Leahy has posted his proposal of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission at Progressive Blue: http://www.progressiveblue.com…

As this is a boutique blog in the style of Docudharma, I think there’s a fair chance that the senator or his staff will read all of the comments in the thread. With that in mind, feel free to stop on by and voice your praises or concerns with his idea.

Many thanks 😉

A truth and reconciliation commission for

seeking answers so that we can develop a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past.

will not achieve your objective to

make sure they never happen again

unless the Department of Justice is allowed to pursue justice aggressively.

Since J. Edgar Hoover began illegal FBI surveillance of American citizens in the 1950’s we have had repeated violations of basic Constitutional rights by the government followed by investigations by commissions. However, because no one in the government suffered any consequences for their actions the violations not only continued, they have grown worse. Justice must be pursued and laws protecting citizens’ Constitutional rights must be enforced to stop the violations. J Edgar Hoover and Joseph McCarthy abused the power of the FBI to keep files on congress and private citizens using the ruse of the red scare. McCarthy was censured and driven from the Senate but only the victims of his abuse suffered real punishment. J. Edgar Hoover continued his abuses of power, keeping files on Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders.