Bush and Cheney - Prosecute them now!

We are a nation of laws, the pundits pronounce. They may even believe it. The trouble is our former president and vice president did not. Or, if Bush and Cheney did actually believe we are nation of laws, they also believed those laws were made to be ignored and broken.

This is old news. We have known for some time the Bushites routinely took actions which were illegal under the laws of the United States, and to cover their tracks hired flunkies they could coerce into devising some legal mumbo-jumbo that would cloud and justify their lawless machinations.


Now it seems the situation is much worse than we initially thought. That Bush approved a massive warrantless wiretapping program is well-known. The fact that he also approved other "secret intelligence activities -- which have yet to become public" is not so well-known.

In addition, a new report indicates that during the first Bush administration, Dick Cheney ordered the CIA to withhold from Congress information about the administration's "secret counterterrorism program." Again, that is not surprising, considering the fact that Dick Cheney is arguably the one vice president of the United States who would have been most likely to succeed as an aide to Adolf Hitler.


There has been a spate of articles in recent days as to whether these intelligence activities "paid off," or whether they provided "valuable" information about America's enemies. McClatchy, for example, carried an article titled, "Effectiveness of Bush wiretap program in dispute."

Such concerns are beside the point. The point is they were and are illegal, and violate the Constitution of the United States! The point is the Bush administration was up to its neck in illegal activities, engaged in spying and lying and needs to be called to account.

Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, the Obama administration is, according to Glenn Greenwald, working to "actively block any real investigation." Why is this, considering the fact we have proof that the Bushites were engaged in felonious activities which call for a prison term of up to five years along with a $10,000 fine for each offense? I don't know the answer to that. Obama has said he doesn't want to get bogged down in recriminations about the past, and that we need to look ahead to the future.

Maybe. But I'm suspicious....

Because in a real sense there can be no future without resolving the crises of the past. Unless said crises are resolved, their ugly heads are likely to rear up and bite the ass of those who think they can move, unmolested, into the future.

The past is this: a president and a vice president of the United States committed felonious actions. In other words, they are criminals. That's not a matter of opinion. It's not what I think, it's a matter of historical record - sealed, signed, and delivered. And we don't yet even have the entire record!

We cannot - and this is my opinion - allow these illegal acts, these felonies, to go unrewarded. We must not. In this country, no man or woman is above the law, even though most of those working for our government seem to think otherwise. And perhaps it's that latter fact that behooves us more than ever to bring the criminals to justice.

If there is no accountability, there is no justice, and no reason to follow the law. And if that's the case, then any politico with dreams of grandeur is free to assume dictatorial powers.

The American dream - and by that I mean the dream of people living free under the laws of the Constitution - was almost smothered between 2000 and 2008. And I don't think we know the half of it, yet. I think we will find, in the future, this country was within a whisker of turning into something most of its citizens would neither recognize or desire.

So, in this instance, Obama is dead wrong. As Greenwald warns, "In a Look-to-the-Future-Not-the-Past political culture, it's irrelevant how severe is the lawbreaking by high government officials. They know they will face no consequences even when, as here, they deliberately commit felonies -- which is precisely why criminality is so rampant in our political class."


Attorney General Eric Holder has threatened an investigation into the Bush/Cheney felonies. The media has posed this as antagonistic to what President Obama wishes. Maybe. Or, maybe Holder is merely playing a game to take the pressure off Obama. And even if he follows through, which I hope he does (but don't believe he will), Obama can stay removed, hands off, and lay the political fallout at the feet of his "disobedient" attorney general.

Isn't it amazing that the Congress of the United States could impeach a sitting president for lying about his sexual activity, but is unwilling to address the fact that a former president and vice president were on a regular and ongoing basis violating the Constitution and committing illegal acts?

We need a Special Prosecutor who is given all the power he/she needs to force full disclosure and complete testimony! Bush, Cheney and every creepo down the line who aided and abetted their felonious behavior needs to be called to account and brought to justice. No one is above the law.


That's what we need. But don't hold your breath.