A note I sent to Senator Leahy. I await the answer from his office:

[mmonk]

Before I sign the petition for a truth and reconciliation commission, rank and file Democrats who continue to try and bring victory for Democratic candidates are still puzzled on why the party can’t just simply uphold the Constitution and the rule of law when dealing with the remnants of the Bush administration. We still have a fear that commissions are where the truth and revelations of wrongdoing by government officials go to die. My question is would the Constitution and the rule of law be used in this commission or would it all be fudged to sweep everything under the rug? We have seen how the Bush administration officials behave when they know they face no consequences such as was the case with impeachment off the table and no enforcement of congressional subpoenas. What assurances do we the people have that finally we will be represented in a true defense of our Constitution? I will be more than willing to sign if we are adequately assured this won’t turn into another way for the truth to be avoided.

Always a supporter of your good work

xxxxxxx x xxxx (mmonk)

[annabanana]

1. Good letter

Let us know if you hear from him . . .

[mmonk]

3. Thanks

[Dhalgren]

2. The "commission" will be a whitewash.

As Turley said on Olbermann, a commission is not needed. A grand jury is needed. Bills of indictment are needed. The legal system needs to be turned loose on these murderous bastards and let the chips fall where they may. But, no, this administration and this congress will let the Bush criminals off the hook and when they do (because they will) then they will be culpable, the Obama administration will be part of the war crimes. President Obama will be in company with Richard Nixon: the President is above the law, and so, evidently, are the President's men.

The twisted bastards who piled the naked bodies of prisoners at Abu Graib were prosecuted (at least some of them), why is any of these war crimes different?

A "commission" is a whitewash and both President Obama and Senator Leahy know it...

[mmonk]

4. Holder invoked the state secrets privilege.

That's a strong hint justice may not be available to us.

[Dhalgren]

5. And what you just said is the whole point:

justice. And it IS justice for us; for us, for the Constitution, for our children and their children, for the citizens of the world. Our government has murdered, stolen, pillaged, burned, bombed, disappeared, and tortured citizens from all over the world, including our own country. These blood-drunk animals must be tried and, if found guilty, sentenced to whatever the maximum is - then double it...

[mmonk]

6. Yes it is. We have to find a trigger for justice if the Justice Department

seeks to deny justice and the court allows them the opportunity to deny it. The flaw in our system construct was to entrust justice with the executive branch, but I understand the founders' thinking of not wanting the judiciary to control all governent function.

[EFerrari]

7. If they had really prosecuted Iran-Contra, half of our torture president's appointees

wouldn't have been back in power. It's not like we haven't been here before.

[mmonk]

8. Yes, we've been here before and learned nothing. Now it's worse and

still nothing. This may be our last chance, especially if the other party gains seats next time. Thus, we will have really lost some of the pendulum swing permanently.

[EFerrari]

9. I'm glad you took the trouble of writing this letter.

I'm going to write one, too, running down the complete failure of the anthrax case brought to us by the Bush Justice Department.

I'm hoping the immediate nature of Senator Leahy's interest in that case will be persuasive.

On the other hand, if he felt threatened enough by that whole episode, that would explain his position today. It's very difficult to tell. :shrug:

[mmonk]

10. Here's an email I received from the American Freedom Campaign.

We should sign it as well as write our letters to people such as Leahy.

We can't handle the truth

Dear (mmonk),

The subject line of this email isn't an admission of weakness. Rather, it is a cry of frustration. We have grown sick and tired of the Bush administration getting away with murder - figuratively, if not literally. And we are done watching Congress spin its wheels merely talking about it.

The latest outrage? Earlier this week, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) called for the establishment of a "Truth Commission" to look into various unconstitutional actions by the Bush administration. As Leahy described the commission, "such a process could involve subpoena powers and even the authority to obtain immunity from prosecutions for anything accept perjury in order to get to the full truth."

We don't want the "truth." We want a full criminal investigation led by the Department of Justice, with prosecutions where it is found that the laws of the United States have been violated. If you agree, click on the following link to send an E-mail to the Department of Justice:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26685

Why should we waste our time looking for "the truth" when the man who produced the legal memo setting the stage for torture under President Bush, John Yoo, recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Bush -- on three separate occasions! -- authorized waterboarding, an interrogation technique universally recognized as torture? That is the truth. Now let's start the prosecution process.

Why should we waste our time looking for "the truth" when we have known for years that the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program was conducted outside of the legal boundaries established by the FISA laws? That is the truth. Now let's start the prosecution process.

We know Bush administration officials defied congressional subpoenas. Attorney General Michael Mukasey may have even violated the law by directing the U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia to ignore a statute providing that he "shall" bring a contempt citation issued by Congress to a grand jury. We don't need to go through the charade of watching Karl Rove defy congressional subpoenas again.

We don't need the truth. We need the Justice Department to do its job and launch a criminal investigation. Please use the following link to ask Attorney General Eric Holder when he will start this process:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26685

Once you have sent your message, please forward this email widely to friends and family. In the alternative, you can use the "Tell-A-Friend" option on the AFC Web site that will appear after you have sent your message.

Thank you so much for taking action.

Steve Fox
Campaign Director
American Freedom Campaign Action Fund