Web Letters: Holding Bush Accountable

Without accountability the rule of law and the oath of office are meaningless. Most of those who should be prosecuted for their war crimes took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. By their deeds they threatened the very existence of our Constitution. Failure of the incoming administration to prosecute them for their crimes against us (We, the People), would be a violation of their oaths to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution against its domestic enemies. The rule of law, our constitutional guarantees of freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness would exist only as licenses revocable at the will of any future would-be czar.

Our jails and prisons are filled with those who have violated the whole litany of crimes--crimes against persons, crimes against property, misdemeanors and heinous felonies. None of the crimes for which they are being held are as atrocious as war crimes, crimes against humanity. As for those presently serving time, it would be cruel and unusual punishment to continue to incarcerate them if those who are responsible for the war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetuated in our names over the last eight years are not held accountable. If war criminals are not punished for their crimes, how can the imprisonment of those convicted of lesser crimes be justified?

Without accountability there is no rule of law.

Robert Castle

McMinnville, OR

To regain its sanity, America must confront the terrible crimes and betrayals by our leaders--not in a vindictive way, but in order that the mistakes shall not be repeated. The ideas and policies that led us to the brink of ruin need to be repudiated. The facts must be exposed to the public so that our trust in Congress, the media and our fellow citizens (our neighbors and coworkers) can be restored. The wrongdoers and enablers, of both major political parties, must be held accountable--if not in a court of law, then at least in the court of public opinion. Hence: LetsNotMoveOn.org.

Donald A. Smith
LetsNotMoveOn.org

Bellevue, WA

The price of crude oil increased five times over what it was before the Iraq fracas was started. The main source of the Bush family fortune is crude oil from the Gulf of Mexico region.

The connection should be clear to all.

Elmer A. Keen

San Diego, CA

Ms Holtzman, You have been a far-left joke to our system since the days of Watergate. Fortunately, other than the leftist lemmings who peruse sites like The Nation, few Americans share your views.

Even President Obama came to realize through his briefings by the president that reality isn't always what it seems. Hence his praise of President Bush just before and during the inauguration .

Every Republican president has been subjected to the same slurs of criminality and a lack of intelligence that President Bush received during his eight years. For leftists like Ms Holtzman, there is a elitist arrogance that will never see Republicans and especially conservatives as equal partners in our democratic experiment.

Larry Robinson
Tabernacle of Hope Ministries

Moreno Valley, CA

Those holding Bush accountable for the invasion of Iraq must consider a most obvious factor in their decision. All the reasons they gave us were the pre-9/11 reasons. Post-9/11 it was all about using military might, which they were able to use in Afghanistan because the terrorists were gathered on a battlefield. After Tora Bora they went back into hiding. So what they needed was another battlefield, and what better way to do that than to invade another Muslim country and what better candidate than Iraq. In other words, the creation of Al Qaeda in Iraq is what they had in mind all along. The problem is all of the Iraqis who were and still are being slaughtered, a true crime against humanity.

Martin Walsh

Trevose, PA

Is it possible for detainees to sue the federal government in general or Bush, Cheny, Rumsfeld, et al. for wrongful imprisonment, torture or other crimes? If President Obama is reluctant to instruct the Justice Department to take on the onerous task of charging, trying and possibly convicting government agencies/individuals of crimes, could lower courts take up the challenge?

Kathleen Conway

Tempe, AZ

One conspiracy not discussed falls on Tom Ridge, Homeland Security director. On leaving office he told a press conference that the alert system was a sham. He admitted manipulating threat levels on orders delivered by White House minions.

Those alerts were no joke for states and cities. Hundreds of millions got squandered on overtime and other measures. The bogus alarms turned local firefighters and police into campaign workers. That is a Hatch Act violation. The entire 2004 re-election campaign revolved on fear and impending doom--which was bogus and carefully manufactured.

Cynically packing the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division with voter suppression zealots sure looks like another Hatch Act violation. Only Republicans make keeping people from voting a priority. Civil rights is about letting citizens vote. Hard to characterize what was going on as anything but political activity, no matter what party you belong to.

Clarence Thomas at least pretended to do the civil rights job, despite his opposition to affirmative action.

James Mclain

Detroit, MI

No investigaion of Bush will be complete that doesn't include the crime that started the Bush nightmare. That crime is Bush's theft of the 2000 election in Florida. What Bush did in Florida to illegally thwart the will of the people by stopping a legal vote count of uncounted votes was a broad daylight coup d'état. No one should ever forget that most of the votes not counted in Florida in 2000 are the votes of black women. None of the crimes listed in Elizabeth Holtzman's article would have happened had it not been for Bush's theft of the 2000 election. There will be more stolen elections if Bush and his election stealers aren't held accountable for their illegal acts that ended democracy in America in 2000.

Nancy Kuhn

Scottsdale, Az.

Excellent overview of the criminal past of Bush, Cheney, et al. The public will support the investigation and prosecution of these arrogant slime because it is the right thing to do. This is still the United States of America, and we still do have a moral compass; you know, the one Bush alluded to in his fond farewell. Bush also thinks that the majority of Americans are better off now in many ways since he stole the presidency in 2000 and again in 2004. Sorry, soon-to-be-private-citizen Bush, but that ol' dog just won't hunt!

What you just read is a pretty convincing overview of the charges to be brought and how we should go about the business of investigating and prosecuting. If that's not enough for you, please check out the Articles of Impeachment written by Rep. Dennis Kuchinich.

Goodbye, Mr. Bush. See you in court!

Carol Burns

Pensacola, FL

Many thanks to Elizabeth Holtzman for her impassioned article about the need to hold the Bush administration accountable for its well-documented crimes. owever, I do not think Obama will have the courage and fortitude to initiate such investigations and prosecutions.

I am so sick and tired of hearing about "looking forward not backward" from politicians. All Obama has to do is appoint a Special Prosecutor/Counsel to conduct a thorough investigation of the various crimes committed by the Bush administration. It's not as though Obama will be personally involved reading the files! He acts as though with our economy in shambles, we cannot do anything else... what a bunch of hogwash!

If Obama is so intelligent, then he can multi-task or at least direct his administration to do so.

If Obama is all about "change we can believe in," then he better correct the wrongs of the past, or it will just be business as usual inside the Beltway.

On another note: I think it is fair to say that Congress (aside from Conyers, Kucinich and Feingold) was complicit in some of the crimes committed by the Bush administration, so I do not expect them to be gung-ho about uncovering the dirt under the carpet.

In fact, the Democratic Congress since 2006 has a despicable record of standing up to the dictatorship that developed in the White House. I cannot recall a single occasion where the Dems in Congress stood up to Bush or Cheney.

Finally, as one other reader pointed out--there are many lingering questions about the veracity of the Bush Administration's account of the events of 9/11. Further, the 9/11 Commission Report is regarded in many circles as a complete whitewash of those events. Everything that happened in the past eight years was predicated on those attacks. If there weren't exactly attacks as our government described, then we are living in a huge lie.

Why should we believe Bush and Cheney about 9/11 when they tried to obstruct the investigation; then they tried to appoint Kissinger to cover it up; then they underfunded the commission; then they stacked it with loyalists; then they narrowed their mandate; then they refused to testify under oath (and without each other present); and what you have left is a total whitewash.

Please America, wake up!

Stuart Wilde

Carefree, AZ

I agree totally. I do not live in America but am from Scotland, and we were as involved in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as we are great allies of the United States of America. Whatever action your country is able to take against President Bush and Cheney will and should also apply to the actions taken by Tony Blair. He is as guilty as those mentioned above and is a war criminal as well.

September 11 should never have happened--I have read articles and have watched programs on our TV about how a senior FBI agent (Mr. John P. O'Neill) tried to warn the Bush administration and his senior colleagues that Osama bin Laden would strike your country again--he even apparently specified the use of planes. You and your colleagues will be more aware of the facts than I possibly can be, but if this is true, then the guilt starts before even the falling of the Twin Towers. We lost British citizens on that day as well.

The other point is about Osama bin Laden and how we in this country believe that our British troops had him in their sights but were not allowed, presumably by senior American officials at that time, to take him out. We have seen the pictures again on our TV. Now, I know from friends in America that your good people were not aware of the demonstrations that took place in London prior or at the time of the Iraqi war--over a million walked the streets of London. No doubt you do not know the above points I have made either. However, if you know they are not true, then please just say; but if they should be true, then please investigate further for all Americans and also for all of us here as well.

Something very evil has happened in your country, and I wish you well in your pursuit of bringing back a sense of freedom and a cleansing of the badness that has emanated from the Bush administration. The world has been watching these last eight years and will be watching again to see if something will be done. Just remember, we will be on your side in this.

Freda Birrell

Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, Scotland

Thank you, Elizabeth Holtzman, for your wonderful article. Obama and every member of Congress should read it.

Obama will lose an essential core constituency if the crooks and criminals in the Bush administration are not held accountable.

Here's a question I never wanted to ask myself: Is it possible at some point that my disgust for the Bush regime and the criminals within it will be exceeded by my disgust for our newly elected leaders, who, in the face of evil, choose to look the other way?

I've spent the last five years trying to help change the direction of the nation I love, and my views are expressed in, "The Bush League of Nations: The Coalition of the Unwilling, the Bullied and the Bribed--the GOP's War on Iraq and America," by James A. Swanson (2008, CreateSpace Publishing, 448 pages). Patriots everywhere can download the entire book for free.

James A. Swanson

Los Altos, CA

I have read nearly every book that has been written about 9/11, including the 9/11 Commission Report, and watched nearly every decent DVD on the incidents that happened on that day. If Obama and Congress don't take it upon themselves to do an honest evaluation of what happened that September day, if not for the sake of the thousands that died and for their families, as well as to clarify who was responsible, then American politics and politicians will continue to be a laughing stock throughout the world. We look forward to the day of truth and reckoning.

Frank Martens

Summerland, BC, Canada

The law is very clear on this. The Senators on the Intelligence Oversight Committee that were in charge of oversight and failed are just as complicit in the torture. Unless you have the stomach to include them among the guilty, you will not be able to prosecute Bush, because they stand ready to intervene for him, albeit to save themselves. If you are not ready to prosecute these members then you should just give it up and completely stop whining, because you will get nowhere.

(If I were one of these members, I would be getting an attorney today to figure out how to get out of the net the Bush administration has caught them in and explain why they should not be charged as well.)

The members are (were): Democrats: John D. Rockefeller IV, West Virginia, chairman; Dianne Feinstein, California; Ron Wyden, Oregon; Evan Bayh, Indiana; Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland; Russell D. Feingold, Wisconsin; Bill Nelson, Florida; Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island; Republicans: Christopher S. Bond, Missouri Vice Chairman; John Warner, Virginia; Chuck Hagel, Nebraska; Saxby Chambliss, Georgia; Orrin Hatch, Utah; Olympia J. Snowe, Maine; Richard Burr, North Carolina; Harry Reid, Nevada, Ex Officio; Mitch McConnell, Kentucky, Ex Officio; Carl Levin, Michigan, Ex Officio; John McCain, Arizona, Ex Officio

mary hall

Lake Worth, FL

Thank you, Elizabeth Holtzman! You have clearly and succinctly summarized the many reasons why our country must pursue thorough investigations and prosecutions of the Bush/Cheney administration. Why the president and vice president have not already been impeached and removed from office and sent off to The Hague for prosecution for crimes against humanity is testimony enough of the utter failure of our elected representatives to do their job. An administration that takes our country to war under the most preposterous of reasons and false intelligence must not escape responsibility for its actions. Congress and the new administration in Washington are duty-bound to correct the flagrant and severe abuses of power that have characterized the Bush/Cheney junta from beginning to end, an administration which has dragged our nation into a criminal war resulting in untold human misery, economic catastrophe, the destabilization of the world order, the near ruin of our country's good reputation in the eyes of the world and the thorough disregard for the rule of law both domestically and internationally, and exacerbated an already dangerously insecure international environment, all in the name of a self-serving and delusional political ideology.

Crimes such as these must not go unpunished, because if they do, the world's cynical judgment of a nation which obviously believes that "might makes right" will be proven out and history will rightfully add us to the long list of empires which have tried to rule the world through fear and intimidation and force of arms.

Steve Porter

Palmdale, CA

President-elect Obama's apparent leaning toward ignoring possible crimes and unethical behaviors by the Bush "administration" is reminiscent of Gerald Ford's pardoning of Richard Nixon--also rationalized as moving forward and getting beyond the past. I worked diligently for the nomination and election of Barack Obama. My pride in having done so would be greatly diminished if he, in fact, were to "move forward" and in so doing ignore the shameful conduct of the past eight years. One could argue that to ignore it is to condone it. Amen to Elizabeth Holtzman (and to Paul Krugman in the New York Times of 1/16/09).

George Mendelson

Kill Devil Hills, NC

Holding Bush and the neo-fascist thugs such as Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Pearl, Dick Chaney, Donald Rumsfeld et al. accountable for violating the Constitution and possibly committing war crimes is essential if US wants to gain any credibility in the world, and more importantly, to preserve American democracy. The purpose of the investigations should not be vendetta but accountability, and to figure out how these types of violations can be prevented in the future. I recognize that dealing with the crumbling economy is a priority; but I think Obama said during the campaign that the president should be able to undertake more than one (important) task at a time. Re-establishing the rule of law and accountability at all levels of government and public life, and reasserting the primacy of the Constitution, is much too important a requirement of change to leave it for a latter date. Progressives must find a way to make accountability of Bush and his comrades a primary focus on day one.

M. Siddique

Chevy Chase, MD

I'm a moderate Democrat. If we follow Ms. Holtzman's proposal to conduct a full-scale investigation of the Bush administration with an eye to filing criminal charges, we will lose the next election! The American public does not support this return to the past, and they won't vote for a party that would blithely take the country in that direction. That, after all, is what Obama appealed to in the electorate. And isn't it more important to control power than to cater to some peoples' desire for a catharsis?

Moreover, if Ms. Holtzman cannot now point to specific criminal statutes that have been violated, to do an analysis of what elements in those statutes must be proved and what evidence will be used to prove them, just how likely is it that an investigation will turn up more? We need to know if the statute of limitations applies and just what other legal defenses could be raised. Moreover, any prosecutor must present evidence that is sufficient to overcome a reasonable doubt, the highest standard of proof in American law. Ms. Holtzman is familiar with just this kind of analysis, she having been a New York District Attorney.

I think the advocates of calling the Bushies criminals and dragging the country through a repeat of the state of siege of the 1990s, should be made to present such an analysis to the public so that we know what we'd be getting into. Just calling people criminals doesn't make it so. Thank you.

Robert Abbott

Gilbert, AZ

No president in his right mind would ignore the calls of almost the entire population to demand accountability for abuses and war crimes committed by the Bush administration. So when Obama, who hasn't even been inaugurated yet, sends out signals that "we have to look forward," essentially it means that the US is hiding something that dare not be exposed, no matter what. Surely, one would say, we know everything already? Could it possibly mean that the ridiculous "conspiracy theory" that 9/11 was an inside job dare not be exposed? What about that ridiculous theory that Israel demolished the World Trade Center with explosives? That certainly seems ridiculous! So if those theories are so ridiculous, why engender a cover-up which only makes it look true? The world is waiting.

stanley hersh

New York, NY

The only way that Bush could sidestep this is if he pardons himself and pretty much issues a blanket pardon for his entire administration. That is the only way he would have out. Bush, Cheney, Gonzalez and whoever else had a hand in undermining the constitution and committing war crimes should be brought up on those charge and prosecuted to the fullest extent that the law allows. It is time to put an end to the abuse of power that people like George Bush and Dick Cheney think they have. The truth will become known and the best disinfectant in the world is the harsh light of the gleaming sun. I personally think if Cheney finds the conditions at Gitmo to be so accommodating he should spend a month there and be treated as a so-called enemy combatent.

The thing that is truly amazing about the last few weeks is that both Bush and Cheney have admitted to war crimes! Yet the part of the American populace that are still willing to follow these lunatics believes that they did nothing wrong. Looking back at the past eight years of my life, I am amazed at some of the things that have gone on in this country of ours (proud or otherwise, I leave that up to the reader to decide) and wonder--what if Bush had never been elected, would we been in this mess that we are now?

John Loughry

Harrisburg , PA

I have read and heard that international crimes charges are unlikely to reach Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeld, but are likely to be brought against their legal advisers. I believe this should be the path taken within the United States as well. Further, I believe the process is best begun by Congress. Mr. Obama is wise to keep back his public advocacy of prosecution and would be wise to order full cooperation with Congress, and any foreign judiciaries.

In that manner, the full extent of criminal activity will unfold with less overheated and divisive rhetoric from the right, and is more likely to result in a firm case for prosecution, which will eventually reach the highest levels of this detestable cabal of malefactors.

Barry Blitstein

New York, NY

Obama can do all that Holtzman urges. He should do all that she urges. But he won't.

The same forces that propelled a dying Jack Javits to run against Holtzman for NY senator in '80 on the undemocratic Liberal Party ticket are even more powerful today (vide Schumer), and have boxed in Obama (vide, e.g., Rahm Emmanuel).

Alas, there will be no legal precedents set that in any way limit those forces' freedom of movement... not until they have profoundly discredited themselves. Which may prove too late for our Republic.

That bleak prospect, however, is no reason to give up trying. More power to you, Liz Holtzman.

R.H. Weber

Brooklyn, NY