Conyers Introduces Bill To Create Commission That Will Investigate Bush Policies For Torture And Wiretapping

Think Progress- By Satyam Khanna at 4:32 pm

Conyers introduces bill creating commission to investigate Bush’s torture and wiretapping policies.»

TPM notes that House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) has introduced legislation setting up a National Commission on Presidential War Powers and Civil Liberties. The panel’s goal is to “establish a Blue Ribbon Commission comprised of experts outside government service to investigate the broad range of policies of the Bush administration that were undertaken by the Bush administration under claims of unreviewable war powers.” While he is unlikely to prosecute Bush officials for war crimes, President-elect Obama has hinted at support for such a commission.

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Conyers: On Prosecuting Bush Team In World Court “Stay Tuned”

Conyers On Prosecuting Bush Team: “Stay Tuned”

January 9, 2009 10:08 AM

Huffington Post- Sam Stein

Rep. John Conyers, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is still invested in prosecuting members of the Bush administration once they leave office.

In an interview on the “Bill Press Show” Friday, the Michigan Democrat floated the notion that the Bush team’s illegal wiretapping, torture, detention, and other practices could land some members in an international tribunal.

“I don’t want to get too speculative on that, because it’s still under review,” said Conyers on the radio show. “Now, remember, violation of the federal criminal code doesn’t end because you leave office. If a crime has been committed and there seems to be reasonable evidence that it did get committed, there’s nothing for a person to be prosecuted… Leaving office doesn’t free you up from what you may have done wrong … Anyone that leaves office, including [the] President … there’s the World Court … They have tribunals … This thing is not over with. As they say: Stay tuned.”

MORE HERE

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Obama’s Intel Picks Sends Message That Days Of Harsh Interrogations & Warrantless Wiretapping Are Over

Obama’s Intel Picks Short On Direct Experience

PAMELA HESS | January 5, 2009 09:44 PM EST |

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama’s decision to fill the nation’s top intelligence jobs with two men short on direct experience in intelligence gathering surprised the spy community and signaled the Democrat’s intention for a clean break from Bush administration policies.

Former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, an eight-term congressional veteran and administrative expert, is being tapped to head the CIA. Retired Adm. Dennis Blair is Obama’s choice to be director of national intelligence, a selection expected for weeks, according to two Democrats who spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama has not officially announced the choices.

The Obama transition team’s long delay in selecting CIA and national intelligence directors is a reflection of the complicated demands of the jobs and Obama’s own policies and priorities.

Obama is sending an unequivocal message that controversial administration policies approving harsh interrogations, waterboarding and extraordinary renditions _ the secret transfer of prisoners to other governments with a history of torture _ and warrantless wiretapping are over, said several officials.

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Cheney: If Bush Was Not Impeached It Must Be Legal

Cheney: Bush’s actions legal if not impeached

Raw Story- Andrew McLemore
Published: Sunday January 4, 2009

If you don’t get punished, you didn’t go anything wrong, right?

That’s the message Vice President Dick Cheney gave in an interview with CBS‘ Bob Schieffer on Sunday, suggesting that a president’s actions are legal if those actions didn’t result in his impeachment.

Asked by Schieffer if he believed that anything the president does in time of war is legal, Cheney said there is “historic precedent of taking action that you wouldn’t take in peacetime.”

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Did FBI Lawyers Know Warrantless Wiretaps Were ‘Probably Illegal’?

Whistleblower: FBI lawyers knew warrantless wiretaps were ‘probably illegal’

Raw Story- Nick Juliano
Published: Monday December 15, 2008

The former FBI agent who blew the whistle on the Bush administration’s decision to circumvent the law in order to warrantlessly eavesdrop on Americans decided to go to the press after a senior government lawyer tried to steer him away from questioning the “probably illegal” surveillance program.

Newsweek investigative reporter Michael Isikoff profiled Thomas M. Tamm this weekend, revealing the circumstances surrounding the decorated agent’s decision to become a secret source for the New York Times reporters who would reveal the story of the warrantless wiretapping activities.

Tamm uncovered evidence of the extra legal surveillance while working with the Justice Department’s Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, which handled sensitive wiretaps of suspected terrorists, when he discovered that some surveillance seemed to be happening outside the boundaries of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

MORE HERE

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