Sat Mar 25, 2023, 06:27 PM

Zorro (15,239 posts)

If Trump Is Prosecuted, George W. Bush, Cheney, and Kissinger Should Be Too

Trump should be charged, but it is absurd that he is facing the possibility of arrest for paying hush money to a porn star while war criminals like George W. Bush walk free.

Donald Trump is reportedly obsessed with the possibility of a perp walk in handcuffs if he’s arrested. In private conversations, he’s said to have “mused openly” about whether he “should smile for the assembled media.”

I hope the arrest happens. Current and former presidents shouldn’t be above the law. If Trump exceeds the speed limit on his way home to his residence in Mar-a-Lago, he should be issued a ticket. If he never pays it, he should spend the same night you or I would in Palm Beach County Jail. But it’s obscene that Trump is facing the possibility of arrest for paying hush money to a porn star while war criminals like George W. Bush walk free.

Iraq and Stormy Daniels

We just passed the 20th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. At this point, only a few neoconservative dead-enders would argue that this invasion was a good idea. But mainstream American discourse has been slower to absorb that the decision to invade wasn’t just a “mistake” (however tragic or catastrophic) but a crime. I don’t just mean a moral crime—although it was certainly that. An entire nation was cluster-bombed, invaded, and occupied for years against the will of the bulk of its populace because of claims about “Weapons of Mass Destruction” never supported by any meaningful evidence.

And even if there had been any reason to think Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had “WMDs,” the idea that he was planning to share them with his mortal enemies in Al-Qaeda was always fantastical on its face. If you knew someone who came home the United States in a flag-draped coffin because of this transparently absurd patchwork of lies, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the rest of the war-planners did something to you that can never be redeemed.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/if-trump-is-prosecuted-george-w-bush-cheney-and-kissinger-should-be-too

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6 replies	Author	Time	Post
If Trump Is Prosecuted, George W. Bush, Cheney, and Kissinger Should Be Too (Original post)	Zorro	Mar 25	OP
Kissinger and Ford consented to Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor.	John1956PA	Mar 25	#1
We are in this mess partly b/c from 2006 on, nobody would start proceedings.	NullTuples	Mar 26	#2
NO SHIT	Skittles	Mar 26	#3
Did you read this?	Wonder Why	Mar 26	#4
"If Trump exceeds the speed limit...". Well, there is precedent for that.	markodochartaigh	Mar 26	#5
Sorry, BUT	Smackdown2019	Mar 27	#6

Response to Zorro (Original post)

Sat Mar 25, 2023, 06:37 PM

John1956PA (2,065 posts)

1. Kissinger and Ford consented to Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor.

The invasion led to 26 years of brutal oppression.

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Response to Zorro (Original post)

Sun Mar 26, 2023, 12:32 AM

NullTuples (6,017 posts)

2. We are in this mess partly b/c from 2006 on, nobody would start proceedings.

It was brought up perhaps a dozen times by various members of Congress but went nowhere. The oft-repeated mantra was, "we have to look forward, not back" when it came to unauthorized surveillance of Americans, and "war crimes are off the table" when it came to Iraq. I was so disappointed in my party. But to be fair, I think they thought Bush-Cheney-Rove was an anomaly rather than a harbinger.

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Response to Zorro (Original post)

Sun Mar 26, 2023, 01:09 AM

Skittles (149,513 posts)

3. NO SHIT

it's a FUCKING DISGRACE those warmongering pieces of SHIT were never held accountable

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Response to Zorro (Original post)

Sun Mar 26, 2023, 05:58 PM

Wonder Why (434 posts)

4. Did you read this?

[link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Military_Force_Against_Iraq_Resolution_of_2002|

Since Congress voted for it, it is not illegal under the Constitution. And WMD was only one of the reasons used for justification although it was presented to the public as the biggest reason since it would scare people the most.

If Congress had no approved what Bush did, they would not have needed to repeal that approval.

While the question of legality in the US did not reach the Supreme Court, would you expect them to take up the case now? And with the present Court?

As to International Tribunes, that assuredly is not going to be pushed against Bush by Biden and so far no other country would be able to push it very far since the majority of the Security Council with veto power were either involved or tacitly approved it.

That doesn't make it a just war but I don't even believe a Warren-era Court would have gone along with charging the Bush administration with war crimes.

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Response to Zorro (Original post)

Sun Mar 26, 2023, 09:07 PM

markodochartaigh (638 posts)

5. "If Trump exceeds the speed limit...". Well, there is precedent for that.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/22/ulysses-s-grant-arrest-speeding-horse-drawn-carriage

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Response to Zorro (Original post)

Mon Mar 27, 2023, 04:11 AM

Smackdown2019 (1,057 posts)

6. Sorry, BUT

Saddam Hussain was a bad person who tortured.
WMD? Maybe or maybe not.
I DONT believe we should of went into Iraq, but we did and had a foothold for the Middle East. Oil is fuel and WMD or not, OIL is worth protecting.

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