Bush Administration Leaves a Terrible Mess for Next Democratic President
I've said many times on this blog that the next Democratic president and a real Democratic Congress will have their work cut out for them undoing all the damage this Bush administration has inflicted on this country and its people.
Today's NYTimes editorial says, "For more than a year, President Bush has refused to honor legitimate requests from the Democratic majority in Congress for legal documents that he used to justify ordering the abuse, humiliation and torture of prisoners. This week, the Justice Department finally agreed to show some papers to members of the House and Senate.
"For starters, it is not yet clear whether the White House will turn over the complete and unredacted opinions of the government lawyers that claimed the president could ignore the law and the Geneva Conventions.
"Even if the documents are not censored, the Bush administration has agreed to give them only to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. It is withholding them from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has supervisory power over the Justice Department and is charged with assessing the legality of government policies.
"Finally, Mr. Bush continues to use a bogus claim of secrecy to keep the documents on torture from those who most need and deserve to see them — the public.
"On Sunday, Mark Mazzetti reported in The Times that the Justice Department still claims that intelligence agents can legally use interrogation methods prohibited under American and international law."
This has been the typical method of operation of the anti-Constitution, anti-human rights, anti-rule of law worst administration and president in US history.
The editorial concludes: "The next president and Congress will have to work very hard to uncover all the ways Mr. Bush has twisted or evaded the law, and then set things right."
However, it may take, at minimum, the entire first term of the next Democratic president and Congress to repair just some of the harm this Bushite administration has caused.
Impeachment should be back on the table. Congress didn't carry through with the impeachment of Nixon, so we got Reagan who committed high crimes, like Iran-Contra, and damaged the country; Reagan wasn't held to account so we got Bush I and II. Those mistakes shouldn't be repeated again.
Today's NYTimes editorial says, "For more than a year, President Bush has refused to honor legitimate requests from the Democratic majority in Congress for legal documents that he used to justify ordering the abuse, humiliation and torture of prisoners. This week, the Justice Department finally agreed to show some papers to members of the House and Senate.
"For starters, it is not yet clear whether the White House will turn over the complete and unredacted opinions of the government lawyers that claimed the president could ignore the law and the Geneva Conventions.
"Even if the documents are not censored, the Bush administration has agreed to give them only to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. It is withholding them from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has supervisory power over the Justice Department and is charged with assessing the legality of government policies.
"Finally, Mr. Bush continues to use a bogus claim of secrecy to keep the documents on torture from those who most need and deserve to see them — the public.
"On Sunday, Mark Mazzetti reported in The Times that the Justice Department still claims that intelligence agents can legally use interrogation methods prohibited under American and international law."
This has been the typical method of operation of the anti-Constitution, anti-human rights, anti-rule of law worst administration and president in US history.
The editorial concludes: "The next president and Congress will have to work very hard to uncover all the ways Mr. Bush has twisted or evaded the law, and then set things right."
However, it may take, at minimum, the entire first term of the next Democratic president and Congress to repair just some of the harm this Bushite administration has caused.
Impeachment should be back on the table. Congress didn't carry through with the impeachment of Nixon, so we got Reagan who committed high crimes, like Iran-Contra, and damaged the country; Reagan wasn't held to account so we got Bush I and II. Those mistakes shouldn't be repeated again.
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