"Shameful/Revolting"-Leahy, Whitehouse Issue Passionate Call For Investigations Into Bush Crimes

[kpete]

Run time: 04:01 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTzJf7m2NL0   Posted on YouTube: February 25, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: February 25, 2009 By DU Member: kpete Views on DU: 5735

 
Leahy announces hearings on Bush investigations set for next Wednesday. »

Speaking on the Senate floor this morning, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) reiterated his call to hold a truth commission to investigate Bush wrongdoings, and announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee would hold hearings on the matter next Wednesday. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) rose after Leahy to support the call for investigations into “this past carnival of folly, greed, lies, and wrongdoing.” “If we blind ourselves to this history, we deny ouselves its lessons,” he said, warning that such an investigation will not be comfortable or easy:

WHITEHOUSE: We are optimists, we Americans. We are proud of our country. Contrition comes hard to us. But the path back from the dark side may lead us down some unfamiliar valleys of remorse and repugnance before we can return to the light. We may have to face our fellow Americans saying to us, “No. Please. Tell us that we did not do that. Tell us that American did not do that.” And we will have to explain, somehow. This is no small thing. And not easy. This will not be comfortable, or proud. But somehow, it must be done.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/25/leahy-whitehouse-investigations/

[T Wolf]

1. Is anyone listening? Is anyone in the White House listening? The enemy will come back,

ala Cheney and Rumsfeld, unless they are removed from civilized society.

Unless an example is made of them, not only will they themselves return for more destruction, but the "young warriors" of the reich will learn that there are no consequences for treason.

[defendandprotect]

10. The Supreme Court rightwingers are probably "listening" and looking . . .

for a way out for their beloved gangster politicians --- !!!

[DaLittle Kitty]

29. I Will Believe It When I See It. Call Me Cynical But We Have Watched The WEAK Democrats...

Facilitate By Failing to stand up and against or... speak up in opposition to these policies for the past 8 years. I will watch and wait! :think:

[MrMickeysMom]

42. I'm gonna do more than watch and wait...

... as I suspect you may do (again?) Contact your wonderful senators! AGAIN! repeat, rinse, wash...

[alllyingwhores]

37. COMMISSION = WHITEWASH...NOTHING WILL BE EXPOSED...NO MENTION OF ANY "CRIMES"...

...and there's not anyway that anyone will ever be held accountable for any of the blatant felonies--some of which, both Cheney and Bush are on video tape admitting to.

[Titonwan]

48. The White House should listen to Whitehouse!

Please take a couple of gosh darn minutes and sign this petition, dang yer hide!
A LOT reputable people and organizations have already signed (Glenn Greenwald for one!)
Tell yer grand kiddies how your were actually human back in 2009, instead of a waste of skin!
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/prosecutorstatement
Thank you! Now somewhere, blue birds are having sex! Yeah babee!

[stlsaxman]

52. I believe the White House need not listen for Congress to act.

This is where separation of powers comes in real handy.

[avaistheone1]

2. Cheney and Rumsfeld had the opportunity to gain power again

in the Bush years when there was not an adequate investigation and cleanup after Nixon.

After the IranContra scandal and there was not an adequate investigation and cleanup, which gave Negropointe, Armitage and others their opening to rise to power in the Bush Jr's admin.

I hope we don't make the same mistake again.

[ejbr]

24. Repeat, repeat, repeat....what you said, not their "service" to the country. n/t

[peacetalksforall]

46. They got away with dealing with the enemy in WW II. They got away with

the JKF, MLK, RFK assassinations, they got away with bank scandals a couple of decades ago, they got away Iran-Contra, they got away with usury.

So far they are getting away with torture, massive theft, massacres, nuclear bomb and technology trading.

Too bad we haven't had Wellstone here. I hope Franken picks up the banner.

[Best_man23]

3. If this investigation is not done

America will once again see Feith, Yoo, et al at some point in the future. Hell, if this isn't done, an unscrupulous Democratic administration could do the same things, use the same tactics as the Bush Junta.

[Qutzupalotl]

4. "hearings on Bush investigations set for next Wednesday"

That would be March 4th, which coincidentally is also a command to move forward.

Also was the presidential inauguration day, many years ago.

The hearings and especially the investigations cannot come quickly enough.

[PDJane]

5. It goes back even further.......

Prescott Bush and his cronies got out of prosecution because it was thought that dragging the mess through court would destroy the country's morale.

Instead, it damaged what passes for republican morals.

[DaLittle Kitty]

30. AGREED and Some other Culprits In Between! K&R!

[Enthusiast]

38. +1 , PDJane.

It is still being swept under the rug.

[LynnTheDem]

6. Tragically, Americans did do that; raped and murdered men, women, and kids.

Tortured and mutilated men, women, and kids.

The worst of anything Saddam Hussein did, Americans did -are doing- to men, women and kids.

That's fact.

The world knows it.

Now we need to know it. Fully.

And to ensure we never, ever, do anything remotely like it again.

[Turborama]

12. Thanks for bringing this back up to the top, I may have missed it otherwise

:kick: & R

[sansatman]

14. If you flip over the rock of American foreign policy ...

of the past century, this is what crawls out...

invasions ... bombings ... overthrowing
governments ... suppressing movements
for social change ... assassinating
political leaders ... perverting
elections ... manipulating labor unions ...
manufacturing "news" ... death squads ...
torture ... biological warfare ...
depleted uranium ... drug trafficking ...
mercenaries ...

It's not a pretty picture.

http://www.killinghope.org/

[Enthusiast]

39. +1, You mean, looking

out for corporate interests. The U.S.A. has long been a fascist nation. It is just that the citizenry doesn't yet recognize this fact.

[DutchLiberal]

53. But... but... America is and has always been a source of good in the world...

Right? That's what I keep hearing from Obama and other revisionists.

[jmpnfool]

7. nothing is gonna happen

The pigs are going to get away with the crimes they committed, and at some point, it will all happen again. This is what a dieing empire looks like. It shakes me to my core, but as they say, "no matter how cynical I get, I can't keep up". Oh well, America was a nice dream for over 200 years.

[L. Coyote]

9. WHAT? "America was a nice dream for over 200 years." You still believe those lies?

America was built on invading the lands of others, on over a century of genocide, slavery, invasions, ....

America is a BAD dream unless you are on the firing end of their guns!

One of the possible good effects of investigations may be to shatter America's stupid delusions.

[DUlover2909]

17. Come on Coyote, be nice. I hear you, but the poster is new.

Don't run him/her off by flaming what was probably a benign comment. I understood what he/she meant even though I acknowledge the sad history of US emperialism.

[FedUp_Queer]

36. Oh, please...

Name one time in history where that wasn't the case. Perhaps, this is what you meant: the issue that the US did those thing isn't so much the issue. The issue is the lie that the US didn't do those things. I'm as critical as anyone towards the US. My thing is this: I just hold it accountable for doing things other countries and peoples did. At the same time, there are some unique things that the US Constitution has given us: for me, the number one thing is the separation of church and state which by extension debunks the notion that God chooses a nation's leaders. I have other favorites, too. This notion that the US is particularly bad is no different (and false) than asserting that it is particularly good. It does good and it does bad, just like any other country.

[Enthusiast]

40. You just hate America!

:rofl: :sarcasm:

[tclambert]

19. Welcome to DU. I love that line, "no matter how cynical I get, I can't keep up."

As to America being "a nice dream for over 200 years," there may be some arguments aimed your way. Don't let that shake you. I'm part Cherokee, I think 1/8. Don't know how much really, because for decades the family was ashamed to acknowledge it or even mention it. The Cherokee say America has had a bad immigration problem since 1492.

The dream of America, the promise of America is that we can make it better. The Constitution has built into it a process for amending it, for changing our fundamental government.

From time to time we shoot for high ideals, and from time to time we turn our backs on them. I can remember in my youth when we proudly boasted, "In America, no one is above the law." We believed it, or at least we wanted it to be true. Then Ford pardoned Nixon. And I never hear "No one is above the law" any more.

There's a story that in World War II, German parents would tell their sons about to go off to war, "Fight bravely and surrender to the first American you see." Our reputation for treating prisoners humanely made that possible. Of course, over in Japan, they were telling their soldiers Americans would eat anyone who surrendered. By the battle of Okinawa, many Japanese soldiers were learning the truth and the rate of surrender increased while the rate of suicide decreased.

Who wants to surrender to an American soldier today?

[Titonwan]

8. Whitehouse is my new hero! K&R!!!

The blogs are abuzz with optimism over this! Good news! Call and thank him, please.

[defendandprotect]

11. Congratulations to them! And I hope this moves forward in a timely fashion--

[Klimmer777]

13. While we are at it let's expose all the past sins and deeds . . .

including 9-11. Why not? We still don't know exactly what happened. The 9-11 Commission Report was a white-wash. Let's go back to the root of the problem and rip it out so we can expose all the lies and how they have been built one on top of another.

'But the path back from the dark side may lead us down some unfamiliar valleys of remorse and repugnance before we can return to the light. We may have to face our fellow Americans saying to us, “No. Please. Tell us that we did not do that. Tell us that American did not do that.” And we will have to explain, somehow. This is no small thing. And not easy. This will not be comfortable, or proud. But somehow, it must be done.'



I agree. It must be done. Let all the lies unravel one by one . . .

[HCE SuiGeneris]

15. Folly may be forgiven. Faithless abandonment of the people

to further their own greedy pursuits... not so much.

[Oilwellian]

16. Wow

I think I'll cry now. K&R

[rainy]

18. WHERE'S THE PRESS ON THIS? If a republican was saying this they'd

be all over the news and we all know it. Just imagine if McCain was saying this. Then, imagine if Al Gore was saying it. No one would know if Gore said it but McCain would be on 24/7.

[florida08]

20. hope Cheney and Bush

are listening. Senator Whitehouse was very eloquent and right. There are some who won't like it and will fight against it but I hope they are successful. We need a purging.

[bdamomma]

21. these criminals who walk freely will resurface if they are not arrested

for their crimes, especially Cheney he has had his hand in criminal behaviour for a very long time.

[bdamomma]

22. That is my Senator Whitehouse!!!!

I think he knows the score of the bush regimes crimes. He must act and we must support this, or we will we see those same crimes be committed again by the same people.

[Lindsey]

23. I think Bugiolosi (? sp.)sent every member of Congress a copy

of his book, "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder." I hope someone read it....

[bdamomma]

26. he should of sent it to every Congress member a copy but he

sent it to all US State District Attorneys, hoping that one person would want to prosecute the BCF.

http://www.prosecutegeorgebush.com/

[bdamomma]

25. kick everyone should watch this.

[Pharaoh]

27. Leahys way of saying

Go Fuck yourself Cheney :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[bdamomma]

28. want to make a bet that the stinking MSM will not show this

hearing, probably be on C Span 3. And watch the repigs heads blowing up and calling it a witch hunt.

[NMMOM]

31. TAKE ACTION NOW!

I'm hoping that either Keith O or Rachel will be on top of this.
We have to be relentless and need to call/email Congress people, CNN and MSNBC NOW!

[veganlush]

32. I hate to sound cynical, but this may just be...

dems blowing a little smoke to pacify the base that wants something done about the bush crime family. joe six-pack out there is too worried about paying his bills and probably won't rise up for this. The Democrats can't even bring rove in, deciding to "negotiate" instead. They're gonna ask him if it's ok to ask him questions that he is going to 'not recall' answers for. If we can't even compel rove to come in to lie to us because of some fake 'executive privilege' claim, how are we ever going to go after REAL administration people like cheney, rumsfeld, gonzales, etc..?:shrug: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[swishyfeet]

33. Sounds just like Olberman

I was just listening - not watching the video. Couldn't help but notice a similarity.

[creeksneakers2]

34. Why limit it to crimes?

Why not look at all the secret deranged things the Bush cabal did? They did lots of terrible things that were not technically crimes.

[jeff30997]

35. K&R

Well this is a small step in the right direction but I'm still very skeptical that any of

those gangsters will pay for what they did. :(

[katty]

41. go sheldon-he obviously knows quite a bit

[MrMickeysMom]

43. That's what I seem to sense in this dramatic postulating statement

Do tell!

You think it's outside the realm of what we've been reading/discussing already?

Come on, I'm bracing my ankles already. God knows, others had to do worse than that!

[ihavenobias]

44. K & R n/t

[orleans]

45. is this what pelosi is hesitant over because he wants to offer immunity? n/t

[RedCloud]

47. Bush's Homeland Security may have violated voter's rights

I don't want to give too much away right now but in the next month you may see that agency sued for delaying citizenships for folks not likely to vote for McCain and expediting applications from likely pro McCain future citizens.

;)

[RaleighNCDUer]

49. The problem with a "truth commission" is that much of the truth is

already out there. What we need to do is transform the perception of that revealed truth into the crimes they are.

Did we torture? Sure we did - and a large segment of the population has NO PROBLEM WITH IT. Unless people are charged and convicted in a court of law, they will not see it as anything more than an unpleasant but necessary expedient employed against our enemies.

Was the justice department politicized? Of course it was - and a large segment of the population thinks that's just the way politics works, and will not see it as a crime unless somebody goes to jail for it.

There need to be consequences. Something more than a mere added layer of tarnish to what is seen as an already tarnished system. Without consequences they WILL come back, as they have before, and stronger and more dangerous than before. Nixon led to Reagan/Bush. Reagan/Bush led to Bush 1. Bush 1 led to Bush 2, and with each successive administration the crimes become more blatant, more egregious, and - looking at it from the perspective of two ongoing wars and a collapsed economy - harder to recover from.

Next time around there might be no recovering.

[windoe]

50. Kick--

I hope for investigations, for focus, diligence, for professionalism, for strength and resolve, may truth come out, and Justice be had, in the names of all the dead, injured and tortured.

[cynthia]

51. I stand with him

All of us who support these senators need to write to them to say so,

and keep kicking this thread too

Senator Leahy email


Senator Whitehouse email