Bruce Fein: Bush-Cheney WON Undeclared War Against Constitution-Congress Should Act PRE-Inauguration

[kpete]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/05/EDED15262K.DTL

01.05.09

Bush-Cheney deserve censure for declaring war against the Constitution
Bruce Fein,Ralph Nader

Monday, January 5, 2009


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Before Inauguration Day, the 111th Congress should pass a forward-looking resolution censuring President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for executive aggrandizements or abuses that have reduced Congress to vassalage and shredded the rule of law. The resolution should express a congressional intent to prevent repetitions by the President-elect Barack Obama or his successors. The objective is not Bush-Cheney bashing, but to restore a republican form of government in which "We the People" are sovereign, and the president is checked and publicly scrutinized by Congress and the courts. The Bush-Cheney duumvirate won an undeclared war against the Constitution. Most troublesome, they captured the power to initiate war from a spineless Congress. The Founding Fathers were unanimous in denying the president that constitutional authority. They knew that presidents would chronically deceive Congress and concoct excuses for war to control public information, benefit political friends through government contracts, quell dissent, assert emergency powers and enjoy the intoxicating thrill of, "I came, I saw, I conquered."

By wielding the threat of international terrorism, the Bush-Cheney team put the nation on a permanent war footing - the first time in history that war has been undertaken against a tactic. They maintained that the entire post-9/11 world is an active battlefield where United States military force may be used to kill suspected members of al Qaeda irrespective of international boundaries.

They claimed executive privilege and state secrets to conduct secret government - thereby circumventing political and legal accountability. This included directives to former White House officials Karl Rove and Harriet Miers to flout congressional subpoenas for testimony. They detained hundreds of people (including American citizens) as enemy combatants without accusation or trial. They authorized torture (waterboarding and extraordinary rendition), abductions, secret prisons and illegal surveillance of American citizens.

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If left unrebuked, the Bush-Cheney usurpations of power will become part of the constitutional firmament and risk creating a safe harbor for future presidential abuses. Every member of Congress, moreover, is required to take an oath to "support (the) Constitution" pursuant to Article VI. There is no corresponding oath to support the Republican or Democratic parties or to subordinate the Constitution in the name of political harmony. Censure would be no novelty.

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This article appeared on page B - 5 of the San Francisco Chronicle

[JCMach1]

1. I don't see the Dems giving-up those powers... sure,

there will be some window-dressing like GITMO... However, I don't expect Obama or the Senate to roll-back anything significant that Bush put in-place.

And yes, that is dangerous for democracy over time.

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. I wish my Rec meant that something would actually get done

[napi21]

3. Why can't we have people like Fine in Congress? I LOVE listening to

guys like Bruce Fine, the other constiutional scholars who appear on the news channels.

[asjr]

4. When I see a Republican like Bruce Fein complaining

about this Bush administration I know there is something afoot. I really hate to see two lily-livered men, Bush and Cheney, not having to pay for their criminal activities.

[stillcool]

5. How does 'censuring' prevent..

future abuses? This administration is not an anomaly, just more determined to get the job done of firmly planting the U.S. footprint on key logistic geographical areas, that will sustain super-power status.

[librechik]

6. good luck with that

they don't want to go to jail along with their rulers

[crimsonblue]

7. Wasn't Bruce Fein a WH stooge for a while?

If I'm right about that, then that is really saying something. If even former loyal supporters are calling for justice, then maybe the legislature and the fourth estate ought to do something about it. But they won't.