December 20, 2005
Every American should be outraged by the president’s attempt to justify
domestic spying. It’s wrong, and the president should acknowledge that fact.
He must be held accountable.
Congress should immediately launch a truly bipartisan investigation into the
administration’s spying campaign. If the Constitution and laws of the United
States were broken, Congress should censure the president. And if the lies, the
deceit and lawbreaking continue, Congress should take even more drastic action.
Either we are a nation of laws and moral values or we are not. We cannot pick
and choose which laws to abide by and which to ignore for the sake of
convenience or expediency.
George Bush is not above the law.
This is a military community, with thousands of active duty and retired members
of the armed forces among our friends and neighbors. The presidents’ actions
undermine their service to this nation.
The soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are fighting for true democracy, not a
democracy that condones domestic spying, or secret prisons or subversion of the
Constitution. President Bush has played right into the hands of ter-rorists and
diminished the reputation of the fine men and women who wear this nation’s
uniforms.
President Bush is the one sending the wrong message to our soldiers and our
enemies. Under his leadership, we are becoming known as a nation of hypocrites.
Lies and exaggerations
President Bush has built an administration founded on lies and exaggerations
and fear. And he has gotten away with it. It’s unconscionable.
President Bush promised to take action against any White House official leaking
classified information. Yet Karl Rove remains.
When CIA director George Tenet said weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were a
“slam dunk,” he was dead wrong. How was he punished? He was awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor.
George Bush says the United States does not torture, yet his administration
fought tooth and nail against an ex-plicit ban on torture. Abu Ghraib was an
exception, we were told. But then we learned there were secret prisons abroad
where who knows what goes on.
The president excoriated congressmen Monday for not blindly passing the
overbroad USA Patriot Act because they didn’t trust that there were adequate
safeguards against abuses. Ironically, that happened at the same time as
President Bush promised to continue the illegal wiretaps. He seemed to be
saying, “Trust me.”
Well, Mr. President, we are sorry to say that we don’t trust you or your
administration because you have abused that trust so often in the past.
Big Brother
His effort this week to turn around his abysmal poll numbers should fall on
deaf ears. The American public knows that domestic spying is something out of
George Orwell’s “1984.” Yet George Bush has made that “Big Brother”
fantasy a reality.
Attempting to justify the indefensible, the president on Monday said he would
continue the program of moni-toring phone calls and e-mails “for so long as
the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American
citizens” and added that it included safeguards to protect civil liberties.
Baloney!
The president could have gone to Congress and asked for permission to spy on
citizens in the United States. The Republican-controlled Congress would have
given the president permission in a heartbeat. Or he could use exist-ing wiretap
laws that allow a court order 72 hours after the taping has begun. That way, our
vital system of checks and balances would have been preserved.
In his arrogance, President Bush did not go to Congress or to the courts for
permission (although he claims that he did tell select members of Congress what
he was doing — as if that is enough). He sees himself above the law. As
commander in chief, he believes he is not bound by the Constitution and its
guarantees of civil liberties. In his view, the warrantless spying conducted by
the National Security Agency under his direction is an essential ele-ment in the
war against terrorists. In that belief he has lowered himself to their level.
And there is a disturbing pattern to his behavior.
It’s OK to lie about the reasons to go to war.
It’s OK to hold hundreds, maybe thousands of prisoners without charges,
without legal representation and for an indefinite period of time,
It’s OK to have secret prisons.
It’s OK to say the provisions of the Geneva Convention don’t apply in a war
on terror.
It’s OK to treat detainees inhumanely, because we can define them as we see
fit.
It’s OK to use the Patriot Act to pry into library records and lord knows what
else.
It’s OK, as NBC News reported, for the Pentagon to spy on peace activists.
It’s OK to trample on the rights of citizens.
Unchecked powers
At Monday’s news conference, President Bush angrily denied that he is using
unchecked or dictatorial pow-ers. But how else can you characterize his
behavior? What tyrant hasn’t claimed the need to use extra legal pow-ers to
protect the motherland or fatherland from some threat? How much Orwellian
doublespeak can this coun-try tolerate?
Congress impeached former President Clinton for lying about consensual sex with
a White House intern.
No one died. No prisoners were tortured. Clinton simply tarnished his own
reputation and sullied the stature of the Oval Office.
This is not a liberal or conservative issue, a Democrat or Republican issue.
It’s an issue of fundamental civil rights.
We repeat: Congress must muster the courage to hold this president accountable.
A bipartisan commission investigation is warranted. And if the lies and deceit
continue, Congress should consider the ultimate step and impeach President
George Bush. It’s all about accountability and protecting, not destroying,
democracy.