Conyers Identifies 26 Laws and Regulations Bush Administration May Have Violated

[understandinglife]

Do you remember that press release?

Do you remember that Congressman Conyers and his minority party colleagues have done everything they possibly could to bring attention to the criminality of Bush and his neoconster minions?

That headline appeared on 4 August 2006 - hardly anyone in the corporate media noticed.

Rove may have chuckled.

Cheney likely didn't waste a sneer.

Bush, ... oh forget about it.

4 August 2006, Congressman Conyers was the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee - meaning he barely could get a closet for a meeting and had zero access to a subpoena.

Well, it's 18 November 2006, and Congressman Conyers is on his way to being Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee - he's in charge because "We the People ...." elected a majority of Democratic Party members to OUR House of Representatives.

So, let's reflect a moment on what Congressman Conyers has been busy doing these past two years as we read his statement on 4 August 2006:

Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, today released his long-awaited “Constitution in Crisis” report. The 350-page Conyers report -- supported by more than 1,400 footnotes -- compiles the accumulated evidence of Bush Administration misconduct associated with the run-up to the Iraq war, torture and other abuses, the outing of Valerie Plame and retaliation against Administration critics, and unlawful domestic surveillance.

:

"The situation we find ourselves in today under the administration of George W. Bush is systemically worse than previous scandals such as Watergate and Iran-Contra. The alleged acts of wrongdoing my staff has documented -- which include making misleading statements about the decision to go to war; manipulating intelligence; facilitating and countenancing torture; using classified information to out a CIA agent; and violating federal surveillance and privacy laws -- are quite serious.
"It is tragic that our Nation has invaded another sovereign nation because 'the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy' (in the infamous words of the Downing Street Minutes) and that millions of innocent Americans have been subject to government surveillance outside of proper legal process.

Moreover, it is unforgivable that Congress has been unwilling to examine these matters or take actions to prevent these circumstances from occurring again. Since the Majority Party is unwilling to fulfill their oversight responsibilities, it is incumbent on individual Members of Congress as well as the American public to act to protect our constitutional form of government. It is with that purpose and in that spirit that I am releasing this report."

Congressman Conyers' updated could only be viewed by a sane and literate person as a massive, multi-faceted platform for indictment and prosecution.

Do you think that Congressman Conyers, having been in the much abused minority, and one citizen among all us in the vastly abused American public, will somehow 'move on' on 3 Jan 2007?

I doubt it.

Here's a tad sample why I doubt it:

Conclusion:

My Report has found that the last six years under the presidency of George W. Bush and the GOP-controlled Congress have brought about the constitutionally dangerous circumstances of not only abuse of power, but also unchecked abuse of power.

Unlike scandals such as Watergate and Iran-Contra, where Congress was able to investigate and respond to misconduct, the current Majority Party has shown little inclination to engage in basic oversight, let alone challenge the Administration directly. The courts, while operating as a partial check as the Hamdan case has shown, are slow to act and frequently unable to delve into many of the controversies presented due to limitations on standing, ripeness, and other procedural defenses asserted by the Administration. At the same time, unlike previous threats to civil liberties posed by the Civil War (suspension of habeas corpus and eviction of Jews from portions of the Southern States); World War I (anti-immigrant “Palmer Raids”); World War II (internment of Japanese Americans); and, the Vietnam War (COINTELPRO); the risks to our citizens’ rights today are potentially more grave, as the war on terror has no specific end point.

It is clear to me that our constitutional protections are very precarious in the present day and age. While the Bush Administration continues to believe that our Nation operates best when a few people make decisions in secret, outside the purview of the Courts or Congress, Justice Breyer reminded us in Hamdam that “judicial insistence upon (consultation with Congress) does not weaken our Nation’s ability to deal with danger. To the contrary, that insistence strengthens the Nation’s ability to determine – through democratic means – how best to do so.” While the Administration and its allies operate as if the media needs to be reined in and intimidated, history has shown that the more free our press is, the more vibrant our democracy will be. Perhaps most importantly, while the Bush Administration has warned that “Americans need to be watch what they say”163 and charged that those who question their actions are “giving ammunition to America’s enemies,” Martin Luther King, Jr. warned us “there comes a time when silence is betrayal.” In my judgment, that time has come.

To me, the lesson of the constitutional crisis we find ourselves in today is that if we allow intelligence, military and law enforcement to do their work free of political interference, if we give them requisite resources and modern technologies, if we allow them to “connect the dots” in a straight forward and non-partisan manner, if we fairly exercise our oversight responsibilities, we can protect our citizens and defeat our enemies. We all want to fight terrorism, but we need to fight it the right way, consistent with our Constitution, and in a manner that serves as a model for the rest of the world.

If Congressman Conyers felt on 4 August 2006 that, as did Martin Luther King Jr. on 4 April 1967 "...there comes a time when silence is betrayal.", then do you think he feels any differently now that he shortly will have subpoena power?

"We the People ..." have every right to demand enforcement of the law and we have every justification in insisting that those whom we elect and compensate with our tax dollars do everything in their power to enforce the law.

"We the People ..." will not deny Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Abu Gonzales, Condi Rice, Richard Perle, .... and all the other neoconsters, and their corporate enablers, the right of habeas corpus or any other protection that the accused shall have access in the process of proving them guilty of crimes.

But, "We the People ..." will demand that investigations proceed robustly and, upon reasonable cause for indictment, that any and all offenders of the US Constitution, and any other US or International statute, be rigorously prosecuted.

I have little doubt Congressman Conyers will be out in front of us, because that is where he has been for these past several horrific years, doing all he could to protect each of us and our Republic.