Prosecution of Bush Officials

It took decades for Chile's Agusto Pinichet and Cambodian officials to face justice. The wheels of justice might turn slowly, but with our conviction in the principles, and our voices, we can ensure they grind their way to conclusion.

The increase in the volume of emails the I'm receiving on the prosecution of Bush and others for serious crimes is increasing. E-Mail titles include the following:

• "Criminal Prosecution and Accountability"
  
• "Bush Tortured"
  
• "50 Top war criminals who need to be prosecuted"
  
• "Holder Warned that Limited Investigation and Selective Prosecution would Violate the Law"
  

On the last item, the Convention Against Torture (CAT), signed by President Reagan, requires Attorney General Holder to investigate and hold accountable all those involved in torture. A letter signed by 150 organizations has been sent to Attorney General Holder. The Justice Department's credibility, and thus its legitimacy, is on the line.

The list goes on, and the momentum builds....

For Your Convenience:

• Contact the Broadcast Media
  
• Contact the Newspapers
  
• Contact the US Senate
  
• Contact the House of Representatives

Mr. Holder: Investigate and Prosecute Bush Officials

My letter to Attorney General Eric Holder:

I urge Secretary Holder to support the Department's investigation of numerous crimes committed by the Bush Administration.

It would be unhealthy to America's future if we brushed it all under the rug. To quote Bob Marley, "In this great future, you can't forget your past."

Do the right thing.

Short 'n sweet.

Mukasey in Denial over the Maher Arar Rendition

Maher Arar, a Syrian-born software engineer, was taken into custody by U.S. officials during a 2002 stopover in New York while on his way home to Canada and then rendered without any due process to Syria. There he was imprisoned for a year and tortured.

Canada has found him innocent and paid $10 million in compensation. The United States, as represented by the Bush administration, remains in denial.

The latest form of denial comes from U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey who rejected a request from lawmakers that an outside special counsel investigate the case. I say, lets wait until Obama wins the election and nominates John Edwards to be U.S. Attorney General. Then we'll find out the details of the criminal acts committed by the Bush administration in this case.

Photos:

1. Promotional Poster for the movie Rendition

2. Maher Arar and his children.

3. John Edwards, the next U.S. Attorney General.

Sources:

Reuters, U.S. rejects outside probe of Canadian sent to Syria, by James Vicini, July 24, 2008.

Wall Street Dominos Start to Fall

The Associated Press reports that Bears Sterns hedge fund managers

Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin were accused of encouraging investors to stay in their hedge funds, heavily exposed to subprime mortgages, even as they knew the credit market was in serious trouble.

AP puts this in the context of wider action...

The arrests came as the Justice Department in Washington announced the indictments of more than 400 players in the real-estate industry since March in a crackdown on mortgage fraud. Sixty were arrested on Wednesday alone.

It's hard to say this is honest justice when we know that the system and culture is corrupt to the core. We saw similar actions of "justice" when Enron, Arthur Anderson and others were in the spot light... but there doesn't seem to be a deterrent effect.

It has been noted that "if it pays, it plays" in regard to illegal activity. In addition to jail time, we need to focus on getting the money back that has been stolen. If that means liquidating big player corporations, and paying off the workers who will have to find new jobs, then so be it.

The corporate elite has robbed us every decade via a system that allows it. When John Edwards becomes the next Attorney General, we need to pressure him to change the system. That will be a true test of Obama's mouthing of the word "change."

Sources:

Associated Press, 2 charged on Wall Street in mortgage meltdown, June 19, 2008.

Will Edwards Prosecute Bush?

You might have heard it here first.... The call for John Edwards to be Attorney General.

Now we're hearing reports, like the following:

Another Democrat who has discussed strategy with friends in the Obama inner circle said that Mr Obama was openly considering asking Mrs Clinton to join his cabinet, alongside two other former presidential rivals: John Edwards, who is seen as a likely attorney general...

This notion was raised in my first video commentary: Prosecute Bush et al., Chapter 1

Mukasey Takes the Fifth for US on Torture

Attorney General Mukasey, who speaks for the United States on matters of law, could not say that torture is torture. Yes. It's truly come to be that openly Orwellian.

Everyone agrees that water boarding is torture, even Mukasey, as indicated in the following exchange with Senator Edward Kennedy:

“So let me ask you this,” Mr. Kennedy said. “Would waterboarding be torture if it was done to you?”

“I would feel that it was,” Mr. Mukasey said.

The reason Attorney General Mukasey could not admit that torture is torture is because, as the voice of the United States in legal matters, he would be admitting that the US committed torture, which is an international war crime. So, Mukasey effectively used the fifth amendment of the Constitution to avoid self-incrimination, the "self" being the United States of America. He did it on behalf of us, or should I say U.S.?

The illegality of waterboarding is not a boarder line judgment. Senator Patrick Leahy reminds us, "we prosecuted Japanese soldiers for waterboarding Americans during World War II."

Waterboarding often leads to lungs filling with water, actual drowning, not just the "simulation" of drowning. When the French committed waterboarding, during their occupation of Algeria, people died from it. French journalist Henri Alleg describes his experience during the Algerian war.

George Bush is responsible for besmirching the Country by making torture an open policy of the United States. It is a war crime for which he should face a grand jury.

Sources:

New York Times, Mukasy Demurs on Torture, January 30, 2008.