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Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other members of the Bush administration "conveyed the message that physical pressures and degradation were appropriate treatment for detainees," claims a Senate Armed Services Committee report issued Thursday.
According to the committee, prisoners were tortured in the Iraqi prison Abu Ghraib, the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other US military installations. Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ) were responsible for the content of the Senate's findings.
The report determined that placing the blame on "a few bad apples," as Bush administration officials attempted to do in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib scandal, is inappropriate. Is this the first step towards seeing some of the people from the Bush administration in courts and possibly in jail?
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. ~Chinese Proverb
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. ~Jon Hammond
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I don't know quite how this works. If Rumsfeld were charged with something in the current administration's few remaining weeks(  ), I realize that Mr. Bush could pardon him. However, can he be pardoned pre-emptively or perhaps I should say generally, to prevent charges being pressed on, oh, Jan. 25?
Julia
A 45’s quicker than 409
Betty’s cleaning’ house for the very last time
Betty’s bein’ bad
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Yes, Julia...President Bush can issue preemptive pardons for potentially criminal activity committed during his term in office. In fact, a resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives last month to prevent exactly that. I don't know the current status of that resolution...probably buried deep in some committee.  Rep. Nadler Moves to Prevent Pre-Emptive White House Pardons
Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-08), Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, introduced a Resolution in the House of Representatives demanding that President Bush refrain from issuing pre-emptive pardons of senior officials in his Administration during the final 90 days of office. H.RES.1531 is in response to President Bush’s widespread abuses of power and potentially criminal transgressions against our Constitution. The Resolution aims to prevent undeserved pardons of officials who may have been co-conspirators in the President’s unconstitutional policies, such as torture, illegal surveillance and curtailing of due process for defendants.
Larry
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"To the intelligent man or woman, life appears infinitely mysterious. But the stupid have an answer for every question." - Edward Abbey
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Perhaps Congressman Nadler should retake his high school civics class. The authority to issue pardons is granted to the President in the Constitution of the United States. Congress may propose an amendment to that provision but may not effect one. So any resolution, even if passed over a Presidential veto (a certainty in this case!) it would in fact have no effect.
The most Congress can do is to refuse to authorize/appropriate any funds for use by the President in issuing pardons. Which would mean he'd have to buy his own pens and paper!
"The white men were as thick and numerous and aimless as grasshoppers, moving always in a hurry but never seeming to get to whatever place it was they were going to." Dee Brown
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Julia
A 45’s quicker than 409
Betty’s cleaning’ house for the very last time
Betty’s bein’ bad
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I posted a prediction some time back that Bush will resign minutes before the inaugurations, shortly after signing a slew of these pardons, so that the new President, Richard Cheyney, can pardon George W. Bush as his only presidential action. Then the two of them will walk out on to the platform to watch the 45th President of the United States sworn into office, smiling because they know what he will find on his desk when he gets to the Oval Office after the Inaugural ceremony!
"The white men were as thick and numerous and aimless as grasshoppers, moving always in a hurry but never seeming to get to whatever place it was they were going to." Dee Brown
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'course just as Pelosi refused to consider impeachment, any action by the political establishment is very unlikely... bringing to mind the adage about "honor among thieves".
Seems like I remember many Senate Reports... but this failing memory is having trouble recalling any subsequent, meaningful action...
I know that SOME THINGS had to happen as a result of investigations, hearings, and reports... Just that I can't remember... Any help here?
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I have never spoken to Speaker Pelosi nor anyone on her staff, so I can only surmise what was in her mind regarding impeachment when she took the gavel. Recall that the Senate had a working majorit on paper only, that Turncoat Lieberman was a solid champion of the Bush foreign policy, and that Senator McConnell could run parliamentary rings around Harry Reid in his sleep on a bad day. So no freakin' way George Bush was going to be impeached. Not even clear that an impeachment trial ever would have been scheduled.
In that context, Speaker Pelosi is looking at a fractious process to get articles of impeachment through committee, much less past the full House. And reaching a majority at either committee level or full House level would have been possible only if House members in uncertain districts were "forced" to vote "aye". We often criticize for failure to take a long term view of things.
IMHO, Speaker Pelosi looked at the minimal, if any, gain that would arise from impeaching but not convicting the President, compared that to the maximum loss if House members had to vote yea or nay on the matter (loss of the House to the GOP in the 2008 election) and concluded that the risk was not worth taking, in light of the inability to actually remove his butt from the chair.
Symbolic victory is nice for the tombstone but not much use in daily life.
I recall some reports our of the General Accounting Office, or whatever the heck they call it now, on things like body armor, humvee armor, strategy, contractors, etc., but nothing explicitly regarding the behavior of senior administrators. That will come out but it will be after the change in January.
"The white men were as thick and numerous and aimless as grasshoppers, moving always in a hurry but never seeming to get to whatever place it was they were going to." Dee Brown
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I recall some reports our of the General Accounting Office, or whatever the heck they call it now, on things like body armor, humvee armor, strategy, contractors, etc., but nothing explicitly regarding the behavior of senior administrators. That will come out but it will be after the change in January.  One can only hope!
Life is Good!
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As usual, we kick the vampire who is already down on the ground, rather than the ones who are still flapping their wings.
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