Dear President Obama ... the "Nuremberg Chalice" has arrived for America.

[understandinglife]

Letter to President Obama via whitehouse.gov 27 February 2009:

Good evening Mr President,

Thank you, once again, for your leadership.

Mr President, it is time for you and the Justice Department to halt the use of tired tactics to prevent the American people from seeing every aspect of the Bush/Cheney crime machine.

Mr President, it is time for you to bring the full force of your office to the support of Senators Leahy and Whitehouse.

To wit, Sir, I want to be certain you have read the following and to also be certain that the vast majority of Americans want the TRUTH:

Senator Whitehouse on Wed., 25 February 2009, on the floor of the US Senate - "Democracy is not a static institution, it is a living education - an ongoing education in freedom of a people. As Harry Truman said addressing a joint session of Congress back in 1947, "One of the chief virtues of a democracy is that its defects are always visible, and under democratic processes can be pointed out and corrected." We have to learn the lessons from this past carnival of folly, greed, lies, and wrongdoing, so that the damage can, under democratic processes, be pointed out and corrected.

If we blind ourselves to this history, we deny ourselves its lessons - lessons that came at too painful a cost to ignore. Those lessons merit disclosure and discussion. Indeed, disclosure and discussion make the difference between this history being a valuable lesson for the bright and upward forces of our democracy, or a blueprint for those darker forces to return and someday do it all over again.

As we work toward a brighter future ahead, to days when jobs return to our cities, capital to our businesses, and security to our lives, we cannot set aside our responsibility to take an accounting of where we are, what was done, and what must now be repaired.

We also have to brace ourselves for the realistic possibility that as some of this conduct is exposed, we and the world will find it shameful, revolting. We may have to face the prospect of looking with horror at our own country's deeds. We are optimists, we Americans; we are proud of our country. Contrition comes hard to us.

But the path back from the dark side may lead us down some unfamiliar valleys of remorse and repugnance before we can return to the light. We may have to face our fellow Americans saying to us, "No, please, tell us that we did not do that, tell us that Americans did not do that" - and we will have to explain, somehow. This is no small thing, and not easy; this will not be comfortable or proud; but somehow it must be done.

Chairman Leahy has embarked on the process of considering a new commission; one appropriate to the task of investigating the damage the Bush Administration did to America, to her finest traditions and institutions, to her reputation and integrity. The hearing he's called in coming days will more thoroughly examine this question, to help us determine how best to move forward. I stand with him. Before we can repair the harm of the last eight years, we must learn the truth."

Mr President, please echo Senator Whitehouse and urge the Senate and House to bring into the light of day every sordid detail, every inhumane act.

If you do not, you paint EVERY American with the brush of crimes against humanity; you make us complicit in both the acts and the actions to conceal and failure to hold accountable those whom are responsible.

Associate Justice Robert Jackson warned every American on November 20, 1945 - "We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants today is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our lips as well."

Sir, the "Nuremberg Chalice" is now at our lips. We will be a poisoned Nation if those responsible are not held accountable by you, Mr President, and your colleagues in Congress.

Thank you.

[understandinglife]

1. Will write him again by the end of the week ...

... depending on what he does regarding Senator Leahy's scheduled hearings on Wed.

Thanks for the rec list.

Peace.

[puebloknot]

2. The question of what Mr. Obama wants in this matter is irrelevant.

That he wants to look ahead, and not "wallow" in the negativity of the past is a moot point. History, and our claim to be a nation of laws, cries for a tribunal which will try those who have committed crimes against immunity and administer punishment. A truth commission might be simply a distraction, and the question of how the Statute of Limitations might apply to Bushco (which seems far from clear) makes it imperative that this matter rise to the highest order of importance in the affairs of the Congress. Time is of the essence, from both a legal and moral point of view.

The German people (those complicit, and those merely of German birth who did not go along) suffered the censure of the world (and they do so still) over the crimes of their Nazi leaders. We, with high-minded intent, and with the support of our alllies, made a statement to the world at Nuremberg that we would not tolerate this kind of behavior. "Never again" has been a rallying cry on many fronts since that historical legal/political event.

To borrow a phrase from Vincent Bugliosi: From their graves, those who have died in our illegal occupation of Iraq -- our troops and the Iraqi victims of our crimes -- cry for justice. We as a nation can do no less than to honor their sacrifice with swift justice.

(Good to "see" you again, UnderstandingLife. Just last night I had the impusle to write to you and see how you are. And here you are today! Interesting "coinkydinky! :hi: )