http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/3 ... mas02.html
Bush admits he approved torture
Last updated May 1, 2008 4:32 p.m. PT
By HELEN THOMAS
HEARST NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- The American people have heard President Bush and his spokespeople say many times that the U.S. government does not engage in torture.
Whether Bush was believed or not is another story -- especially in light of the photographic evidence of the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib. It's understood that many of the photos are too sadistically graphic to be made public.
Still, the official U.S. denials of torture continued until earlier this month when Bush acknowledged in an interview with ABC-TV that he knew about and approved "enhanced interrogation" of detainees, including "waterboarding" or simulated drowning.
"As a matter of fact," Bush added, "I told the country we did that. And I told them it was legal. We had legal opinions that enabled us to do it."
The president added, "I didn't have any problems at all trying to find out what Khalid Sheik Mohammed knew."
"He was the person who ordered the suicide attack -- I mean, the 9/11 attacks," Bush said. "And back then, there was all kind of concern about people saying, 'Well, the administration is not connecting the dots.' You might remember those -- that period." Bush said.
Bush also said in the interview that he had been aware of several meetings his national security advisers held to discuss "enhanced interrogation" methods.
Surely he is aware of the U.S. commitment to international treaties barring "cruel and inhumane" treatment of prisoners.
What is startling is that he feels no remorse about the cruel image he has created for us -- and the damage done to our credibility and probity.
In referring to the legality of torture, Bush apparently was thinking of a 2002-2003 memo by John Yoo, a Justice Department official who argued military interrogators could subject detainees to harsh treatment as long as it didn't cause "death, organ failure or permanent damage." The memo was rescinded.
Bush, who has insisted "we do not torture," also recently vetoed legislation that explicitly banned torture. Sen. John McCain, whose whole political persona has been defined by the fact that he had been tortured while a prisoner of war during the Vietnam era, supported Bush's veto.
For both Bush and McCain, I recall the words of Joseph Welch, the special counselor for the Army during the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings when Welch asked Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis.: "Sir, have you no sense of decency?"
We expected the usual cast of characters including Vice President Dick Cheney to be in on the sinister torture-planning sessions.
But it came as a shock that Gen. Colin Powell, then secretary of state, sat in on the meetings and went along with the planning. Powell had been on record warning against U.S. torture policies on the basis that if we mistreat our prisoners, foreign countries will feel no qualms about abusing American captives in wartime.
Once revered for his integrity, Powell has lost his halo.
Now we have this week's testimony of Air Force Col. Morris Davis, a former chief prosecutor, who took the witness stand at Guantanamo Bay on behalf of a prisoner. Davis told how top Pentagon officials had pressured him on sensitive prosecutorial decisions for political reasons. He said he was told that the charges against well-known detainees "could have real strategic value" and that there could be no acquittals.
Davis also testified Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann reversed a decision he made and insisted prosecutors proceed with evidence they obtained through waterboarding and other methods of torture.
Davis also testified he was told to speed up the cases to give the system legitimacy before a new president takes over in January.
Is Congress so cowed that it accepts the statements of a president who has little regard for the truth?
Is there no lawmaker who is appalled about the tarnishing of our image in world opinion? And where are the voices of the other presidential candidates who will inherit the Bush legacy of torture? Why the silence?
I count on the American people to refuse to be shamed any more.
Helen Thomas is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers. E-mail: helent@hearstdc.com. Copyright 2008 Hearst Newspapers.
© 1998-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2008-04-29 23:26. Impeachment
By David Swanson
There is a widespread myth that an impeachment cannot happen in the space of the nine months Bush and Cheney are scheduled to remain in office. But I'm unable to find any past impeachment that took as long as nine months. It's messy comparing one impeachment to another, as they are complicated and varying processes. But a few things are clear: most impeachment efforts achieve important results quickly, without actually achieving impeachment (think Elliot Spitzer or Alberto Gonzales); it is not uncommon for impeachment efforts to begin later in an administration than where we are now (think Andrew Johnson, Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman); while preliminary investigations of the sort that have been done on Bush and Cheney for the past year and a half can be dragged out for months, impeachments tend not to last long; and while Senate trials can be delayed and dragged out for many months, impeachments in the House tend to be short-lived events.
An impeachment of Bush and/or Cheney for an indisputable offense (refusing subpoenas, refusing to enforce contempt citations, rewriting laws with signing statements, openly violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, etc.) could take literally one day. Such a thing would not be unprecedented. President Andrew Johnson was impeached three days after the offense for which he was impeached. Senator William Blount was impeached four days after the offense for which he was impeached.
There is no reason impeachment hearings on Cheney or Bush should be limited to the simplest crimes or rushed through at top speed. Public education might benefit from a slower process. My point is only that it is possible to impeach rapidly. A senate trial can also serve as an educational forum. Below are some of the dates I've been able to find on how long past impeachments have taken. A better researcher might add to this collection. In several cases, I have dates for the duration of the Senate trial, but not for the House impeachment, the duration of which may in fact have been negligible.
A Senate trial can also be completed quickly, and there is no requirement or precedent for including every obvious impeachable offense. (In fact, there is no precedent for elected officials being guilty of so many obvious impeachable offenses or for the public being so aware of impeachable offenses prior to an impeachment.) The Senate expelled Blount the day after he was impeached. Judge Halsted Ritter's Senate trial took 11 days. Judge John Pickering's trial took nine days. Judge James Peck's trial took three days. Judge West Humphreys' trial took one day.
Two presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.
Johnson was impeached three days after committing the offense for which he was impeached, and prior to drafting articles of impeachment. Within a week, a committee drew up charges, and 11 days after the offense, the House delivered the charges to the Senate. The trial process began the next day, and in under three months it was over.
The House began impeachment procedures for Bill Clinton on October 8, 1998, and impeached him on December 19th. The Senate trial lasted from January 14, 1999, to February 12, 1999. The whole four-month farce took less than half the time remaining to Bush and Cheney.
Of the presidential impeachment movements that did not reach impeachment, the most well-known is that against Richard Nixon. The House began impeachment on May 9, 1974, and passed the first of three articles of impeachment on July 27, 1974. Nixon resigned on August 8th. Of course there were lots of preliminary investigations, but those have already been done for Bush and Cheney.
Most impeachments have not been against presidents, but rather judges, cabinet officers, senators. These impeachments seem to take about as long as presidential impeachment do, and offer no support to the myth of long impeachments. In addition, much other business has been accomplished at the same time as these impeachments.
On July 3, 1797, evidence of an offense by Senator William Blount became known. Four days later, the House impeached him and the next day the Senate expelled him.
Evidence of an offense by Judge John Pickering became known on February 4, 1803, and the House voted to impeach him on March 2, 1803. The Senate didn't try him for another year, but spent 9 days on it when it did so.
Supreme Court justice Samuel Chase was impeached in late 1804 (I don't know how long the impeachment took) and 30 days later he was tried in the Senate, which completed the trial on March 1, 1805.
Judge James Peck was impeached on April 24, 1830, a month after the Judiciary Committee recommended it. The Senate took up the trial the following January and spent three days on it.
Judge West H. Humphreys was impeached on May 19, 1862. The Senate tried and convicted him in one day on June 26, 1862.
Secretary of War William W. Belknap was impeached on March 2, 1876, and the Senate trial was completed on August 1, 1876.
Judge Charles Swayne was impeached on December 14, 1904, and his trial was over on February 27, 1905.
Judge Robert W. Archbald was impeached on July 13, 1912, and the Senate trial was over on January 13, 1913.
Judge Harold Louderback resigned before his impeachment went to trial.
Judge Halsted L. Ritter was impeached on March 2, 1936, and the 11-day Senate trial ended on April 17th of the same year.
Judge Harry E. Claiborne was impeached on July 22, 1986, and the trial ended on October 9, 1986.
Then Judge and now Congressman Alcee L. Hastings, was impeached on August 3, 1988, and the Senate trial was over on October 20, 1988.
Judge Walter L. Nixon was impeached on May 10, 1989, and the Senate trial was completed on November 3, 1989.
There are nine months remaining to Bush and Cheney. If you think that is a short time, you are not a mother.
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Action Item: Sat. April 26, 12-2 Honk to impeach, Honk NO IRAN WAR -- 12-2 p.m., NE 8th and Bellevue Way
Action Item: Sat. April 26, 12-2 Honk to impeach, Honk NO IRAN WAR -- 12-2 p.m., NE 8th and Bellevue Way Dear Friends,
When opposition and dissent seems tiring, remember what you are for.
We are for: peace; closing Gitmo; ending war; stopping torture; troops coming home; education for all; healthcare for all; US budget surplus; clean water; civil rights; a healthy earth -- for humanity.
Please join us for a "HONK TO IMPEACH" roadside blogging event for peace and impeachment on Saturday, April 26, 12-2 p.m., Bellevue Way and NE 8th Street in downtown Bellevue. We will provide flyers and postcards to hand out.
A compassionate heart aroused requires a commitment to effective action.
Linda Boyd
Washington For Impeachment
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Springtime for Bushies: Torture, torture, torture!
Please see link below to see pictures -- LB
Americans are paying for it, literally, with their tax dollars, and symbolically, diplomatically and politically, too, since now, human-rights-abusing governments around the world are simply ignoring their calls for justice against whomever they may apply their heavy-handed crackdowns. And someday, somewhere, if the news ever emerges that American civilians or military personnel have been tortured by another country's troops or by terrorists, and perhaps even photographed and mocked in their humiliation as detainees were by giggling U.S. soldiers at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, what will the American government say? Will it whine, "Hey, that's not fair!"?
The United States under the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Rice-Powell-Ashcroft-Tenet political machine is and has been in the torture business - and American taxpayers who are funding it don't even know where some of the secret facilities are where the abuse is taking place in their names.
Brennan Linsley/AP
In an undated photo, a shackled detainee is transported to an interview with U.S. officials at the prison at the American naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
An editorial in Switzerland's Le Temps looks forward to the forthcoming, presidential-election change that will sweep the White House clean of its current occupants, who have done so much in such a short time to deplete the United States' once considerable resources - including its credibility on the world diplomatic stage - destroy its political institutions and weaken its military. Meanwhile, France's Le Monde wonders if "Bushism, after George [W.] Bush" can ever effectively be cleaned up by a new White House leadership team.
Legalized torture maybe one of the most damning, lingering stains of "Bushism." Will a new American president be quick - and have the courage - to step in and abolish the ugly policy immediately after taking office? Notes an opinion article in Saudi Arabia's Arab News: "Career military commanders and lawyers have consistently opposed the White House lead on reinterpreting the Geneva Conventions. Most of them are old enough to remember that it was President Ronald Reagan and his conservative counterpart in Britain, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who led the way in asking their legislatures to ratify the [United Nations] Convention Against Torture in 1988. These leaders were not so naive as to think that Western civilization would never face again unscrupulous opponents but they became convinced, as Professor Steven Ratner eloquently put it in Foreign Policy magazine, that without these legal protections the West would 'invite a world of wars in which laws disappear. And the horrors of such wars would far surpass anything the war on terror could deliver.' What argument could the Bush principals advance in their defense? Do they know how isolated they are? Britain and Spain have had to deal with the trials of those accused of major bombings. The prosecutors have managed to win convictions without abrogating the tough European human-rights treaties, which constrain them even more than the Geneva Conventions. Can [Bush and his minions] even prove torture works?"
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
January 2008: In a protest against the U.S. government's torture practice known as "water-boarding," demonstrators simulated the procedure in a demonstration in New York's Times Square
History lesson: Britain's Guardian has published a summary of Bush gang's torture policy. The paper notes: "Between 2002 and 2003, the U.S. Justice Department issued several memos from its office of legal counsel seeking to justify interrogation tactics that are deemed by critics to be torture. The notorious March 2003 memo, written by John Yoo, who was then deputy assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel, said Bush's wartime authority had priority over any international ban on torture. 'Our previous opinions make clear that customary international law is not federal law and that the president is free to override it at his discretion,' Yoo wrote. The 81-page memo was rescinded nine months after it was sent to the Pentagon's top lawyer, William Haynes. The memo had to be withdrawn as it was so shaky legally, critics contend."
In Britain, the well-known human-rights lawyer Philippe Sands has penned Torture Team, a new book that will be published next week; it is a detailed history of the Bush gang's torture policy - just what it consists of, how it evolved, who developed it, who approved it and how it has been applied. Sands, a professor of law at University College London, writes that, on December 2, 2002, then U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld "signed a piece of paper that changed the course of history. That same day, President Bush signed a bill to put the Pentagon in funds for the next year. The U.S. faced unprecedented challenges, Bush told a large and enthusiastic audience, and terror was one of them. The U.S. would respond to these challenges, and it would do so in the 'finest traditions of valor.'...Elsewhere in the Pentagon, an event took place for which there was no comment, no fanfare. With a signature and a few scrawled words, Rumsfeld reneged on the tradition of valor to which Bush had referred. Principles for the conduct of interrogation, dating back more than a century to President Lincoln's famous instruction of 1863 that 'military necessity does not admit of cruelty,' were discarded. [Rumsfeld] approved new and aggressive interrogation techniques that would produce devastating consequences."
The memo Rumsfeld signed off on called for the carrying out of so-called interrogation techniques that would be better-known as torture in the real world outside the Pentagon. "Category I" cited by the memo "comprised two techniques, yelling and deception. Category II included 12 techniques, aiming at humiliation and sensory deprivation [of prospective detainees], including stress positions, such as standing for a maximum of four hours; isolation; deprivation of light and sound; hooding; removal of religious and all other comfort items; removal of clothing; forced grooming, such as shaving of facial hair; and the use of individual phobias, such as fear of dogs, to induce stress."
Jason Reed/Reuters
At the White House, October 5, 2007: Bush claimed the U.S. was not practicing torture
The techniques cited in "Category III" of the Rumsfeld-approved memorandum "were to be used for only a very small percentage of detainees - the most uncooperative...and exceptionally resistant individuals - and required approval by the commanding general at Guantánamo." Lawyer Sands notes that, in this category "were four techniques: the use of 'mild, non-injurious physical contact,' such as grabbing, poking and light pushing; the use of scenarios designed to convince the detainee that death or severely painful consequences were imminent for him or his family; exposure to cold weather or water; and, finally, the use of a wet towel and dripping water to induce the misperception of suffocation. This last technique came to be known as water-boarding, described on a chat show by the [U.S.] vice president, Dick Cheney, as a 'dunk in the water'...." On the December 2002 memo, "Rumsfeld signed his name next to the word 'Approved' and added his comment at the bottom of the page: 'I stand for eight to 10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to four hours?'" (Excerpts from Sands's book in the Guardian.)
The lead editorial in the New York Times last Sunday ("The Torture Sessions") noted that, as Americans now know, it was with George W. Bush's "clear knowledge and support" that "some of the very highest officials in the land not only approved the abuse of prisoners, but participated in the detailed planning of harsh interrogations and helped to create a legal structure to shield from justice those who followed the orders." The paper's editorial added: "We have long known that the Justice Department tortured the law to give its Orwellian blessing to torturing people, and that...Rumsfeld approved a list of ways to abuse prisoners. But recent accounts by ABC News and The Associated Press said that all of the president's top national security advisers at the time participated in creating the interrogation policy: Vice President Dick Cheney;...Rumsfeld; Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser; Colin Powell, the secretary of state; John Ashcroft, the attorney general; and George Tenet, the director of central intelligence. These officials did not have the time or the foresight to plan for the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq or the tenacity to complete the hunt for Osama bin Laden. But they managed to squeeze in dozens of meetings in the White House Situation Room to organize and give legal cover to prisoner abuse, including brutal methods that civilized nations consider to be torture."
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Action: Please contact these members of the Judiciary Committee
CONTACT THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE -- Urge them to begin impeachment hearings for Dick Cheney
Representatives Conyers, Lofgren, Nadler, Delahunt, Lee, Schiff, Meehan, Sherman, Wasserman, Shultz
Contact Judiciary Committee Staff (202) 225-3951
Congressional Switchboard (800) 828-0498 toll-free
SUPPORT IMPEACHMENT of George Bush
Urge Rep. Kucinich to rise with his 50 Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush now. Call (800) 828-0498.
As a supporter of impeachment:
"You proudly support our long-held constitutional principles.
You are speaking out to reaffirm our democracy.
You demand accountability for those in our government who have disregarded our Constitution, violated statutory law, or engaged in immoral human-rights abuses." -- Rocky Anderson
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Impeach Bush and Cheney for Torture
On 4/11/08, George Bush told ABC News he personally approved of the approval of torture - including waterboarding - by Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet.
"Yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."
In the wake of this shocking and appalling confession, we've come to a historic moment where every American - and every Member of Congress - must take a stand.
Either you're for torture or you're against it. And if you're against it, you must support the only Constitutional remedy: impeachment.
We don't need a Special Prosecutor when the President has publicly admitted to approving war crimes!
It's no excuse to say, "we can't impeach Bush because President Cheney would be worse." We know that Cheney directly approved torture, so they must be impeached together. If they were convicted by the Senate (or resigned to avoid impeachment), Speaker Pelosi would become President, as prescribed by the Constitution.
It's no excuse to say, "we don't have the votes to impeach Bush and Cheney." Democrats didn't have the votes to impeach Nixon when they started, but when the House Judiciary Committee reluctantly adopted Articles of Impeachment, Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment.
Nor is it an excuse to say, "we don't have time to impeach Bush and Cheney." Bush admitted both his own and Cheney's guilt, and Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet are witnesses. There's no need for impeachment hearings - an impeachment resolution based on Bush's confession could go straight to the floor for a vote, just as they did on 11/6/07 when Dennis Kucinich introduced H.Res. 799, Articles of Impeachment for Vice President Cheney.
And finally, it is utterly immoral for Democrats to say, "we shouldn't impeach Bush and Cheney because it would hurt the chances of electing a Democrat in November." Simply stated, politics should never come before torture.
Dr. Martin Luther King famously said, "A time comes when silence is betrayal. That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam."
Thanks to Bush's admission that he approved torture, that time has come for us in relation to impeachment.
Link to sign the petition: http://www.democrats.com/impeach-for-torture
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IMPEACHMENT ACTION ITEM: Please help New Hampshire pass their Resolution to impeach Bush & Cheney. E-Mail New Hampshire Reps Today!
The New Hampshire Legislature will vote on HR24 on Wednesday, April 16, 10:00 a.m.
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Dear Friends,
Representative Betty Hall of New Hampshire introduced HR24, the resolution to impeach Bush and Cheney, to the State Legislature and has led the campaign to impeach with courage and conviction. HR24 will come to a vote on Wednesday, April 16, 10:00 a.m. It could pass with a simple majority, and would not require the approval of the governor. Please help New Hampshire achieve a significant victory for all of us by contacting the entire legislature. You do not need to be a New Hampshire resident to urge support.
A simple, direct message is most appropriate:
Honorable Representative,
I urge you to vote yes on HR24. New Hampshire has the opportunity to defend the US Constitution and represent the will of the majority of Americans by supporting the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney. Please direct Congress to initiate impeachment procedures by voting in favor of HR 24.
Thank you,
name
city, state
You can also email support to Representative Betty Hall:i.support.HR24@gmail.com
Phone numbers of NH Legisators linked here: http://www.neimpeach.org/wp/?p=76
THANK YOU FOR TAKING ACTION TODAY!
Linda Boyd
Washington For Impeachment
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Thank you, Susan C. Serpa, Director of Northeast Impeachment Coalition, for providing this email list for all New Hampshire Legislators.
Northeast Impeachment Coalition
Email your support of NH HR24 to impeach Bush and Cheney (copy and paste the emails listed below, in groups of about 30 each, in the BCC to BLIND copy the representatives)
Below are the email addresses (I broke them up to avoid spam filers):
acadian@roadrunner.com, acsoucy@comcast.net, agj@theworld.com, akopkare@aol.com, al.baldasaro@leg.state.nh.us, amillham@metrocast.net, andrew.edwards@leg.state.nh.us, andrew.renzullo@leg.state.nh.us, anne@grassie.org, anne-marie.irwin@leg.state.nh.us, anthony.matarazzo@leg.state.nh.us, anthony.simon@leg.state.nh.us, armand.forest@leg.state.nh.us, aweare@aol.com, baldwindomingo@yahoo.com, bbchase@verizon.net, bdenley@clearwatertitle.net, beaforlife@comcast.net, beauch92@earthlink.net, ben.baroody@leg.state.nh.us, beshaw3@aol.com, betharsen@aol.com, betsi.devries@leg.state.nh.us, betsy.mckinney@leg.state.nh.us
betts24_03079@yahoo.com, bfmoore@comcast.net, bheald@metrocast.net, bladensfield@hotmail.com, blbenn@valley.net, blpatten@worldpath.net, bob.perry@leg.state.nh.us, bobhaefnerjp@comcast.net, bobwatson18@yahoo.com, bonniegay@comcast.net, bridgham@msu.edu, brl1647@aol.com, brownenh@gmail.com, buppadan@comcast.net, cali0917@aol.com, campbelldavidb@comcast.net, carolyn.lisle@leg.state.nh.us, casescove@comcast.net, caseycorps@aol.com, catriona@catrionabeck.com, cccwhite@aol.com, cclark1@metrocast.net, cestes@makeitplain.com, cgargasz@cs.com, CGRobertson@comcast.net, chally@cirelle.net, chris.christensen@leg.state.nh.us, cindy.rosenwald@leg.state.nh.us
cmcmahon@earthlink.net, cmulholland@endor.com, cobweb9@verizon.net, crjean2@verizon.net, cskinder@vrh.org, cunham@worldpath.net, cweed@keene.edu, cyeaton@metrocast.net, cynthia.dokmo@leg.state.nh.us, d.merrick@tufts.edu, dalas@leg.state.nh.us, dale.sprague@leg.state.nh.us, dan.sullivan@leg.state.nh.us, daniel.mckenna@leg.state.nh.us, danielhubbard@peoplepc.com, dave.hess@leg.state.nh.us, david.cote@leg.state.nh.us, david.essex@leg.state.nh.us, david.gottesman@leg.state.nh.us, david.pierce@leg.state.nh.us, david.smith@leg.state.nh.us, david03257@yahoo.com, davidaborden@aol.com
dboutin1465@comcast.net, dburridge@ne.rr.com, deanna1214@aol.com, deb.Reynolds@leg.state.nh.us, debbillian@yahoo.com, deborah.wheeler@leg.state.nh.us, denevel@comcast.net, dennis.vachon@leg.state.nh.us, dflanders@metrocast.net, dickbarry@juno.com, docjoe@comcast.net, donbruegge@comcast.net, donpetterson@gmail.com, doreen.howard@leg.state.nh.us, dreed1@msn.com, driskorb@aol.com, dscannell@mansd.org, dtjallen@worldpath.net, dunnbt@verizon.net, e.rochette@comcast.net, earlegoodwin@hotmail.com, eatonsstore@juno.com, edofthenotch@aol.com, eileensdesk@aol.com, eleanor.kjellman@leg.state.nh.us, elisabeth.sanders@leg.state.nh.us, elizabeth.hager@leg.state.nh.us
emma.rous@leg.state.nh.us, epmoran@comcast.net, eric.stohl@leg.state.nh.us, evalyn.merrick@leg.state.nh.us, fourstar3@verizon.net, fpdavis@comcast.net, frank.tilton@leg.state.nh.us, frank.tupper@leg.state.nh.us, frank_emiro@yahoo.com, frankatpausul@comcast.net, friedgreen2000@yahoo.com, g_shattuck@conknet.com, gail.morrison@leg.state.nh.us, gary.richardson@leg.state.nh.us, gdwinchell@yahoo.com, gene.chandler@leg.state.nh.us, gene.charron@leg.state.nh.us, gene.f.andersen@verizon.net, ginsburg@tiac.net, gldaniels@verizon.net, hallmfg@charter.net, hammchristine@gmail.com, hank.parkhurst@leg.state.nh.us
harold.janeway@leg.state.nh.us, hartflock@comcast.net, hatchbill@hotmail.com, hcmerrow@verizon.net, hector.velez@leg.state.nh.us, henson55@yahoo.com, hontgr@aol.com, howie.lund@leg.state.nh.us, ingbretson_studio@yahoo.com, ingyp@earthlink.net, iris.estabrook@leg.state.nh.us, itsenh@comcast.net, j.goley@comcast.net, jacalyn.cilley@leg.state.nh.us, jack.barnes@leg.state.nh.us, james.kennedy@leg.state.nh.us, james.rausch@leg.state.nh.us, jamesbwebber@verizon.net, janejohnson7@yahoo.com, janet.wall@leg.state.nh.us, jason.bedrick@leg.state.nh.us, jasper827@comcast.net, jbhunt@prodigy.net, jcsr119@aol.com, jdknox@worldpath.net, Jean.jeudy@gmail.com, jecyr@localnet.com, jeffrey.fontas@leg.state.nh.us, jennifer.brown@leg.state.nh.us, jenniferdaler@yahoo.com
jesse.martineau@leg.state.nh.us, jetjr2@msn.com, jim.aguiar@leg.state.nh.us, jim.garrity@leg.state.nh.us, jimandeva@comcast.net, jimheadd@comcast.net, jimp3047@metrocast.net, jimsplaine@aol.com, jkelley-nashua@comcast.net, jlawrence@lawrencebattelle.com, jmoneil1@comcast.net, joanschulze@verizon.net, jochris94@hotmail.com, jocloutier@comcast.net, john.dejoie@leg.state.nh.us, john.gallus@leg.state.nh.us, john.knowles@leg.state.nh.us, john.reagan@juno.com, john.thomas@leg.state.nh.us, jordan.ulery@leg.state.nh.us, joseph.foster@leg.state.nh.us, joseph.kenney@leg.state.nh.us, joylark1@earthlink.net, jryan@metrocast.net
jshafham@verizon.net, jspaulding4staterep@gmail.com, judith@kestrelnet.net, judy.day@leg.state.nh.us, jwflanders@hotmail.com, karen.mcrae@leg.state.nh.us, kathleen.sgambati@leg.state.nh.us, kcshawed@aol.com, Kelly M@leg.state.nh.us, kensel@verizon.net, khawkins2@comcast.net, klclp3c@comcast.net, koppenheimer@metrocast.net, kris@kriseroberts.info, kwater111@aol.com, kweyler@aol.com, l.mikekappler@comcast.net, lars.christiansen@leg.state.nh.us, lauriejboyce@yahoo.com, lcallcone@aol.com, lcpantelakos@verizon.net, lee.hammond@leg.state.nh.us, leigh.webb@leg.state.nh.us, lessard384@aol.com, lharding@valley.net, linda.foster@leg.state.nh.us, Linda.McCarthy@leg.state.nh.us, lizblanchard@verizon.net, lojogut@comcast.net, long55@comcast.net, lwmcv@verizon.net, maggie.hassan@leg.state.nh.us, mairin@earthlink.net, marciagm@surfglobal.net
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CONTACT THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE -- Urge them to begin impeachment hearings for Dick Cheney
Representatives Conyers, Lofgren, Nadler, Delahunt, Lee, Schiff, Meehan, Sherman, Wasserman, Shultz
Contact Judiciary Committee Staff (202) 225-3951
Congressional Switchboard (800) 828-0498 toll-free
SUPPORT IMPEACHMENT of George Bush
Urge Rep. Kucinich to rise with his 50 Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush now. Call (800) 828-0498.
As a supporter of impeachment:
"You proudly support our long-held constitutional principles.
You are speaking out to reaffirm our democracy.
You demand accountability for those in our government who have disregarded our Constitution, violated statutory law, or engaged in immoral human-rights abuses." -- Rocky Anderson
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By John Nichols, The Nation - The Constitution of the United States is absolutely clear when it comes to matters of torture.
By John Nichols, The NationThe Constitution of the United States is absolutely clear when it comes to matters of torture.
Amendment 8 specifically states that,"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
Acts of torture are by definition and common understanding -- certainly at the time of the drafting of the nation's essential document and arguably even in this less-enlightened era -- cruel and unusual punishments
Vice President Dick Cheney, when he assumed the second most powerful office in the land after the disputed election of 2000, swore an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" and to "bear true faith and allegiance to the same."
Any reasonable reader of that oath would conclude that Cheney bound himself to abide by the Constitution -- and thus to avoid any involvement with the promotion of acts of torture upon detainees of the United States government.
Yet we now know from revelations made by former senior intelligence officials to ABC News and the Associated Press that Cheney and other members of the administration -- who apparently took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods were discussed -- authorized the use of waterboarding and other generally recognized torture techniques.
There is no question that Cheney violated his oath of office, which bound him to support and defend a Constitution that he disregarded.
The question is: How will responsible Americans respond?
The power to hold Cheney to account rests with Congress.
The power to get Congress to act rests with the American people.
Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, a respected lawyer who has been working with a number of other Constitutional experts and activists, has responded -- not just to Cheney's trashing of the Constitution but to the long list of Bush administration wrongs.
Anderson is circulating a letter that reads:
As patriotic Americans, we believe in knowing the truth about our government. Regardless of political affiliation, we believe in our constitutional democracy. We believe in the rule of law – that no person, regardless of position, is above the law.
We believe in respecting basic human rights – and have been proud to distinguish our nation from those countries where people are kidnapped, disappeared, and tortured.
We believe that in a democracy likes ours, citizens are entitled to know whether government officials are living up to their oaths to defend and preserve the Constitution, and whether they are abusing the human rights of people here or elsewhere in the world.
This is not a partisan matter. It is a matter of responsible citizenship.
Recently, several conscientious members of the House Judiciary Committee, including the Chair, Congressman John Conyers, have indicated support for public hearings to investigate and disclose the facts concerning claims of illegal conduct and other abuses of power by members of the Executive Branch. If misconduct has occurred, the American people are entitled to know. If misconduct has not occurred, hearings will determine and disclose that as well.
By showing that the American people – without political partisanship – support the disclosure of the truth through public hearings, we can make a difference, together standing up for the truth, the rule of law, and our Constitution.
• We are entitled to know whether members of the Executive Branch misrepresented the facts and withheld crucial information, thereby deceiving our nation and the international community before the invasion of Iraq.
• As American citizens who value the system of checks and balances among the three branches of government, we are entitled to know whether that system has been seriously undermined. We are entitled to know whether the courts and Congress have fulfilled their important constitutional roles in investigating and disclosing the misuse of Executive power.
• Our nation has engaged in the unprecedented, illegal, and immoral kidnapping, disappearance, and torture of human beings around the world (some of whom have been proven to be innocent of any wrongdoing), with no due process, in complete secrecy, and with no accountability. Even US citizens have been held in prisons indefinitely, with no legal counsel, no trial, and no charges filed against them. As Americans, we are entitled to know what has occurred in connection with these human rights abuses. In our democratic system of government, there must be full accountability.
Speaking out together, as concerned, patriotic Americans, we can send a clear message to Congress: In the United States, the rule of law must prevail, our Constitution cannot be disregarded, and the fundamental morality to which our nation has always laid claim will be restored.
Anderson asks that Americans who support the principles outlined in this letter -- as I do -- go to his Restore the Rule of Law website and sign on.
Signing this letter, says Anderson, who has opened an important dialogue about the Constitution and White House accountability with Conyers and other key players on the Judiciary Committee, "indicates to Congressman Conyers, other members of the House Judiciary Committee, and Congress as a whole that you support efforts to investigate and disclose any illegal acts and abuses of power by the President and others in his administration. Declare to the world, and to our posterity, that, as a US citizen:
• You proudly support our long-held constitutional principles.
• You are speaking out to reaffirm our democracy.
• You demand accountability for those in our government who have disregarded our Constitution, violated statutory law, or engaged in immoral human-rights abuses."
Anderson's is an authentic patriotic response to the latest revelations about Dick Cheney's disregard for the Constitution.
Go to the Restore the Rule of Law website and sign on and do what Cheney did not: support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
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Ray McGovern on Geneva Convention, Military Commissions and War Crimes- (coming to a capitol near you)
Yoo's on First?Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2008-04-10 19:25. Criminal Prosecution Evidence
By Ray McGovern, www.consortiumnews.com
Is it because John Yoo, the former Justice Department's hired hand, is such an easy target? Is it because of the cheeky, in-your-face way in which Yoo argues that the president has the authority to have your eyes poked out and your sons' testicles crushed, because we are "at war" and he is commander in chief?
Or is it because our press is STILL reluctant to go after Yoo's guys – first and foremost his ultimate client – President George W. Bush? Oh, but that would be hard, you say.
Nonsense.
Available on the Web, in its original format, is a 7 Feb. 2002 action memorandum that the president signed to implement the dubious advice he was getting from Yoo and those at Justice who hired Yoo – and from the vice president's office which guided Yoo.
**Here's the memorandum:http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/torture/bybee20702mem.html
Yoo did their dirty work (and now he takes the rap).
Weren't Yoo's co-conspirators careful to keep their fingerprints off the more blatantly offensive memoranda? Sure they were.
But there was one problem. Then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and then-CIA Director George Tenet could not get their people to torture folks without written, signed authorization by the president.
And we have a copy of that authorization? Yes, it's been available for years. You have to download it to believe it.
In his Feb. 7, 2002, memorandum, Bush wrote: "I determine that common Article 3 of Geneva does not apply to either al Qaeda or Taliban detainees." (Common Article 3 bans "torture [and] outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.")
Then, drawing on the lawyerly legerdemain, Bush did something really dumb. Using words drafted by Vice President Dick Cheney's lawyer, David Addington, for a memo dated Jan. 25, 2002, signed by then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, the president ordered that detainees be treated, "humanely ... to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity."
Tacked onto the end of that sentence is a classic circumlocution: "in a manner consistent with the principles of Geneva." But that is not what Geneva says, and there is no way to square that circle.
This is the giant loophole through which Rumsfeld and Tenet drove the Mack truck of torture ... yes, signed by the president. The rotten apples were – demonstrably – at the very top of the barrel.
Typical of the timid treatment accorded this issue is what initially seemed to be a straightforward article by Don Eggen in Sunday's Washington Post. It spotlighted scapegoat-of-the-hour Yoo, noting that he advised that in time of war the president's ultimate authority as commander in chief trumps laws prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes by military interrogators.
In focusing on Yoo's legal advice, however, Eggen joined his "mainstream" journalist colleagues in omitting the smoking gun – Bush's implementing memorandum of Feb. 7, 2002. That document already had cleared the way for waterboarding, stress positions, forced nudity and other abuse of detainees – as well as for further legal musings about the unlimited powers of a wartime president, like Yoo’s newly disclosed March 14, 2003, memo.
The omission was all the more conspicuous in that a listing of nine memoranda relevant to the story sits side by side with Eggen's article. Guess which memo did not make it onto that list?
Again, I urge you to download the president's Feb. 7 smoking gun from the Web and read it yourself. The Jan. 25, 2002, memo bearing Gonzales's signature is also available – in its original form.
Supreme Court Has a Problem
On June 29, 2006, in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court ruled that Geneva DOES apply to al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees.
One senior Bush administration official is reported to have gone quite pale at the time, when Justice Anthony M. Kennedy raised the ante, warning that "violations of Common Article 3 are considered 'war crimes,' punishable as federal offenses."
That threw a real scare into Bush as well, who pressed Congress hard to give administration officials retroactive immunity from prosecution. That came just three months later when Congress passed the "Military Commissions Act."
Ironically, the fact that those violating Geneva have been granted immunity within the U.S. makes it easier for foreign courts to prosecute for torture.
Remember how former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had to sneak out of Paris last October? He was not about to wait until a Paris prosecutor decided how to handle a fresh criminal complaint against him.
That complaint cited the failure of U.S. authorities to investigate the role of Rumsfeld and other top officials in torture, despite a documented paper trail of official memos implicating them in direct as well as command responsibility.
The complaint argued that countries like France have a legal obligation to prosecute under the 1984 Convention Against Torture, approved by 145 nations, including the United States.
The Convention states that "no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture."
It also provides for “universal jurisdiction,” meaning that every signing country has a duty to prosecute torturers who are found in their territory or to extradite them to other countries for prosecution.
One of the Bush administration's favorite slogans is that evildoers must be "brought to justice." It will be interesting to watch how this all plays out in the months and years to come.
[For more on Yoo’s memos and Bush’s powers, see Consortiumnews.com’s “All Power to the President” and “Yoo’s Memo Hints at Bush’s Secrets.”]
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. He was an Army infantry/intelligence officer in the early sixties, then a CIA analyst under seven presidents. He is now on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
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