Bill Would Create Commission To Probe Bush Administration Crimes

[babylonsister]

Sleeper Bill of the Month: Our Own Truth & Reconciliation Commission
By Elana Schor - January 9, 2009, 3:00PM


It happens more often than you might think on Capitol Hill: a new bill is announced by a congressional office, with little fanfare and fewer co-sponsors than it deserves but a purpose so abundantly sensible that the plan cries out for more attention.

Such is the case with H.R. 104, a bill introduced on Tuesday by House judiciary committee chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and nine other lawmakers. The measure would set up a National Commission on Presidential War Powers and Civil Liberties, with subpoena power and a reported budget of around $3 million, to investigate issues ranging from detainee treatment to waterboarding to extraordinary rendition. The panel's members would hail from outside the government and be appointed by the president and congressional leaders of both parties.

Sounds like a great idea. In fact, it sounds a lot like Senate armed services committee chairman Carl Levin's (D-MI) proposed interrogation-policy commission that has been kicking around since 2005. So why does such a good bill only have 10 co-sponsors?

The answer is complicated -- and neither House Speaker Nancy Pelosi nor Majority Leader Steny Hoyer have returned my calls to talk about it. But I'd wager that it has a lot to do with the Democratic majority's desire to turn the page on the Bush years and begin pressing on with an Obama agenda designed to showcase its ability to govern. Nothing wrong with that.

But as the stimulus plan and financial regulation and health care reform and a host of worthy issues takes up the oxygen in Washington over the coming months, who will make sure that accountability for past misdeeds gets as much attention as current achievements? Who will shed more sunshine on the debacles of the Bush years?

more...

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/sleeper_bill_of_the_month.php

[spanone]

1. yes-yes-yes

r

[JDPriestly]

2. Maybe ensuring public awareness and accountability is our job.

[G_j]

3. K&R

[madokie]

4. We have to have investigations

Its the least can do for the lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan alone, both our Soldiers and the citizens of those countries.

[librechik]

5. 3 million is not nearly enough

The Pukkkes spent 75 million investigating Whitewater--only to find nothing there.

[mopinko]

8. yup. nt

[Idealism]

6. Horribly underfunded

The GOP spent over $110 million trying to find something to throw anyone in the Clinton administration behind bars, but we get only $3 million? Doomed to fail, the GOP have well-connected lawyers.

[rhett o rick]

7. "subpoena power " watch out. nm

[bvar22]

9. The Democratic "Leadership" wants to "turn the page".

I know why.

[dkofos]

10. Five years to late.

[hootinholler]

11. I hope they name it Grand Jury

That's the kind of commission we need looking into this shit.

-Hoot

[Solly Mack]

12. It's impossible to just "turn the page on the Bush years" and it's beyond callous

and just plain stupid for people to think it is...

There are people maimed, both physically and emotionally, from the torture they endured because of the US government. Don't they get a say in if that page gets turned or not? They do - whether anyone likes it or not... and America doesn't get to just erase what happened to them by turning the page....

There are people still being detained...still being "interrogated"...without cause, without rights...locked away...and most for absolutely no legitimate reason...some in secret prisons, some on foreign soil..some on American soil

Some of those detained have gone crazy.

There are children - some maimed, some orphaned, all terrorized for Bush's war of lies.

Families all over... torn apart...forever damaged.

There are soldiers...some blind, some deaf, some maimed, some brain-dead, some just plain dead...for Bush's war of lies.



Fuck anyone and everyone entertaining the thought of just turning the page

[Vincardog]

13. What Solly Mack said

[Solly Mack]

15. Thank you, Vincardog

:hug:

[Senator]

14. John Dean Stuffed This Nonsense On Countdown Tonight

"Commissions are where you take issues you don't want to confront and bury them." -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPTHvMJYKLY">John Dean on Countdown (approx 3:30 in)

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