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Pelosi wants investigation of Bush officials, open to prosecutions
Raw Story- David Edwards and Jeremy Gantz Published: Sunday January 18, 2009
In a Sunday morning interview with Fox’ Chris Wallace, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi signaled that she’s open to backing prosecutions of Bush administration officials that may arise from congressional hearings.
“I think we have to learn from the past and we cannot let the politicizing of, for example, the Justice Department to go unreviewed,” said Pelosi, . “The past is prologue, we learn from it… I want to see the truth come forth.”
The California Democrat suggested that the Bush administration’s politicized Justice Department’s should be further investigated for wrongdoings.
“I think you look at each item and see what is a violation of the law and do we even have a right to ignore it,” Pelosi said. “We have a contempt of Congress against members of the executive branch who withheld information from us.”
On January 6th, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) unveiled a bill that would create a commission to investigate questionable policies of the Bush administration, including torture and wiretapping programs.
Named the National Commission on Presidential War Powers and Civil Liberties, the panel comprise “experts outside government service” who would review the Bush administration’s “claims of unreviewable war powers.”
We’ll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song
I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Raw Story | A group calling itself “Arrest Bush 2009” has announced its intention to hold a “Yes We Can Arrest Bush” event in front of the FBI Building in Washington, DC during the Inaugural Parade.
However, coordinator Jose Rodriguez insists, “It’s not a protest; it’s a celebratory event.”
Arrest Bush 2009, which is sponsored by the Washington Peace Center, After Downing Street, and Shoes For Bush, is demanding that Bush be arrested for war crimes and for lying to the American people.
Calls for Bush’s arrest began last March, when two Vermont towns approved a measure “that would instruct police to arrest President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for ‘crimes against our Constitution.'” In September, a large “Arrest Bush/Cheney” banner was hung on a ledge at the National Archives by members of Veterans for Peace.
According to the press release from Arrest Bush 2009, “We call for the arrest of George W. Bush for instigating war against a sovereign nation that posed no threat, wanton attacks on civilian populations, use of torture, and violations of the U.N. Charter. We call for the arrest of George W. Bush for lying to Congress and the American people about the reasons for invading Iraq, for the deaths of US service members and Iraqi civilians, and for the abuse of the United States Constitution.”
Shoes for Bush also plans a separate “shoe hurling action” on January 19 to protest what they anticipate will be Bush’s “unprecedented pardoning of crimes he authorized.” Veterans are encouraged to bring their combat boots to hurl.
During Bush’s second inauguration in January 2005, an estimated 10,000 antiwar protesters showed up in Washington, and there were protests in other cities as well. However, it is not clear how much attention anti-Bush protests will garner on a day when most Americans may simply be glad to see him leaving town.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – On the eve of his historic inauguration, Barack Obama joined on Monday in honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, underscoring racial barriers the Illinois Democrat overcame to be elected the first black U.S. president.
Taking time away from preparing for an address he will deliver when he is sworn in on Tuesday, Obama visited wounded troops at a military hospital and issued a call to Americans to remember King by recommitting themselves to public service.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors streamed into Washington for inaugural festivities but the celebration was tempered by the daunting challenges Obama will face — unfinished wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Obama’s inauguration, coming back-to-back with Monday’s federal holiday honoring King, has added to the deep symbolism of an African-American receiving the keys to the White House, which was built partly with the labor of black slaves.
“Today, we celebrate the life of a preacher who, more than 45 years ago, stood on our national mall in the shadow of Lincoln and shared his dream for our nation,” Obama said in a statement.
“Tomorrow, we will come together as one people on the same mall where Dr. King’s dream echoes still. As we do, we recognize that here in America, our destinies are inextricably linked. We resolve that as we walk, we must walk together.”
But I’m passing all these on to my segment producer, Jonathan Larsen, with whom I’ve worked on and off since we were at CNN in 2001-02. He compiled and wrote this one; I honestly made about four small changes in it.
Monday we go gently after the Torture Prosecution…
Thanks to all, and to all a good night.
Offered with as little commentary as possible: the most astonishing and damning review of the Bush Administration ever seen, courtesy of Keith Olbermann. And half of the administration’s morally negligent or even criminal activities didn’t even make it into the 8-minute summary; much of the other half was mentioned only briefly.
Still, if you can bear to watch a replay of the misery through with we have suffered these last eight years, it has never been done better than this:
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