April 4, 2009

Spain Has Named Names

Spain is indicting 6 men from the Bush administration for war crimes. Like torture, for instance.
[Kind of a reverse Spanish Inquisition, if you will. YOU torture—WE put you on trial. Cool!]

Here are the Inquisition Six:
Former Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales
Cheney’s former Chief of Staff, David Addington
Former Undersecretary of Defense, Douglas Feith
Pentagon General Counsel, William Haynes
Justice Dept lawyer, John Yu
Justice Dept official and current Federal Judge (and ain’t that a kick in the head?), Jay Bybee
xxx
Meanwhile, back in this country, Dawn Johnsen has been nominated for the post of the head of the Office of Legal Counsel.
This is the same Dawn Johnsen who wrote a piece for Slate in which she asked, “Where is the outrage? . . . . We must regain our ability to feel outrage whenever our government acts lawlessly.”
[I guess she hadn’t read my blog or all the blogs I follow every day— to which the only adjective I can apply is —outrage.]

Still, even if she should get out more and maybe increase her reading, she’s apparently an ok kind of person. She sees her job as reversing all the policies followed by the former Office of Legal Counsel.

So, guess who is working like hell to block her confirmation to her new post?

OK. No guess necessary. You know who’s blocking her. I just hope the Rethugs are as effective in her case as they were in blocking the stimulus package.

SIC EM, DAWN!
xxx
Also, meanwhile, it looks like Obama would like the BushCo legal problems to just go away. He’s not appointing a Special Prosecutor to begin the investigation into the previous administration’s lawbreaking.
Even though a lawyer [whose name I forget, sorry] wrote an op-ed recently announcing the profoundly UNsurprising conclusion that Bush’s presidency met all the qualifications of a dictatorship.
Duh.
Another guy who doesn’t get out into blogsville much, I guess. How many times have I—and have you—come to that conclusion? Huh? How many?

Well, since our president doesn’t have the gonads to go after the former administration for its crimes, I’m glad Baltasar Garzón, at least, is doing something.

Of course, the chances of anything coming of the— whatever the Spanish word for ‘indictments’ is —are virtually nil so long as the people involved don’t go out of the country.
And, as we all know, Bush went to Canada last month. But, so far, he’s not on the list— so maybe that doesn’t count.

btw—there has, I think, been a hint that not all names have been named yet and more indictments will be forthcoming. Gee, I hope so.
xxx
You can find more on this at yglesias.

2 comments:

Ramona Grigg said...

Yes, the outrage is there in the blogosphere--at least in my traveled circles--so I'm still hoping enough voices will be heard all the way to the White House. I realize the very thought of indicting the past administration is so politically incorrect, but if we're ever going to believe in "change", we have to see some signs of a willingness to prosecute.

We can't let Spain (and who knows how many countries after that) beat us to the draw. This is ultimately OUR responsibility.

Thanks for your post. Excellent, as always.

Ramona

two crows said...

thanks, Ramona--
yep -- I have a hard time believing that anyone can look at our situation and not believe we're outraged.

we're not taking to the streets -- yet -- but maybe that's because the majority of us [unlike our government officials] believe we are not above the law.

and, yes, if our president doesn't step up to the plate, he may be in for a surprise in 2012.

I wish him well in his attempts to save the country -- but I'd also like to have a country that's worth saving.