OMG! Bush nixes search of missing $ in Iraq - signing statement

[MissWaverly]

Must read this story headlined at Bussflash: 21 Billion for Iraq reconstruction goes missing. Congress gets wind of this, writes bill authorizing investigation. Bush signs bill, adding
“signing statement” preventing investigation. Crony dictatorship accomplished. 6/10

The deception was far-reaching. When Thomas Gimble, the acting inspector general of the Pentagon, was asked in 2005 during a congressional hearing by Christopher Shays (R-CT), chair of the House government reform subcommittee, why the Pentagon had no audit team in Iraq to look for fraud, Gimble facilely replied that such a team was "not needed" because Congress had set up the special inspector general unit to do that. He didn't mention that the president had barred the special inspector general from investigating Pentagon scandals.
This would all be pretty funny except for two things.

First of all, Americans and Iraqis are dying in droves because of the chaos that the U.S. invasion and occupation have created in Iraq-a problem that that $9 billion in missing Congressionally-allocated funds, and the bales of US dollars, were supposed to have solved.

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff06072006.html

[lonestarnot]

1. Well if you are pissed enough maybe you should go here

www.articlesofimpeachment.net

You can buy a copy of the Center for Constitutional Rights’ handbook ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST GEORGE W. BUSH, $9.95. and for $4.. and some change you can send a copy to Congress on the shopping link.

[MissWaverly]

3. no, I'll think I will write my senator

I am tired of this, there is no reason why he should have stopped this investigation, this
is outrageous. Hasn't he sworn an oath to uphold the law. What law?

[lonestarnot]

4. And who is your Senator MissWaverly?

[MissWaverly]

8. Senator Barbara Mikulski from Maryland

She is one gutsy lady, according to David Brooks, she was the ONLY senator to question
Michael Hayden during the confirmation hearings.

[lonestarnot]

10. Ewww yes! Write a letter!

[MissWaverly]

12. we have to make them aware of what is going on

since the Dems have been shut out of everything maybe this did not register on their radar
screens.

[sofa king]

32. Oh, I think they're well aware of what's going on.

The President steals the money in Iraq, and Congress watches his back in Iraq. Congress steals money at home, and the President holds back the FBI at home. Both of them feed huge sums back into the GOP, which in turn funds election thefts, which keeps them both in power.

The only thing keeping it all together is the American conditioned response to the rule of law--we still believe it exists. But when in a couple of years, when there is no longer any denying that we are all techno-serfs, we're going to realize we can do whatever we want, whenever we want, how we want.

Then they'll start killing us for learning what they're already practicing.

[MissWaverly]

37. their power is weakening, DeLay is gone, others to follow

Randy Cunningham is now in the slammer, people are fed up with their arrogance and corruption.
I personally never want to see another smirk as long as I live.

[Iowa]

66. Yep, this is where it leads...

Anarchy. They pervert the law to steal and oppress. They corrupt the judicial branch by packing it with stooges. They use a complicit, docile news media as a propaganda tool. As matters deteriorate, they rely upon the military and law enforcement to protect them from the consequences of the anarchy they create.

[MissWaverly]

68. anarchy is not going to happen

they will step back from this, this is what fueled FDR and progressive change. The stock
market has become volatile and the wealthy elite and foreign investors will not stand for
that. They are now s*****g around with their profit margin.

[Iowa]

73. It's not likely to happen...

"anarchy is not going to happen"

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's not going to happen. I don't believe that the likelihood of anarchy is high, however. Anarchy is simply one scenario that the type of lawlessness perpetrated by the Bush regime could create if allowed to play out unchecked. Whether the system corrects remains to be seen. I'm betting that it will correct. But there is no certainty when it comes to predicting what the future holds - only educated guesses.

"The stock market has become volatile..."

No, the stock market has always been volatile. That is its nature. And volatility isn't necessarily a bad thing. Many investors welcome volatility and profit from it. I know that I have.

"... this is what fueled FDR and progressive change..."
"...and the wealthy elite and foreign investors will not stand for that."

I wouldn't rely upon the wealthy elite to step in and save the republic from the excesses of the Bush administration. Bush serves the interests of the "haves and the have mores", and most do not believe that their interests are aligned with an FDR type of progressive change.

But I agree with the basic premise of your post - that anarchy isn't likely.

[MissWaverly]

74. thanks

but I know that the Saudis have lost a great deal of money on the loss of the dollar and
they have fired their finance minister. Foreign investors are not willing to want US dollars
with little value, that's what I was thinking of when I referred to the stock market and corrective action being undertaken. I still think it will happen. When I referred to FDR,
I meant that the wealthy elite were so in fear of a complete collapse and the US lapsing
into a socialist state, that they were willing to tolerate the progressive programs of FDR.
I am sure that it's not lost on them that there has been a leftist leaning trend in
emerging power elite in Latin America lately.

[sofa king]

82. I don't think it will go anarchy, either.

No, I'm thinking of the top-to-bottom corruption of a place like The Congo with a military/oligarchial dictatorship at the top. Sort of like... no, exactly like Iraq was until we "fixed" it. If that irony doesn't wash for you, think Mexico for the forty years prior to Vicente Fox.

In places like that, once can do more or less whatever one wishes except make an honest living. The more dishonest you are, the more you can do. In places like that, a desirable community to live in is one that is physically distant from government power centers, where every home has a rifle and corruption is kept at a minimum by publicly condoned murder, or the threat of it. Occasionally, those places are visited by government assassination squads. Then they go right back to subsisting without a damned bit of help from their oppressors and killers.

I expect we'll be seeing domestic assassination squads in the U.S. by perhaps as early as 2009, certainly by the end of the next decade. The infrastructure and expertise is already there, since we're already doing it in at least three countries right now. Gangs and serial killers will first be blamed, then racial and other tensions will be exploited, then a shadowy, nonexistent "resistance" movement. Eventually, the "enemy" will be the obvious one--the one that an entire generation of people has been conditioned to despise via Rush Limbagh and Fox News. The enemy will be "liberals," that is, anyone wise to the theft--of our democracy, and of our wealth, and of our future.

The reason why should also be obvious. Five years ago America was worth trillions of dollars. In another five years most of that wealth will be in the pockets of a few thousand people. How many Americans would you kill for a billion dollars? Not one, you say. How many Americans would someone else kill for a billion dollars? Hmmm, you say. Now, how many Americans would someone else kill to feed their children? There's your answer. All governments are kleptocracies, they just vary by degree. But America was the Big Kahuna, the biggest job that could ever be pulled. So getting away with that job is going to be costly in terms of our blood.

You can see the cycle in progress right now in a thousand different phases in a hundred different countries--the countries you don't want to visit. You may say it can't happen here. I say it already has.

[MissWaverly]

90. Baloney, we beat Hitler, we can bring our country around

[sofa king]

100. Germany was a Republic before Hitler came along.

And not only could the Germans not reverse the process themselves, many if not most Germans went along with him.

And speaking of fascism in the 1930s, remember also that it was welcomed by the likes of Henry Ford, the Du Ponts, and various others. A coup against FDR was contemplated and Gen. Smedley Butler was invited to participate in it. A Congressional investigation corroborated most of Butler's story, yet the perpetrators went completely unpunished.

They don't teach that little tidbit to our schoolchildren, either, which just reinforces the "it can't happen here" attitude that so many of us have. Like I said, it already has. We just haven't tried hard enough to change it back yet.

When we do, another Reichstag will come along, orders of magnitude worse than September 11 because now the bastards who did it are trying to keep what they already won.

[MissWaverly]

104. the American people will prevail

Our troops are loyal to the country, their hometowns, their neighbors, Hitler rose because
he offered the dream of a perfect world to a battered, impoverished Germany. There are
many that believe in our democracy and will stand up to bring the rule of law back to this
country. Much of what has gone on so far since 2000 has only been able to do so because
it thrived in secrecy, once that curtain is ripped away, people won't buy it.

[sofa king]

111. I hope you're right, MissWaverly

I don't yet know how prepared I am to do whatever is necessary. I hope I can, and I hope millions of others can, too, because that's what it's going to take.

[MissWaverly]

112. We will do it

Americans are not like what the GOP makes us out to be, we want a fair days pay for a fair
day of work, we don't expect a free ride and we are willing to help others not as well off
as us. We did a heck of a lot on our own for the Gulf Coast after Katrina. We are not
mean, haters and we are not greedy. Yes, we are all going to have to help but look how we
get together here and help each other and our party. We raised 50,000 to provide surgery
for Andy last year. He was a stranger to most of us with no health insurance; yet we freely
gave to give him the operation he needed. It just shows how much we care and what we do every
day to help bring this country back. Please start looking at what you can to help, we have
a long way to go and we need every helping hand.

[MissWaverly]

36. I was busy writing to Sen. Mikulski

Senator Mikulski, I am sending you a snip from an article that I read that I find
greatly disturbing. It is how George Bush used a "signing statement" to kill an
investigation that Congress ordered into the missing money in Iraq. 21 Billion
for Iraq reconstruction goes missing. Congress gets wind of this, writes bill
authorizing investigation. Bush signs bill, adding “signing statement” preventing investigation.
Now we have had Arlen Specter talking about giving blanket amnesty
to anyone who broke the law over illegal wiretaps. He is not concerned that the law
is broken only that someone should be held accountable. Meanwhile I am hearing
about a hard line that should be taken against illegals who come here and nail on
our roof shingles in the hot sun with no benefits and little pay. It seems to be
that we have become a nation with a frightening amount of laws to intimidate the
weak with no protection for the people from lawbreakers at the top of our
government. I consider you a beacon of hope during these difficult times.
I heard how you were the only Senator to really question Michael Hayden, please
keep up the good work. The survival of our democracy is riding on you and others
who remember the oath to defend the constitution and uphold our laws.

[Critters2]

81. Thanks for this info

I've written Senators Durbin and Obama.

[MissWaverly]

94. Thanks for the help, democracy is not a spectator sport

together we can make ourselves heard

:-)

[SOS]

70. Bush Inc. doesn't want this investigated:

"Money also disappeared in truckloads and by helicopter. The CPA reportedly distributed funds to contractors in bags off the back of a truck. In one notorious incident in April 2004, $1.5 billion in cash that had just been delivered by three Blackhawk helicopters was handed over to a courier in Erbil, in the Kurdish region, never to be seen again. Afterwards, no one was able to recall the courier’s name or provide a good description of him.

Paul Bremer, meanwhile, had a slush fund in cash of more than $600 million in his office for which there was no paperwork. One U.S. contractor received $2 million in a duffel bag. Three-quarters of a million dollars was stolen from an office safe, and a U.S. official was given $7 million in cash in the waning days of the CPA and told to spend it “before the Iraqis take over.” Nearly $5 billion was shipped from New York in the last month of the CPA. Sources suggest that a deliberate attempt was being made to run down the balance and spend the money while the CPA still had authority and before an Iraqi government could be formed.

The only certified public-accounting firm used by the CPA to monitor its spending was a company called North Star Consultants, located in San Diego, which was so small that it operated out of a private home."

"Money for Nothing"
http://www.amconmag.com/2005/2005_10_24/cover.html

[MissWaverly]

71. thanks for the excellent post

I had not heard this before today.

[OneTwentyoNine]

76. And the Repukes bitch if someone truly needing help....

Gets some money from taxpayers. Nah,they'll piss and moan ALL FUCKING day about that but when BILLIONS dissapear off the back of some GD truck in a country we SHOULDN'T be in they remain silent.

SOAB.....

[MissWaverly]

79. we have to get our power back

right now we live in a monarchy, where the King has no accountability at all; the congress
acts like a bunch of toadies afraid of inferring the displeasure of the royal court.

[MissWaverly]

47. By the way, I went and bought Articles of Impeachment

Once I heard about this signing statement, I saw the light, this is "Worse than Watergate" to
borrow from John Dean. I am going to read every page and then I plan to send a copy
to my senator.

[heidiho]

2. 22 Billion could have bought alot of food, education and medical

care for the US or the world. . .instead it is probably lining the pockets of a Bush crony.

[lonestarnot]

5. heh heh heh

[snappyturtle]

35. OMG!!!!

Thank yoou so-o much for the link "traitor". My husband is a home contractor in Kerrville,TX (we are in MN to sell some property and to build a home for my sister) and will soon return there. My husband built those little cottages years ago!!! He just about jumped out of his skin when I showed him the information in this article. I think he's ready to :puke: WOW!

[snappyturtle]

38. I just learned more!!

This is my second marriage. David has showed me this lodge--it was his home! I've seen it from the road....sets just across the river and I know it had eight bedrooms. He says the funny thing is that he built those little cottages in the eighties with the Jimmy Carter incentives!! Small world.He's not happy that such a rascal has them.....the rich Houstonians vacation in the Kerrville, Ingram and Hunt area or send their kids to the huge camps all along the river.

[MissWaverly]

6. this artifical war is nothing but a squeeze play on our wallets

It has been that since day one, an excuse to have money go to dummy corporations posing as
defense contractors who could then kick back the money to DC as "lobbyists" to pay for
hookers, limos and drugs.

[lonestarnot]

7. And here's the squeeze play that I borrowed from DUer Diamondsndust

[MissWaverly]

9. we cannot base law on the scribblings of one man

in Bush world, there is no law but his, he is not the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Great pictures though it looks to me like a trailer for the Empire Strikes Back!

[lonestarnot]

11. and another that I borrowed from Swampie

[MissWaverly]

13. Hey, they were great

the only problem is we have the empire strikes back with no one to help us fight. We need
the Media to cover this, we need the Congress to perform oversight. We do not need
Arlen Specter talking about blanket amnesty for anyone who broke the laws over wiretapping.

[lonestarnot]

14. citizens with pitchforks!

[MissWaverly]

16. not with pitchforks but with boycotts

DC is like an armed camp, what he wants is violent demonstrations so he can bring in
non-us mercenaries, just like New Orleans. The only way to register is to hit the corporate
wallets, boycott those who pull the strings.

[lonestarnot]

21. Madamn, I was not advocating violence.

But I don't know how much concerted effort is ever put into boycotts.

[MissWaverly]

24. you missed the Sinclair Boycott during Kerry campaign

Woooooo Hoooooo! Democratic Underground was sizzling, I tell you, sizzling!

[lonestarnot]

48. No. I didn't miss it.

[MissWaverly]

51. welll, then you realize that was one smear that flopped.

[lonestarnot]

54. One smear that flopped? You mean Sinclair's smear of ....

[MissWaverly]

56. Kerry by having a fake documentary shown as news

Look, we have made a difference, I know that some say no, but you notice that we have not
nuked Iran and that we are not waltzing into Iran as planned. We have to keep speaking
up and working as agents for constructive change.

[lonestarnot]

58. I believe we are making a difference also. But many are weary.

Which is no damned excuse. Look also, I am willing to drive in 116 degree temps in sympathy for the troops, but writing is my weapon.

[MissWaverly]

62. well, think of this

Maybe we are like those poor dudes in the Revolutionary War who fought with nothing,
not even shoes. We are the first electronic protestors, just think how powerful this current
administration has been and yet Tom DeLay, the most powerful individual in the House Majority
Party has resigned and others are being investigated. The White House controls the media,
the executive branch and the congress and yet change is beginning to happen and Bush is
tanking in the polls. Keep pushing on that rock, I think that it just moved a little bit.

[lonestarnot]

63. People more often than not

think I'm crazy for never letting up, but for the essential work duties, I feel this is my one challenge in life.

[MissWaverly]

64. Yes, I think this is our stand

I hear all the time, why do you spend so much time blogging, blah, blah. I tell them that
I am saving democracy. They say why do you send money to the Democratic Party every month,
blah, blah, blah. I tell them how much does freedom cost. Look at all the young people who
now have disabilities for the rest of their lives for a war based on bad intelligence. We
are a nation of laws based on the constitution. We have to keep up the volume, we have
to get this country back on track. People are waking up, in nearly every poll that I have
seen, the majority of the American people agree, the country is on the wrong track.

[oneold1-4u]

23. The tools of the serfs-

created the revolution in Russia just about a century ago, and it was better. An uneducated man and many poor, uneducated, took Germany into the world realm of power. An Idiot has the US in a stranglehold but it should not be a choice of another IDIOT to lead change!

[MissWaverly]

28. you forget that he has a stranglehold on the media

the only way that we can fight this is to expose corruption and boycott.

[lonestarnot]

50. Boycott what? The media?

[MissWaverly]

53. well, maybe as a start

supposed we target the Bush apologists and supporters of ann coulter and start writing their
advertisers, that is what worked with Sinclar.

[lonestarnot]

55. Sounds good.

And more...

[lonestarnot]

49. And this Idiot leading the charge of which you speak?

[napi21]

15. The others we should contact are the guys on the pnel created by

the ABA to research the constitutionality of signing statements.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/06/04/bar_group_will_review_bushs_legal_challenges/

Here is an email link to the person at the ABA who is the media contact on this subject.

[e-mail]

Link to the story on the ABA web site.

http://www.abanews.org/releases/news060506.html

I don't know if sending this information to them will do any good or not, but they are already committed to investigating the legality of Shrub using signing statements, and this information regarding him completely ignoring congressional intent to establish an inspector sure sounds to me like a great place for them to begin!

[lonestarnot]

19. please rate this up napi21.

[MissWaverly]

22. just used e-mail link to media contact

explained that I would like them to include this in their investigation and signed my name.

:-)

[napi21]

45. That's GREAT! Thanks. Maybe I'm too naieve, but I have faith

in these guys. I've listened to several of the panel members on cspan at different times, and they wre all very good on Constitutional Law!!!!

[lonestarnot]

17. Ms. Waverly would you mind to post this in general discussion.

[MissWaverly]

27. If you want to, go ahead.

[gratuitous]

18. You think they'd kill all those people to steal $21 billion?

This is, I presume, on top of the $9 billion that vanished during Paul Bremer's administration of Iraq. Gee, a lot of money sure seems to have gone missing. You think they'd steal it?

By the way, there's apparently no monitoring going on of the oil that's being pumped in Iraq: Who's buying it, who's shipping it, who's paying for it, if it's being paid for, and who's receiving the money that may or may not be paid. And Congress seems to show all the curiosity of a pro wrestling referee about any of this.

[MissWaverly]

26. Imagine the entire revenue of a country in your pocket

since Iraq is occupied by US, then the revenue for the last 3 years has gone where? I am
not saying that Bush is personally responsible for this skulduggery, but it happened on
his watch. As we have seen during Katrina, nobody really had a clue what was going on.
Bush didn't even know what was happening until someone recorded the Tv broadcasts and
provided them to him of what was going on in New Orleans. Do you think that unscrupulous
individuals may have taken advantage to siphon off not billions but trillions, well, I do.

[lonestarnot]

20. Nevermind. I cross posted it. Thanks.

[Pachamama]

25. Imagine how much of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast could have been rebuilt

with that missing $21 Billion....

:eyes:

[MissWaverly]

29. Imagine how long it will take us to pay off this fiasco

We are going to have generations of people in Iraq who will spit on us. We will have the
emergence of hard line islamists states all over the Middle East who will hate the West.
We are considered a rogue nation by most of the globe. What a mess.

[oneold1-4u]

31. Have you heard?

They are giving a million or two here and there and you are supposed to be so grateful for a patch in the street, a book for the school, a new small business (4-6 employees), or maybe a new voting machine!
It is overdue that the people of this nation and the world take one day off to just laugh out loud at this farcical president and his plan for dictatorship. When all around him (including his private army) will hate the laughter or join in, it will be the end!

[MissWaverly]

39. yes, please toss some more pork this way

Maryland's roads are crumbling.

:-)

[Pachamama]

65. Yes, I've seen this when I go to visit my family in Chevy Chase, MD

All over the Beltway region the infrastructure is crumbling....but I can tell you, its happening here in CA and all over the country.

And your soooo right....how many generations are going to have to be paying off this big fiasco deficit that they are creating.

[MissWaverly]

67. My street is a cross section of pot holes

yes, I know about the roads in other states, the problem with GOP Reaganomics of the last
30 years is that they are not drowning government, they are reducing our hard earned tax
dollars into pork. Trickle down economics is a filty myth pushed onto us by economic con
men.

[Why Syzygy]

40. Many Agree >

Oct. 5: A Day of Mass Resistance
Plan To Make October 5, 2006 the day the whole world comes to know there is a Force in this Country Determined to Drive Out the Bush Regime.
All day and into the night, across the country, we must decidedly break the paralysis that still grips too much of American political life.

http://www.worldcantwait.net/

[MissWaverly]

42. thanks, that is a great link

[Doctor_J]

30. Is there any doubt now that we are helpless?

Can't vote them out, can't run them out, can't impeach, and can't make them obey the laws. We're screwed

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2671109&mesg_id=2671109

[Frustratedlady]

33. Some days, I think I just can't get any more frustrated,

but darned if it doesn't happen, again and again. What an incredible bunch. They DO keep the blood flowing through my veins, although the doctor questions the pressure behind it. Dang crooks!

[Tin Man]

34. K&R.- important example of abusive use of signing statements by Bush

...intended to subvert the power of Congress to enact law. This bastard really, really needs to be impeached to preserve the integrity of our Constitution...

[senseandsensibility]

41. Is this getting any play on the corporate news

at all? K and R!

[dailykoff]

46. You're kidding right? (n/t)

[Evergreen Emerald]

43. signing statements are about as valuable as the paper they are written on

He is not king and does not have the power to "nix" a bill with a signing statement.

[MissWaverly]

44. our goverment is not Simon Says

Remember that game that you played when you were a kid where 1 person made up all the rules
and everyone else had to follow them.

[lonestarnot]

52. Me thinks he's tried 750 times to nix some'n er other, so he must think

he's on to something.

[Evergreen Emerald]

57. If only that worked in real life

As I sign the contract for my house payment.

[lonestarnot]

59. Well if we crash, you won't have to worry about a house payment, just

keeping the roof.

[Evergreen Emerald]

61. too true.

How scary it is at this moment in history.

[MissWaverly]

60. Good thing you signed today

I have read that this country's encomony is beginning to resemble Argentina, where you have
low interest rates so your savings never really profit you and a huge interest rate for
borrowers, so when you borrow you'll never pay back.

[Up2Late]

69. Of Course!

Why the hell not? :banghead:

[MissWaverly]

72. We have to keep fighting this stuff

remember, there was more probability of them keeping the lid on things when the polls were
in their favor, that's gone now.

[mazzarro]

75. Why Has No Legislator Taken This sh*t To Court?

If this signing sh*t infringes on the legislative prerogatives, then someone/some group need to step up to the plate and take it to the SC.

[MissWaverly]

77. Arlen Specter (R) Chair of Judiciary Committee for Senate

who thinks that legality is a multiple choice question for this administration and
wants to give blanket amnesty to those involved in illegality over the wiretapping question.

[alfredo]

78. Un published executive orders? How do we know

this EO exists?

I need to see the EO.

[wizdum]

80. Congress should check Neil Bush's account first for the missing dough...

As soon as he gets back from touring with Reverend Moon they should grill him.

[liberalla]

83. Great post! which I will need to spend more time on tomorrow...

Thank you.

[sendero]

84. What does a signing statement have to do with it..

... a signing statement is merely the president's verbal record of his "interpretation" of a piece of legislation and how he intends to act on that interpretation.

It has no force of law whatsoever, it is merely a pronouncement.

Is that not correct? How does a signing statement constrict the actions of congress in any way?

[MissWaverly]

86. See this article, it explains how signing statements work

WASHINGTON -- When President Bush last week signed the bill outlawing the torture of detainees, he quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief.
After approving the bill last Friday, Bush issued a ''signing statement" -- an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law -- declaring that he will view the interrogation limits in the context of his broader powers to protect national security. This means Bush believes he can waive the restrictions, the White House and legal specialists said.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/01/04/bush_could_bypass_new_torture_ban/

[sendero]

87. The article is consistent with my point..

... a signing statement has no force of law whatsoever. Congress can pass a law saying anything, and the president can sign it, adding a statement that says "based on my interpretation of this law I don't have to pay any attention to it".

BUT - this statement is merely a manifesto of his OPINION, and would have no legal standing whatsoever in the case of an impeachment or other legal proceeding.

It's just George Bush's typical attempt at intimidating everyone into his version of the executive's actual rights and powers. Someday, he's going to get called on it.

[MissWaverly]

91. Agree, but this meant was that torture was a go despite law

Congress banned cruel and unusual punishment, Bush superseded the bill with his statement,
thereby permitting it to go on.

[sendero]

98. My point, once again..

... is that A SIGNING STATEMENT is merely words, it carries no legal weight whatsoever.

If Congress passes a law saying "it is punishable by death to kill a cat" and Bush adds a signing statement saying "I'm signing this but of course as I interpret this law it would not apply to me" - he can still be prosecuted for killing cats.

The signing statement is merely the president expressing his opinion, one that would have to be confirmed by the courts to have any meaning at all - beyond telling his minions what he thinks as if they didn't already know.

In other words, this entire campaign of signing statements, coupled with numerous other actions taken by Bush, are there to present a cohesive (and vastly overreaching) view of what powers the executive has. And I really don't think that modifiying the intent or effect of duly passed legislation is one of those powers, or ever will be, but a delusional president is free to try if he wants to.

[MissWaverly]

105. I agree but there has been no oversight

It will take years, long after he is out of power, for some of this to be dealt with. We
need to have investigations done right now. If money is missing in Iraq and the Pentagon
has the sole power to investigate; what good will that do? How can we continue to funnel
money into a country with no guarantee that it will be spent on the projects that it is
allociated for.

[MissWaverly]

108. Here's the real signing statement, you can read for yourself

It is a signing statement that was attached to public law 108-106 which created the
Special Inspector General for Iraq reconstruction. I have included a snip, but it is
2 pages, use the link and go there. - Miss Waverly :-) Every American should read the entire
document.

Title III of the Act creates an Inspector General (IG) of the CPA. Title III shall be construed in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authorities to conduct the Nation's foreign affairs, to supervise the unitary executive branch, and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. The CPA IG shall refrain from initiating, carrying out, or completing an audit or investigation, or from issuing a subpoena, which requires access to sensitive operation plans, intelligence matters, counterintelligence matters, ongoing criminal investigations by other administrative units of the Department of Defense related to national security, or other matters the disclosure of which would constitute a serious threat to national security. The Secretary of Defense may make exceptions to the foregoing direction in the public interest.
1. Provisions of the Act that require disclosure of information, including section 3001(h)(4)(B) of the Act, shall be construed in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to withhold information that could impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2889/is_45_39/ai_111737151/pg_2

[w8liftinglady]

109. thank you...what i was looking for!

[MissWaverly]

93. here's more info I dug up on the pertinent signing statements

The new law also created the position of inspector general for Iraq. But Bush wrote in his signing statement that the inspector ''shall refrain" from investigating any intelligence or national security matter, or any crime the Pentagon says it prefers to investigate for itself.

Bush had placed similar limits on an inspector general position created by Congress in November 2003 for the initial stage of the US occupation of Iraq. The earlier law also empowered the inspector to notify Congress if a US official refused to cooperate. Bush said the inspector could not give any information to Congress without permission from the administration.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/?page=full

[OzarkDem]

85. Contact the news media n/t

[threadkillaz]

88. Ooh Ooh Ooh

Go on take the money and run.


Billy mack is a detective down in Texas
You know he knows just exactly what the facts is
He aint gonna let those two escape justice
He makes his livin off of the peoples taxes

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/steve+miller/take+the+money+run_20131000.html

[BrklynLiberal]

89. Thanks for this post. I will be forwarding this to my entire email list.

[Festivito]

92. Same Bush* who dropped the excessive profits cap on military contracts.

Before 9/11: A Clinton era cap on profits for military contracts was rescinded by Bush. At the time I thought it would just help them transfer our tax dollars to the Star Wars project.

But, it sure must be useful in war, increasing the potential value of Jr's un-taxable, and thereby, never to be accounted, inheritance from poppy's (ahem!) investments.

[Zhade]

95. 21 billion. That's a lot of food for starving children.

Homes for the homeless.

Jobs for the jobless.

Hope for the hopeless.

And I mean Americans AND Iraqis.

[robinlynne]

96. arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

[bonito]

97. Kick

:argh: :hurts: :banghead:

[NotfooooldbyW]

99. Finding Amir Al Saadi

This is a recent comment sent to the Washington Post regarding the mysterious disappearance of Amir Al Saadi:

Is "the fact that we know nothing" still, three years later, of concern to you. It is to me. Mel Goodman in 2003 cites "too little attention" which has become now, at total blackout of attention.

http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/03/sp_nation_goodman072203.htm

Laurel, Md.: Is it conceivable that WMDs have been found, but for a very, very good national security reason, it has not been publicized?

Mel Goodman: No chance whatsoever. This administration is desperate to brandish Iraqi WMD. In fact, the US holds two key officials who have some of the answers, former foreign minister Tariq Azziz and chief scientist Amir Saadi.
The fact that we know nothing about their views suggests that the administration is {not} getting the answers it wants and needs on WMD. Another ugly picture that gets too little attention.

[kentuck]

101. Why doesn't Congress write a laww prohibiting "singing statements"?

Because the Constitution gives them the power to do so as representatives of the people. Otherwise, we are indeed a dictatorship, held hostage to the whims and crimes of one lone sick gunman.

[paparush]

115. Here Here!! Why hasn't Congress Suspended Work until these

Signing Statements are brought to light?

Why haven't Dems marched out, en mass in protest?

Why haven't we shut down the government?

[Joanne98]

102. He knows exactly where the money went.

[MissWaverly]

106. the important thing is that we need to know

It is our tax dollars, it is our flag over there and our troops, we need to know that the
money is going to feed our troops, give them the equipment they need and rebuild Iraq.
We don't need any more evaporating money and no more dummy defense contractors who
funnel our cash into drugs, hookers and hotels.

[Joanne98]

113. You're right. Let's impeach him and seize his assets.

[Th1onein]

103. This thread needs to stay on top......K&R

I am appalled at this move by our "great leader." I am even more appalled that no one in the MSM is reporting on it.

[w8liftinglady]

107. can you give me a link to the exact signing statement?

Kicking,by the way!

[w8liftinglady]

110. never mind...I found it!

[lonestarnot]

114. kick