Democratic Lawmakers May Investigate Bush Years

[kpete]

Source: NPR

Democratic Lawmakers May Investigate Bush Years

by David Welna

Morning Edition, January 13, 2009 · President-elect Barack Obama has suggested that when it comes to investigating the Bush administration on issues such as eavesdropping or terrorist interrogations, he'd rather look forward than back. He also said over the weekend that it may take time to close the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But Democrats in Congress have their own plans.

The interrogation policies that the Bush administration has used in Guantanamo include the waterboarding, or simulated drowning, of three detainees. The new chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, California's Dianne Feinstein, pointed out last week on the Senate floor that in the past, the Justice Department has actually prosecuted the use of waterboarding.

"The administration used what I believe to be faulty logic and faulty reasoning to say the waterboarding technique was not torture. In fact, it is," she said.

Obama also views waterboarding as torture. To find out who authorized its use in interrogations, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has introduced a bill http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/printers/110th/IPres090113.pdf creating a bipartisan commission with subpoena power. But when Obama was asked on ABC's This Week whether he'd back such a commission, he was cautiously noncommittal.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99276434

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NPR reports that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) says that he understands Obama’s reluctance to pursue investigations but that he may take matters into his own hands:

“I think that there’s a lot that remains to look at, and I appreciate that President Obama doesn’t want to make it his purpose as a new president, with America in real distress in many directions, to go back and look at all this, but I think we in Congress have an independent responsibility, and I fully intend to discharge that responsibility,” Whitehouse said.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Yeah... they need to investigate them because that is easier than

actually taking action when it is or was needed... they need to investigate because they weren't present during the years in question.

[Parche]

2. sheldon

he is one of my favorite senators

i know Obama couldnt really answer the question that he was asked recently
it wouldnt look good
but after he is sworn in, i hope they go after Bush with fire in their eyes

:hi:

[BR_Parkway]

3. Congressional hearings vs Justice dept mostly behind the scenes

investigation. I like it - all of it needs to be bought out in the open so it doesn't look like some partisan witch hunt.

[pleah]

4. There's that word again.

may....:eyes:

[Gamey]

5. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!

[Auggie]

6. No one is holding their breath I hope...

[G_j]

7. AP story: Democrats seek criminal probe of Bush 'abuses'

http://www.sunnewspapers.net/articles/fnnews.aspx?articleID=8223&fnpg=0

last updated at 1/13/2009 4:40:39 PM

Democrats seek criminal probe of Bush 'abuses'


WASHINGTON (AP) — The incoming Obama administration should launch a criminal investigation of Bush administration officials to see whether they broke the law in the name of national security, a House Democratic report said Tuesday.

President-elect Barack Obama has been more cautious on the issue and has not endorsed such a recommendation.

Along with the criminal probe, the report called for a Sept. 11-style commission with subpoena power, to gather facts and make recommendations on preventing misuse of power, according to the report by the Democratic staff of the House Judiciary Committee.

The report covers Bush administration policies that Democrats have protested for some time. Among them: interrogation of foreign detainees, warrantless wiretaps, retribution against critics, manipulation of intelligence and political dismissals of U.S. attorneys.

The White House was asked for comment on the report Tuesday, but did not immediately respond.

However, in an interview this month with The Associated Press, Vice President Dick Cheney said, "I can't speak for everybody in the administration, but my view would be that the people who carried out that program — intelligence surveillance program, the enhanced interrogation program, with respect to al Qaeda captives — in fact were authorized to do what they did ... ."

Cheney said legal opinions supported the officials.

"And I believe they followed those legal opinions and I don't have any reason to believe that they did anything wrong or inappropriate," the vice president said.

Obama said last week in a television interview, "We're still evaluating how we're going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions and so forth. And obviously we're going to be looking at past practices and I don't believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards."

..more..