Arrest Bush
Bush Confesses to Waterboarding. Call D.C. Cops!
“Why are we talking about this in the White House?” John Ashcroft nervously asked his fellow members of the National Security Council’s Principals Committee. (The Principals were Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General Ashcroft.)
“History will not judge this kindly,” Ashcroft predicted.
“This” is torture. Against innocent people. Conducted by CIA agents and American soldiers and marines. Sanctioned by legal opinions issued by Ashcroft’s Justice Department. Directly ordered by George W. Bush.
An April 11th report by ABC News describes how CIA agents, asked by previous presidents to carry out illegal “black ops” actions (torture and killings), had become tired of getting hung out to dry whenever their dirty deeds were revealed by the press. When the Bush Administration asked the CIA to work over prisoners captured in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, Director George Tenet demanded legal cover. The Justice Department complied by issuing a classified 2002 memo, the so-called “Golden Shield,” authored by Office of Legal Counsel Jay Bybee. “Enhanced interrogation techniques” — i.e., torture — were legal, Bybee assured the CIA.
Tenet was a good boss, a CYA type. He wanted to protect his agents. So he got the Principals to personally sign off on each act of torture.
“According to a former CIA official involved in the process,” ABC reported, “CIA headquarters would receive cables from operatives in the field asking for authorization for specific techniques.” Can we beat up this guy? Can we waterboard him?
The Bushies weren’t otherwise known for dwelling on details. Osama was in Pakistan; they invaded Afghanistan instead. Two years later, he was still in Pakistan. They invaded Iraq. Bush and his top officials still found time to walk through every step of torment a detainee would suffer in some CIA dungeon halfway around the world.
“The high-level discussions about these ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ were so detailed, [Bush Administration] sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed — down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic. These top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top Al Qaeda suspects — whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding, sources told ABC news.”
Bush knew.
Not only did he know, he personally approved it. He likes torture.
“Yes, I’m aware our national security team met on this issue,” he confirmed. “And I approved.”
When the U.S. signs a treaty, its provisions carry the full force of U.S. law. One such treaty is the U.N. Convention Against Torture, of which the U.S. is a core signatory. As Philippe Sands writes in his new book “Torture Team:” Parties to the… Convention are required to investigate any person who is alleged to have committed torture. If appropriate, they must then prosecute — or extradite the person to a place where he will be prosecuted. The Torture Convention… criminalizes any act that constitutes complicity or participation in torture. Complicity or participation could certainly be extended not only to the politicians and but also the lawyers involved…”
George W. Bush has publicly confessed that he ordered torture, thus violating the Convention Against Torture. He, Cheney, Rumseld, Rice and the other Principals must therefore be arrested and, unlike the thousands of detainees kidnapped by the U.S. since 9/11, arraigned and placed on trial.
Because the torture ordered by Bush and his cabinet directly resulted in death, they must additionally be charged with several counts of murder. Fifteen U.S. soldiers have been charged with the murders of two detainees at the U.S. airbase at Bagram, Afghanistan in 2002. They were following orders issued by their Commander-in-Chief and his Principals.
One of the Bagram victims was Dilawar, a 22-year-old Afghan taxi driver. “On the day of his death,” reported The New York Times on May 22, 2005, “Dilawar had been chained by the wrists to the top of his cell for much of the previous four days. A guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummeled by guards for several days, could no longer bend… Several hours passed before an emergency room doctor finally saw Mr. Dilawar. By then he was dead, his body beginning to stiffen. It would be many months before Army investigators learned a final horrific detail: Most of the interrogators had believed Mr. Dilawar was an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time.”
At least four detainees have committed suicide at the torture camp created by George W. Bush after 9/11 at Guantánamo Bay. Twenty-five more made 41 unsuccessful attempts to kill themselves. The conditions of their confinement — ordered by Bush and his Principals — constitutes torture. It no doubt prompted their deaths.
If George W. Bush were an ordinary citizen, there can be little doubt that he would face a long prison sentence for the scores of acts of torture he authorized both specifically and generally. Four of the seven white hillbillies charged with the kidnap-torture of a black woman in Logan County, West Virginia are now in jail for at least the next ten years.
If Bush weren’t president, he would face murder charges. The maximum sentence in a federal murder case is death.
If Bush and his co-conspirators are not above the law, if the United States remains a nation where all citizens are equal, they must be arrested and indicted. But by whom?
The Supreme Court has never resolved the question of whether a sitting president can be arrested by civilian authorities. Even if he were charged and convicted, many legal experts say he could issue himself a pardon.
However, leaving the presidency in the hands of an self-admitted torture killer is unacceptable. Congress could ask a U.S. Marshal to arrest Bush as part of impeachment charges. But the ultimate outcome — removing him from office a few months before the end of his term — seems woefully inadequate given the nature of the charges. In any case, Democrats have already said that impeachment is “off the table.”
Bush could be extradited to one of the countries where the torture and murders were committed — such as Afghanistan or Cuba. But he could claim immunity as a head of state.
There is, however, a person who could begin holding Bush and the others accountable for their crimes.
She is Cathy L. Lanier, the 39-year-old chief of D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department. Chief Lanier, take note: you have probable cause to arrest a self-confessed serial torturer and mass murderer within the borders of the District of Columbia. He resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Go get him.
History is calling, Chief Lanier. Your city, and your country, needs you.
Ted Rall is the author of the new book “Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East?,” an in-depth prose and graphic novel analysis of America’s next big foreign policy challenge.
© 2008 Ted Rall
Pelosi and Reed must go. Go Cindy!
Of course, Impeachment is off the table by the do-nothing democrats, other than support corporate agendas.
What message does this send to other people who want to rob, steal, and torture? As long as you do it to thousands of people it’s okay.
so it goes…
I think what is needed is a non-violent, citizens arrest of Bush,Cheney and Pelosi for starters. If several million people formed what in the old days was called a vigilante group and took control of the situation they would have about 100 million Americans behind them. It use to be in the wild west that when the criminals took over the town and owned the Sherrif, the citizens would say enough! Maybe a U.S.Marshall and Chief Lanier could lead the arrest.
Everyone in our sad country should read this.
It should be on the front page of the NY Times and USA Today.
If it happens on the street, they call it a crime.
JJCale
Arrest, trial, imprisonment of Bush and his cronies. That will get us on the right track.
Thank you Ted Rall for an informative and stimulating article.
What we have learned about our paranoid, ego-maniac, pompous
hypocrite President will no doubt be forgotten and deleted from future papers. The crimes that this administration has committed should awaken our populace and they make every effort that it won’t happen again.
I don’t know the process of the law, but if there is any way that Chief Lanier or the Justice Department can charge G.W. Bush with crimes against humanity, do it!
Call the cops on the President? John Doe Dimslow keeps trying that. No luck. So far:
Dimslow Calls the Cops
I called the police. Sometimes you have to. I called the police on the President of the United States. I called the police when President Bush invaded Iraq. That was illegal. I called the police when President Clinton bombed Iraq, and elsewhere — all illegal under international law, not least. I asked the police, ”Aren’t you going to do something about it?” Even if breaking laws is nothing new for presidents. And what did the police say down in Dimslow Hollow?
“Sir, that’s a bit outside our jurisdiction.”
Just what they always say.
“Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free,” I pronounced, putting on my best mock preacher’s voice. “Or is the truth outside your jurisdiction, too?”
“Look, we’re all up against a lot of bigger truths, Sir. There’s no standard operating procedure for that, you see. Not in these parts anyhow.”
“No truth?”
“No, I guess not.”
“Then you won’t arrest the President? He commits crime after crime for all the world to see.”
“Would you like me to send a squad car all the way to Washington to circle outside the White House just to have a look? Check for disturbances?”
“No point. The crimes are committed all across the country and world. They only originate in that Whitest of Houses.”
“Well that may be.”
“So no arrest?”
“Not by us, Sir. You?”
“A citizen’s arrest? Believe me, I’ve tried.”
“Oh, yes, Sir, I believe you. And if I recall correctly, you still have the right. Unless it was tossed out in the Patriotica Act.”
“They always say I don’t have the authority.”
“The authority — or the power?”
…
http://apragmaticpolicy.wordpress.com/2007/04/12/dimslow-calls-the-cops/
We need to get the phone number to Cathy L. Lanier and post it, and this article, all over the internet.
We need to call every radio show and do the same.
We must be relentless.
You and/or yours may be very much alive because of the information found during the interogations of these killers.
By the way, let them tap my phone all they want. They’ll find out which one in the family has a runny nose, and also what’s on the menu for supper.
Only those with something to hide live in such fear and cynicism.(like guess who?)
Don’t you people like anything (besides big salads, low fat curds and tofu?)
Geepers!!!!! Your existance must be horrible…get happy for once. Such anger here…YOU ALL FEED ON EACH OTHER..like sick, self-sustaining voodoo symbiotic canniballism. (true or not????) WELL, IS IT??????
I do not agree with everything he does, but I support our president, but if you say that here, prepare to be verbally evisirated. Lets see now once….
your friend banjoman
How utterly corrupt must the chain of command in the military be to arrest and convict the grunts in the Abu Ghraib images and paint them as just a few bad apples when the all of the brass was hiding behind Jay Bybee’s “Golden Shield.” Not only should Bush, Rice & Company be arrested so should every officer in the chain of command from the Joint Chiefs to the officers directly above Lynde England & Co.
And remember that England & Co were not allowed to present that they were following what they thought were acceptable treatment of their prisoners as a defense.
A Tale of Three News Stories…
———————————-
Here’s an aspect of the hysteria surrounding Rev Wright in the last few days that has been insufficiently connected with the larger picture. Essentially what happened is that the media became indignant about Wright’s largely-accurate criticisms of the mythical & non-existent “America, the Virtuous.” They became shrill & absolutely hysterical by Sunday night, essentially issuing a flat demand that Obama crawl on his belly & renounce Wright — which he did.
By contrast, the April 11 ABC torture story that Ted Rall refers to initiated no comparable level of media hysteria at all. Neither did the April 20 NY Times story confirming that all the “retired military officers” who propagandized for the war were coached & hired by the Pentagon.
The Obama-Wright matter was enough to send the media into full battle mode. The Pentagon shills, and the White House torture team, were NOT enough to move the media into anything remotely resembling “battle mode.” Those latter 2 stories were treated with circumspection; no dramatic conclusions were drawn; and no demands were issued.
The differential treatment accorded these 3 stories has very much to do with why we are where we are, as a society, today. It’s impressive, in a way, that the media were able to make Obama crawl on his belly & fully capitulate to their demands, in only a day or two. If the media had been similarly “outraged” by torture or Pentagon shills, they could have elicited similar responses in Washington. But of course, they’d never do that — because they support torture, and they favor the use of Pentagon shills.
bj - Only a dupe or a fool is happy while his unconstitutional government destroys his country and his world. Ignorance truly must be bliss.
Maybe you’d like to explain what, specifically, you support about this president. So far, I see you agree with torturing, and with illegal wiretapping. That’s two. Anything else? I really can’t get behind either of those. Can you give me any other reasons to support the man?
Oh - Are ya gonna send ‘em to Bush’s neverending war? Still waiting…
Yeah, I’d like to see D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department’s chief try to arrest the self anointed king of the land. His goons would shoot her down like a mad dog. It’s a shame to put the moral inevitability on her shoulders while Congress shirks its duty on a daily basis. I would like to see Bush and his minions get their comeuppance – which is a nice way to say they are flogged publicly for what they have wrought in both the world and here at home – but I would rather see our institutions do their sworn duty than to put it on one individual such as the chief of Metro DC police. Either way, somebody has got to step up and stop this madness. Best of luck to Cathy L. Lanier with her city. It’s just a shame that a bona fide war criminal has taken up residence in the city where she works but his AWOL ass has its own army and there is probably little she can do to get around that. Small but telling detail… Impeachment and imprisonment for the traitors that now hold sway over the land would be a good thing overall. Bush can’t pardon himself so there’s a cell waiting for him as well.
Her phone: 202-727-4218 Fax: 202-727-9524
Here, I just found the number for Cathy L. Lanier :
1-202-727-4218
I will be calling later today, maybe if enough people call it will at least make SOMETHING happen!
Banjoman,
You must live in that area od Disney World as Fantasyland. By the way, there’s a “Leave it to Beaver” marathon on TV-Land this weekend. Why don’t you go watch it? and let the adults have their conversation.
The very sad truth is that America IS banjoman. There’s nothing anybody can do, peasefully, about that.
dear banjoman,
if you support the president-select, it means you don’t understand the constitution, the bill of rights, or international law, for all of which his administration has demonstrated its utter contempt.
these people you call “killers” have never even been arraigned, much less tried and convicted, so you obviously don’t understand the concept of “innocent until proven guilty.”
you insult the people who post here, practically beg to be flamed, and then sign off as “your friend,” so you plainly don’t understand the concept of respectful give and take.
go find another sandbox to play in, child. the grownups are having a discussion about matters of grave import, and your noise is tiresome and distracting.
Won’t Bush just hide out at the ranch he recently bought in Paraguay since Paraguay doesn’t extradite criminals ?
See what I mean?
Respectful give and take? Well, I guess hazmat sort of was.
Other people have different views. Why can’t you accept that and also accept them?.
You won’t win any converts the way it’s been going here, well will you?
There must be someone lurking who understands that much…let’s here from them, instead of the same ones waiting to nail poor old banjoman…come on…be a sport now there….
y.f. banjoman
As the Democrats have made perfectly clear, Bush and his cronies are above the law and untouchable. Accept it.
Hi Banjoman,
As you flitter from cloud to cloud, it is difficult to avoid all the material that is available to you that could keep you better INFORMED! The only reason we could come up with is that you were watching a game show or some other nonsense,unrelated to anything that would turn your attention to the plight of the country and the world. Sorry, there isn’t enough room here top call them to your attention.
Do you think for one minute that someone who has lost all connection with reality, is going to tell you anything that will reveal where TERRORISTS ARE HIDING?
I’m almost 90 years old, a veteran of WWII and nothing to hide, except that I love America, as it was, and I do care about anyone listening in on my phone calls!!!!
You’re probably smug at the present, but you’ll have an awakening and blame it all on someone else.
Banjoman: It isn’t about a difference of opinions… it’s about violations of the LAW. You basically are saying that you support the US torturing people on the grounds that “it’s making us safer”… but that’s really a misconception… By the US showing itself to be the rogue state that it is, it’s making you LESS safe. It’s destroying the regime of international law that has been painstakingly created over the past half century.
You are also basically espousing the myth that Americans are superior and more important than anyone else… That’s really ignorant my ‘friend’. That just tells me you’re still living in the bubble of American exceptionalism. How can you possible cast off the chains that enslave you when you can’t even see them?
bj - I asked you for a give and take. I asked you to tell me why you support Bush, and why I should.
You need to think for yourself rather than listening to Rush, et al. If you can’t, then you have been duped. I have to believe someone who supports torture and domestic spying (both illegal activities) without any evidence that they have benefitted our country in any way, may thus be a dupe by definition. I have to believe that someone who was fooled by Bush lies about Iraq and WMD, and continues to believe the preposterous claims he makes, is by definition a fool.
I’ll even start the give-and-take. We do have evidence that legal wire-tapping yielded actionable information. Defense Sec’y Mukasey testified that information about an attack on the USA was intercepted from a safe-house in Afghanistan, but this was BEFORE 9/11, so it seems Bush knew we were in danger but continued his Texas vacation. We all saw Bush continue sitting, very unpresidentially, in that Florida classroom after being told his country was under attack. He appears on TV game shows while Americans are dying in Iraq, instead of dedicating himself to concluding the never-ending conflict he has started. These are just a few of the reasons why I cannot support Bush. What have you got to convince me otherwise?
Since George W. is a veteran, and didn’t complete his full tour of duty, maybe the D.O.D. could “stop-loss” him to active duty in Iraq.
I’m never surprised to see these “Please spank me” repug trolls like “Banjoman” within these comment sections. They wander about the internet (no job? Bitter and retired?), peeking into the windows of progressive discussions and get their thrills transparently codescending, coming out from under the bridge just long enough to infer that everyone else is being unreasonable and one-sided. Like “Banjo’s” Repugnican party hasn’t pretty much redefined subjective thought and killed the last vestiges of bi-partisanship within the government.
Here’s a “different view”: I say arrest him, too.
I’m never surprised to see these “Please spank me” repug trolls like “Banjoman” within these comment sections. They wander about the internet (no job? Bitter and retired?), peeking into the windows of progressive discussions and get their thrills transparently codescending, coming out from under the bridge just long enough to infer that everyone else is being unreasonable and one-sided. Like “Banjo’s” Repugnican party hasn’t pretty much redefined subjective thought and killed the last vestiges of bi-partisanship within the government.
Here’s a “different view”: I say arrest him, too.
“Do you think for one minute that someone who has lost all connection with reality”
Frank, I doubt that he ever had a connection with reality; however, I do totally agree with your posting.
I’m only 60, and I have used the term “bizarre” more in the past 7-8 years, than in all of the years prior.
In the movie version, a small group of Cheneybush’s personnel Secret Service agents, with assistance from like-minded Spec Ops and Seals, disappear “the principals” in the middle of the night to a few undisclosed locations. Including those presently roaming free, and even the ones we’ve forgotten about, like Ari and Karen and Harriet, etc.
The next morning, America is shocked by the headlines: “Domestic Enemies of the US Constitution Apprehended! Bush, Cheney, Gates, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Rest Held At Secret Locations By Military Police”
The Supreme Court steps right in and, aware of what the hell’s happening, agrees to shut the fuck up for the time being. Pelosi fills the power vacuum and immediately orders a special election for July 4th and assures the world all is well. The world is too busy celebrating to care what happens next…
That same evening, our new Attorney General reads the list of charges for which “the principals” are accused - this lasts over two hours and costs the Networks billions in lost ad reves. Except FOX, where the choice is made to air “Bedtime for Bongo” during the AG’s broadcast.
Later that night, a special session of the UN is called in order to thank the American people for finally waking up and saving themselves before it was too late…
re roncypert 2:40pm
i think Frank Lieb’s post refers not to shrub, but to some poor sucker in the pit at gitmo—drugged, beaten, waterboarded and sleep-deprived for who knows how long. the intel you’ll get from interrogating such prisoners may fill in the blanks and make your superiors look good, but it would be pure random chance if any useful data resulted—as any honest person with experience in these matters will tell you.
If Bush and his friends are arrested I’ll be very suspicious that it’s just another charade. Here at the end of his term, or even better a while after he’s out of office, it will make no difference to the corporate bosses who run the system. They will have had their use of Bush and then he can be sacrificed. Their next stooge will be firmly their thrall to carry on where Bush left off, and all the American people, even most of world, will be duped into thinking that something positive has been accomplished.
I’m pretty sure that our demands for impeachment or arrest will be satisfied before long, because even the puppeteers who created Bush are thinking that his arrest is a useful idea, one that will leave a grateful and relieved public fooled again.
Now George Bush must be arrested and punished if he is convicted, I agree. And the event will be cathartic for the national consciousness. But as far as turning this country in a positive direction, as far as bringing peace to the world and rationality to the U.S., well, Bush’s arrest will be no more effective than digging up Nixon and arresting him too.
The rule of law is currently a fiction.
Starting with the Re-establishment of the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law needs to become a reality. The
Mafia/ oligarchy/thug-ocracy/plutocracy/media-ocracy has to be reigned in. The U.S. Constitution is the tool We The People have to do just that.
I would argue that the rule of law is most importantly applied to those in power. If I go off the deep end, what kind of expense and damamge to society in terms of lives and dollars could I as an ordinary citizen (And I claim that title citizen, it is afforded me that power by the Constitution). Maybe at best a few lives and a few million dollars if I were clever and lucky. What kind of damage can president do if he goes off of the deep end? The end of civilization? Indeed. Those in positions of power are the most likely to claim to be exempt, when in fact they need such constraints more than anyone else.
Ted Rall this is an excellent article…make no mistake about it….
The comments about Reed and Pelosi are not informed. It takes 2/3 of the 100 member Senate to confirm. There are 49 Republicans, you would have to get 9 of them to bring it to a vote and another 7 in addition to convict.
They could do a meaningless exercise like Henry Hyde did against Clinton and have a small majority in the House bring it over, but that is meaningless and everyone should know that.
If you want meaningful lasting change for the better in the future, make sure everyone you know votes for a Democratic Senator come this November.
What if a Secret Service agent happened to observed George Bush secretly whacking off to torture tapes? Would that be enough of an outrage to get the Secret Service to protect the presidency by arresting this impostor? Or does the Secret Service only serve to keep secrets?
We can’t imagine Bush in leg irons, Saudi Arabia wouldn’t permit it. This is the proper perspective in which to evaluate the progression of our Nation State, in a globalized multinational “state” of affairs. We’re killing for oil in Iraq partly at the request of our business interests throughout the world. “We’ll rent your killing machine”
So a King in another land has far more control over your quality of life then you do. You can play nice, not complain, and equate freedom with parts for F-18s. Support your Kuwati’s Ferrari habit, the poor of Sadr City will be liberated by concrete walls and death.
It comes down to this my friends: We launch a Million Americans March on Washington for the purpose of initiating a citizens’ arrest on Mr. Bu$h and the “principals.” We surround the White House and prevent all supplies from going in until they surrender. Fact is, bu$h and cheney and all their disgusting cronies have been squatting in our houses and office buildings in our government for years. Time to throw them all out. Arrest the bastards. They have undermined America and deeply damaged our interests. Oh what a release that would be! To arrest these criminals and see dispassionate Justice done to them. Oh, the release. We could breathe again.
I do not support President Bush and will hopefully be voting for Obama and a change of direction this November. That said I have to comment on hazmat’s rebuke to bj:
“if you support the president-select, it means you don’t understand the constitution, the bill of rights, or international law, for all of which his administration has demonstrated its utter contempt.”
And you do hazmat? What credentials entitle you to trump the Supreme Court? How many law degrees and years of study and practice- more than the nine justices together? Many learned Constitutional Scholars do indeed think that Bush has demonstrated contempt for certain parts of the Constitution; many others believe he has simply acted in line with other imperial presidencies and certainly has not gone as far as Adams, Lincoln or FDR. Your above statement is absurd and arrogant.
“you obviously don’t understand the concept of “innocent until proven guilty.””
Does this apply to the President? You’re joking about understanding this concept-right? I mean with your righteous conviction of the criminal Bush? And by the way, if you did understand this concept you would know that it applies in US courtrooms; it is by no means universal being absent in France and many other Democracies.
The DC Police Chief arrest the President- this is Jon Stewart material and worth a good laugh, but you guys are just joking right? Nobody is that stupid! The President is not going to be arrested by anyone- not today, and barring something new, not ever- GET OVER IT.
He should be and will be soundly condemned by history as blindly leading us into the worst foreign policy disaster in American history as well as spending us near the brink of financial ruin (with his Reagan worshipping Republicans!!!).
Bush sucks and it’s time to throw the Republican Rascals out! So let’s get to work on that and stop all this crazy nonsense like arresting Bush that makes the rest of the country look at progressives as some kind of emotionally challenged, hysterically ignorant fanatics.
I know people in the hedge fund business worth hundreds of millions of dollars and they pay a lower rate on their taxes than you and I do- now that is something to get hysterical about!
No doubt that will be the typically narrow view of history taught in US classrooms. I’m inclined to think that the world’s historical perspective may be somewhat broader, perhaps even taking some account of the impacts on mere “foreigners” and on global stability generally resulting from the total disregard for international laws and covenants that were so painstakingly established following two world wars. Conceivably, they might even comment on the irony of having fought fascism elsewhere only to establish it at home.
And your best advice is “GET OVER IT”!? Somehow I doubt that everyone everywhere is likely to heed that admonition.
clarity April 30th, 2008 4:09 pm …Naive!
Hasn’t anyone been listening to me for two years!? I said then and I say it again 3 pair of handcuffs! If you need instruction in how to proceed go to New York Times International Europe January 17, 2006. Step by step procedure. Handcuffs! at least 3 pr. before they escape to Barain or Dubai who by the way have no extradition policy. I think there is even a cell waiting for them in the basement of the Congress!
Last night I watched as Jay Leno and Tonight Show guest “Dr”. Phil were both all aghast and their panties in a wad over the girls who violently beat-up another girl and posted it on YouTube. “How could this happen? What were they thinking? What made them do it?” they both asked, (all in a tizzy.)
Hmm.. do you think it was our “leadership” simply setting the example, and honed and goaded-on by our, media?
Duh!
If this nation is to ever be “normal” again, these criminals in the White House need to be imprisoned — for life.
Banjoman,
You don’t mind being under surveillance because you assume that no one will ever object to anything you do. What if those in power decided that Christianity is unacceptable, or that children should be removed from their homes and brought up in dorms by the state, or that (as described in Margaret Atwood’s book ‘A Handmaid’s Tale’) because of declining fertility in women, all women of childbearing age should be taken under state control and forced to reproduce? Under conditions like those, would you still be happy to be under state surveillance?
There’s a reason why most people in rich nations, who are able to think about more than simple survival, demand the right to privacy. And that is that we have seen the effects of totalitarianism and most of us don’t want to live like that. Hence the vigilence of most of the people who monitor and contribute to Common Dreams.
I agree with Rall here insofar as Bush needs to be held responsible. While no legal authority within the United States can arrest and charge Bush for war crimes we could
a. impeach Bush– which of course congress will not do as they are implicated in a lot of this crap and because torture is integrally related to America’s perception of itself as global police thug. As long as folks accept this hegemonic conception of America, torture won’t seem like a major issue.
So my first proposed solution is to start an Anti-Imperialist league akin to the one Mark Twain was involved in during the Phillippine War.
or
b. Follow Thomas Jefferson’s words:
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
banjoman, the people demand privacy and a lot more protections because the elites’ relationship with the people is predator/prey, or parasite/host, or master/slave.
But the issues you raise are mere pretexts for your little game pressing the buttons of progressives. You learned how to use pretexts from your heros the elites? Tell us how much Lockheed stock you own - c’mon - who needs secrets?
Bring some more elites over here to debate with us! The door’s open!
Somebody who still believes in the rule of law and the constitution prevail in the US. How sad. You probably believe they report vote counts accurately too.
Anton Scalia made if very clear that Bush is his friend and all of his friends are above the law. When a justice of the Supreme Court advocates torture and everybody shrugs you know America is a nation of zombies.
None of this is going to change until global warming or bird flu or something starts killing the wealthy and they notice that they need the rest of us as something other than cattle.
This is pretty freaking sad all around.
The whole damn mess of criminals should be tried convicted and executed. That includes Pelosi and the whole bunch of other wimps in Congress. Let’s clean house and we can’t do that with Liar Hillary and Perjuring sidekick Bill. Obama is change and Truth versus Lying and sell-out Clinton. It’s a simple as that. Just post photos with LIARS under Clintons’ and TRUTH under Obama’s. No more need be said.
A little word excecise for Bajoman and his ilk:
Free countries arrest and imprison people with out charge.
Free countries torture people to obtain information and confessions.
Free countries have rulers that are above the law.
Free countries ignore thier own people in favor of corporations.
Free countries execute prisoners.
Free countries monitor thier citizens and their communications.
Free countries arrest or Taser(tm) people for speaking out of turn.
Frre countries fire teachers speaking non-government approved thoughts.
Free countries have large private armies to protect the business or political elite.
Free countries have very large per capita prison populations.
Free countries allow opposing political speech only in approved speaking zones.
America is a free country……
Banjoman, have you been in Rush flabber mouths bottle of pills?
Hi America………..I just sent the following to chief of police in Washington DC - i expect a knock on the door at 4am now…in UK from MI5….um!
“There is a very live debate in your country (and in mine) regarding the statement by President Bush that he approved of “enhanced” interrogation techniques on detainees in Iraq and Afganistan White House records of meetings can prove this as can the statements of federal officers and agents. In view of the fact that the USA is a leading signatory to the UN Convention against Torture it is not unreasonable that President Bush should indeed be arrested ; you, madam would appear to have due authority to act in such manner.
Will you do so?
The following commentary might be helpful in assisting you to reach a decision. Doubtless you will pass this email to the security agencies in my country. Fine. My email is simply an enquiry as to whether you are of the opinion that you should, or should not act to bring the gentleman and his associates to answer charges.
Thank you
Roger Carter
.
IMPEACH both BUSH and CHENEY………..IMMEDIATELY
After their Trial by the Senate, and they are removed from office; then turn BUSH, CHENEY, and all of their NeoCons Gang over to the International War Crimes Court…….
Millions of murdered Iraqi civilians deserve Truth and Justice.
Arrest then before they go into hiding !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.
Banjoman: A true Patriot will insist on the imnpeachment of Bush. Support for the presidency is one thing, but backing the nincompoop who is in the office is almost treason.
It is important to note that we are talking about George Walker Bush here. I think he needs to suffer the most excruciating pain for as long as possible. In my opinion, George needs to feel extreme pain for the rest of his life.
“Even if he were charged he could issue himself a pardon” Sure…but who in their right mind would honor such a pardon. Whichever judge does honor such a pardon should also suffer extreme torture for as long as possible - while witnessing the orchestrated rape of his wife and children and having the rapist granted clemency for that act.
George Walker Bush stated, “Yes, I am aware our national security team met on this issue [torture] …and I approved.”
Really George. Well, would your opinion change if it was YOU or any of your family members went through the exact same torture. Let the American people conduct such an experiment on the families of Richard Cheney and George Bush along with Rice, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Fleischer, Perino and ALL of their family members - let us see if their opinions would change. Oh and uhhh… for added measure let the American people see to it that those who conduct such torture experiments be granted immunity.
Making sure that ALL members of the Bush cabinet, and their relatives also, endure extreme torture for as long as possible would be a wonderful day in world history. If their ever be a lawyer who defends this scum may THAT person, and his entire family, endure that same torture that the Bush cabal expresses.
I’d be willing to spring for a one way ticket to Cuba or Afghanistan for these war criminals. It makes me feel ashamed to be an American. I can’t imagine how the rest of the world views us, esp. Muslim countries. How do these people sleep at night? Every one of them is a religious person, too! How hypocritical. Then we have the dems who promised us a full investigation and impeachment if warranted. But…surprise!! It’s business as usual. What’s even more scary? The prospect of McCain picking up where King George W. leaves off. More of the same, only worse. and what can we do? Sit around and complain.
fuck arresting this terroist scum bag vermin swine.
time to EXECUTE the mothefucker and all the dirty JEW SCUM who pull his little strings.
Lets Nuke em.
If Bush and his cronies were the head of any other country, the USA would have them prosecuted as war criminals.
George Bush is a liar, thief, alcoholic, murder, traitor, treasonous snake from hell. You know what, those words are to kind for him. He deserves what he gives to others, Treat him with the same amount of disrespect he and his fat criminal devil Cheney give to our brave American soldiers who they send to their deaths with out any remorse or proper equiptment, like armor or support.
Wexlerwantshearings.com
Its time for a War Crimes and Treason Investigation, and don’t forget War Profiteering, and Racketeering, and Criminal Conspiracy, Isn’t the Republican party wonderful.
They are Scumbags from hell period.
No they wouldn’t bother. They’d just bomb the snot out of the civilian population, invade, occupy and turn “administration” of it’s assets over to cronies.
As to a one way ticket out of the country, I’d not like to see that because I think we want some sort of continuing jurisdiction over them. Instead, stick them in the 9th ward and let FEMA provide for their needs while we obtain restitution, compensation, and punitive damages from all assets linked to them on paper or otherwise. That’s what is done with common criminals, and that’s what they are.
banjoman is a perfect example of an American who claims to love democracy and freedom but has no friggin clue what that means! He doesn’t even know that those of us who want these criminals brought to justice are fighting for his rights too, even though he doesn’t deserve them.
It doesn’t matter that there would only be a couple of months left in Bush’s term in office after his removal through impeachment. The harm done to our country and its constitution by letting him serve out those last few months–through the precedent it sets–would be incalculable. Bush must be impeached…Cheney as well! Criminal prosecutions should follow, if warranted by the evidence. Great article Mr. Rall.
Only those with something to hide live in such fear and cynicism.(like guess who?)
Like the Bush administration:
Mukasey Declines To Tell Senators If Classified Memo Is Still In Force
Secret Law and the Threat to Democratic Government
Bush Secrecy Policies Transforming U.S. Government
House panel takes White House subpoena case to federal court
You could play videos of the specific torture on TV 24/7 along with Bush’s acknowledgment and approval, and still nothing will happen in Congress.
What constitution,bush the dictator. I still say i want to see bush and company,all waterboarded. Maybe then the truth would come out?or would they just tell us what we want to hear. As far as congress goes, they’re almost as big of a embarrassment as the executive branch
Ah, the folly of an unbridled ruling class. Let them eat not cake, but the deeds of what they have dealt others. It would bring a whole new meaning to “gag” order. (pun fully intended)
Hey Stupid, It is spelled Eviscerate.
Like to remove an organ, A brain, BJ-Man?
Your Friend Mike.
There is very little in this report that we did not know already. What is so very wrong with the American system of government and justice that these people are still in power? What is so very wrong with the American people that the tolerate this kind of lawless behavior in their “elected” officials? Why are members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican, allowed to own shares in “defence” companies that they grant contract to? How many times do you have to read this kind of report before you as a nation will act and bring these criminals to justice?
What has happened to Americans and how can you bring your nation back to lawful behavior fitting of a world power?
You don’t have to read or hear any more you have enough evidence, reports, etc. to act. You know your senior officials are criminals so please wake up and do something, take action, before Iran and the rest of the Middle East are brought into an irrevocable conflict that will affect everyone in the world.
Well.
I can say one reason they (the machine behind both McCain and Clinton) are doing a shock and awe on Obama…
He will be pressured to follow through LEGALLY on crimes commited by the current regime. I believe that a President Obama will see the logical, moral and ethical imperative of indicting Bush, Cheney, and the rest to try them BEFORE the World Court embarrasses the US and does it first. THAT would be even a worse outcome than what we are currently experiencing in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.
For if the World Court get a hold of them, they will certainly have to give testimony. And if testimony is not given, we will really look bad. So the truth will out.
So this is why the boys in the back room FEAR Obama so much. Because Bush may very well be offered up for trial just as he was offered up as President when he was scarely able to pilot a plane, much less a ship of state.
Ugh. –UB.
Thanks for this article—-MAN, if we don’t arrest and prosecute these gangsters under The Constitution we have really let down the generations who gave it to us and protected it for us. GW Bush, like his ugly-souled father, is a sadomasochist—hates his life, hates that he let his family castrate him as a man, and so takes his self-punishment out on others. Loves to see the people he calls “enemies” hurt, killed, tormented, humiliated….Hitler was the same way: a complete little turd of a creature, a vicious non-entity, a black hole around whom everybody acts out their own fantasies of power. Once he’s gone or dead, POP! so is the delusion and they run like rats in daylight….
ARVY: Good response to CLARITY.
CLARITY: I wonder if you are new to this site? There have been powerful discussions regarding quite a VAST array of LAWS broken by Bush. Just to refresh your memory, ours is not a monarchy or dictatorship. Bush has taken a bully position essentially daring congress or his own men on the Supreme Court (thus rendered null and void) to block his ILLEGAL actions. There is no honor in this individual and the cabal he represents, no consideration for America, its laws, economy, ecology or citizens. Our treasury has been robbed. The nation’s status is in a sewer. Over a million lives were stolen by a war of CHOICE with a FIXED set of “causes.” Illegal spying on citizens is illegal. Appointing loyal fools to head departments like Brownie in New Orleans shows contempt for the American people, and has placed LIVES into jeopardy.
The lies that led to war, the lies that present an atmosphere of smoke and mirrors around the TRUE status of this nation’s economy… there are SO many reasons TO impeach, so MANY broken laws not the least of which is a broken covenant with the people this bastard swore to serve!
JACK 37: I was contemplating the “Heart of Darkness” that makes a Cheney or Bush, and received a spiritual intimation that is truly LUCIFERIC. These “persons” have egos as big as deities and unlike deities, they are mortal… their real argument is with God/Creator, that they do not believe they should ever expire, they so resent their own mortality that their egos amass a false sense of power in seeing how many they can take with them, deliver unto Hades and thus speed THEIR mortality along.
I know it’s about oil and greed and the necessity of keeping the US dollar as a basic currency in world trade, BUT the psychological implications and roots of why these people behave with ABSOLUTE callous disregard for human (and other) life, and do so on so grand a scale is absolutely mythic in itself. I don’t believe in “the devil,” but we all know evil IS. Remember the article on CD that spoke of the “Banality of Evil.” Some children really do issue from a sphere of darkness, and have never felt the LIGHT of creation. They are the fallen ones… and it’s a tragedy of epoch proportions that their darkness was allowed, even encouraged to move to “center stage” where they could take control of “star ship American Enterprise” and celebrate their fury through bombs and bombast.
I was watching C-Span this morning and some Repug from Texas was telling a story about a young girl being raped and nearly beaten to death. Then he said we’re a nation of law and order, in that case I thought why is most of the Administration, Congress and Senate still free. why are all these administrators of public funds who regularly divert funds to their own bank account still free. Why are the Americans committing torture and murder in the name of ” the war on terror ” still free. Why is the CIA still in existance given their history.
The fact is the USA is a nation controlled by crooks.
Officer Lanier, serve your country; do your job.
Thanks, Ted.
Forgive me if you’ve heard this one or it’s up there and I didn’t see it.
December 2008 - Bush pardons everyone for everything. Then Bush resigns. President Cheney pardons Bush. Everyone goes on to live off the treasury they looted.
Arrest Bush?
Impeachment is off the table, and the American Sheeple cheer on BillaryObama…..
Hah….
If impeachment is off the table, we need a new head waitress. Goodbye, Ms Pelosi, supporter of war crimes.
Early this month OBAMA was intervied on Fox news and said he didn’t know if Bush and co.had committed any crimes or if they were just bad political decisions,this is after the fact that Bush had addmitted to torture!
HE DIDN’T KNOW ?????
I hope that the readers of CD know,and wonder how they could possibly support an O
OBAMA candacy ????????
Hillory would obliterate Iran
McCain says Bomb,bomb,bomb
Vote for none of the above or stand
complicitin the Bush crimes.
Arrest Bush.
As Ted Rall points out in this excellent piece, torture resulting in the death of the victim is a capital offense.
As Elizabeth Holtzman has stated in her excellent book on impeachment, there is no statute of limitations on capital offenses. So, unless Bush issues blanket pardons as one of his last acts in office, he and his gang will be at risk of being subject to murder prosecutions for the rest of their lives.
I wish progressive media outlets would start reporting on the emerging evidence that the official story of 9/11 cannot possibly be true and then start following that investigation anywhere it may lead. That kind of explosive revelation could be the catalyst to actually bring the criminals running the country to justice.
Taxi to The Dark Side
An in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed in 2002.
http://heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.12.TaxiDarkSide.htm
CITIZEN’S ARREST, ALREADY!!!!!!!!!
Just getting an indictment against these criminals would be a fantastcally positive step. What about suggesting they convene one ASAP? Then let the District set up a criminal grand jury to investigate and they could serve the arrest warrant the minute the next president is inaugurated? Uh oh, maybe just one more reason why there won’t be a next….
Let’s talk about history. Bush, Cheney, et. al., will not be arrested for crimes against humanity. The human race will not die off, anytime soon–though many of the “lesser” people–read “brown,” will starve. White guys and the brown guys living in the privileged nations will protest-but not SOO much as to alter their life-styles. Black kids dying of starvation in the “underprivileged” nations will still serve to OUTRAGE us as we sip our drinks at Starbucks. And all will go on as we happily know it…
I hope that the current administration are dragged through the streets of the capitol, hung like pigs to slaughter and dick and george have their heads put on a f*!@ing pole.
History will not be kind, these things will come back and bite down hard on the memories of us all for allowing it to happen.
Finally….we’re getting “Mad as Hell”….are we in the streets yet?
This is very well done. This is a tightly reasoned indictment. Why do we have to worry about impeachment when we can sue these top administrators for war crimes. It needs to be pursued. They don’t have to get away with it. It doesn’t have to happen in a foreign court. Can’t this be done?
i have a dream
millions & millions of the worlds people united
arm in arm as the liars are locked together on the lawn
Imagine . . .
Impeachment proceedings are taking place in the Senate against George W. Bush.
(Watching how the candidates for President conduct themselves in these proceedings would be a great way to evaluate them)
Imagine: what questions does Senator McCain pose?
Imagine: what questions does Senator Clinton pose?
Imagine: what questions does Senator Obama pose?
McCain: Has to posture and position to help Bush get off.
Clinton: She will struggle, on the one hand she has labeled herself a “fighter”, BUT, she can’t be too tough on him, because her hubby is close friends with his Dad.
Obama: CAN GO AFTER HIM.
The new President is elected:
If it is McCain, does he pardon Bush? Of course.
If it is Clinton, does she pardon Bush: Yes, their families are too close (this would be her answer to “bringing the country together”)
If it is Obama, does he pardon Bush: NO
The new President is elected:
If it is McCain, does he appoint a Special Prosecutor to go after Bushco? No
If it is Clinton, does she appoint a Special Prosecutor to go after Bushco? No
If it is Obama, does he appoint a Special Prosecutor to go after Bushco: It’s possible
If Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, and the rest of the war criminals were hanged like Saddam was, they’d be messing their pants, trembling, and crying for Mama. Saddam killed less people than these fascists, and he at least went to the gallows like a man.
The chimp will never have the luxury of retiring into a benign rest period like many have done. He is even less likely to accomplish anything positive like Carter. “History will not judge this kindly”- Captain Obvious. He will be in active hiding as there will be no place in America where he would not be spat upon or worse if he shows up in public. This is a legacy of shame which he has bestowed upon All Americans. He will probably be in exile as were other infamous war criminals of the magnitude of Adolf Eichmann. Paraguay would be the best retirement possible for Dubyuh.
There are those who will say that comparing Dubyuh to the Nazis is a despicable act. No one could possibly be that bad they say. I say that if the shoe fits- wear it. Genocide is genocide. That he has committed this crime is now beyond any lingering doubt. What the Americans will be able to do about it is the unanswered question.
Tell me something new about fascists.
Pelosi deserves to be kicked in the teeth for not filing articles of impeachemtnt. I will vote for a cockroach before a vote for that collaborator.
No one in the current government of the “United” States - the blue states that fund the racism and jinogism of the red - is going to hold these people accountable. The only hope is that they are declared international war criminals,and they are arrested by the first sovereign state they enter outside our borders, and they are tried like the fascists who preceded them, and convicted for being the fascists they are. During our parents’ and grandparents’ time there was a balance struck between concern for the people of our nation and the world, and concern for profit. Bill Clinton was the last to keep the balance, cynical though he was. The past eight years have been rule by Harvard Business School. They are applying all the principles of a leveraged buyout - extract the cash, pile up the debt, and make the future someone else’s problem. This is the pinnacle of American narcissism - the ugly American. Nowhere to go but down, buckle up. It will be up to the UN, and rational nations of the world, to bring these guys to justice.
Great article Ted Rall.
I say extra-rendition the Principals. You know they planned every detail just as they would want it. To torture them would be to deny them their butt plugs and diapers as they are flown to destination: Justice.
“In any case, Democrats have already said that impeachment is “off the table.””
Why?
I’d like to know how many people in the USA want to see Bush impeached.
If there is more than 50%, but no impeachment proceedings are being initated by the elected government, then what sort of a democracy do you people really have?
I’d like to think it would bother you enough to do something about it if it turned out you don’t, but let’s face it…
The Congress was intimidated by the Anthrax attack. They won’t do shit. And we all know how SCOTUS had already sold out. The entire government is corrupt! By Jefferson’s standard, it should be abolished!
They need to take him into custody, slap on the handcuffs, throw his sorry rear-end into the back seat of a cruiser, and get this show on the road!
What’s wrong with the D.C. police? Don’t they know their job? Are they incapable of doing their job? What’s the story here?
American Sheeple don’t understand that BillaryObama represent the same “opposition party” that was complicit in getting us in Iraq in the first place, then continues to fund this illegal war of aggression and then refuses to impeach Bush.
And the brain dead American Sheeple keep on cheering BillaryObama and pat their back for being sooooo progressive. Ah well…..
dear siouxrose,
yes, exactly. cheney and his ilk are the real nihilists—apres moi, rien.
re clarity 4:09pm 4/30:
misnomer.
George Bush behind bars? I APPROVE!
Stock market
A new book written by a leading globalist luminary provides a blueprint for how 6,000 elitists plan to completely end national sovereignty, impose a system of global governance, and how they will deal with an international network of people that resist their agenda.
Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making is a manifesto for how the elite plan to shape the course of the planet and impose a new world order while combating the inevitable “global network of antiglobalists” who will rise up against it.
The author of the book, David J. Rothkopf, is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and has previously served as the Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade during the administration of Bill Clinton before he became managing director of Kissinger and Associates in January 1996.
A Salon.com review alarmingly details the brazen premise of Rothkopf’s book - a global elite now run the planet and have usurped the power of national governments while ensuring laws constrained by borders are all but obsolete.
“Each one of them is one in a million. They number six thousand on a planet of six billion. They run our governments, our largest corporations, the powerhouses of international finance, the media, world religions, and, from the shadows, the world’s most dangerous criminal and terrorist organizations. They are the global superclass, and they are shaping the history of our time,” states the promo for the book.
The threadbare notion that Rothkopf’s book is a critical and impartial investigation of the global elite can be rejected out of hand just by looking at the author’s biography - in reality he is a cherished insider.
Throughout the book Rothkopf fawns over the global elite of which he too is a member. The Salon review notes his “palpable thrill” at “recognizing CEOs, oil company executives and Harvard professors on his way to a fondue restaurant,” in the globalist enclave of Davos, Switzerland and his obsession with listing every banal “achievement” of each elitist he speaks with.
According to the article, the kind of elitist celebrated in Rothkopf’s book “have little need for national loyalty, view national boundaries as obstacles that thankfully are vanishing, and see national governments as residues from the past whose only useful function is to facilitate the elite’s global operations.”
Rothkopf himself concurs that laws and regulations defined by borders and nation states are obsolete and need to be replaced not by a global government but by “global governance”. The fact that the ultimate goals of the two - the total elimination of national sovereignty - are essentially identical is not lost on globalists who know that a more subtle imposition of centralized control needs to be enacted in order to con the serfs into sacrificing their identity. A sharply defined “world government” is too visceral a concept and would attract fierce opposition, therefore a method of forcing countries to adopt harmonized policies of “global governance” is the new approach that globalists have embarked on.
Rothkopf ominously expresses the plan to mandate the “Registration and management of Internet domain names (via a collection of organizations)” under a global umbrella, which the informed will recognize as a bastardized version of Internet 2, where individuals require government permits to operate a website under tight regulation.
The article concedes that, “Rational as it may sound to set up such systems, they just aren’t directly answerable to the populace at large — they’re undemocratic,” which Rothkopf admits will give rise to rebellions and pave the way for more people like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who he labels as being part of “the global network of antiglobalists,” and a man who has “made political theater out of taunting and thwarting the global elite.”
Rothkopf’s answer to the inevitable antagonism that will be directed towards the globalists as their agenda unfolds is to hoodwink the commoners into thinking they have influence in the new world order that is being built around them - a method otherwise known as the Delphi Technique, which is universally recognized as an underhanded and unethical ploy of achieving consensus through deception.
According to Rothkopf the, “Superclass ought to be smart enough to foresee any such crisis and head it off by doing more to make the currently disenfranchised feel like “stakeholders” in the new global order.”
The fact that the same elitists Rothkopf affords such sycophantic adulation are also personally responsible for the policies that result in the slaughter of untold millions and the misery of countless others across the globe matters little to Rothkopf, who also has no qualms about including Osama Bin Laden in a group of 6,000 “global elite” who now control the world and “whose connections to each other have become more significant than their ties to their home nations and governments.”
Superclass maintains that the elite, who mainly comprise “older males of European descent who graduated from prestigious Western colleges,” are “an improvement on those of the past,” but this rings hollow when we consider the state of the planet that they have crafted.
A million-plus dead Iraqis since 2003, a global economy in chaos and individual freedom under attack in every corner of the world suggests the much-vaunted global elite - worshipped in Rothkopf’s book as saviors of the Earth - are more accurately parasites and a cancer upon humanity.
Watch Rothkopf give a lecture on the power of the global elite. He identifies Bohemian Grove as a key meeting venue for the globalists. Decide for yourself whether he is a fawning sycophant or an objective critic.
Rothkopf’s approach is to blame the world’s problems on free-market capitalism and and imply that global elitists are a new phenomenon and therefore part of the solution, when in reality the elite created monopoly capitalism and have been a hidden-hand manipulating world events and offering solutions to problems they created for centuries.
If still need to be convinced that George W. Bush has a cruel streak a mile wide, read Mark Crispin Miller’s book THE BUSH DYSLEXICON.
I’m happy to read, that most members here get it also, with the exception of one, or two that have failed to get it.
The anthrax was a threat from organized crime toward those that may actually have acted in the manner the law demanded they act.
Wellstone was one that stood up to these threats,,, Daschel was forced into silence. As far as I know, we had two out of 535, as well as their entire staffing below them, plus the entire executive staffing, the courts, and each and every state government, in complicity with international war crimes related to the bush admins actions. When a nations leaders are punnished by the other global authorities, it is the people that are going to pay for these crimes we let continue.
What do you not understand about the reason for the lies for war(s)? Compress these legal violations into a compact indictment, Capital Crimes in violation of international law (*1), and pass it out far and wide so the complicit media can no longer ignore the facts of history as they play out today. Trust me, if you sit there after reading this without even sending one email, at least one, just one note to your elected representative, telling them how YOU think and feel about these criminals, you will be the problem -we the others- must overcome, not the criminals we need to restrain as of yesterday! When they get one message, in a non form letter from many people, they do act, unless the organized crime is within them or being threatened by organized crime. If they fai lto act after you have informed them and made the demand to act, tell them, we will protect them if they seek justice against organized criminals, we will protect them, won’t we. This is the only other possibility I can see for an innocent elected representative, not taking action on this bush admin, a pressure to ‘wheez gunnah get youse family if youse try to do right pelosi’, is this the real motive for her not acting to defend her oath to we those people?
Will you/we still sit and complain, or move to act on our own defense against possible war crime complicity - for remaining still. The first place to start, is to call the DC Police Chief, make her proclaim publiclly why she cannot act, if she feels she cannot. The Sherrif, has the highest authority granted to any Citizen within the legal framework of our government, a republic, not a damned democracy. Our next step, go TO YOUR congress critters office, in PERSONA Presenta(sic), and DEMAND THE ARRREST (*2) OF THE EXCECUTIVE BRANCH OF OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT !!!NOW!!!
A Grand Jury is the legal route for the people to travel to get justice in this case, a DC Grand Jury of our Peers is in -lawful- order, when those that are (s)elected to act on our behalf do not and comment on their actual refusal to lawfully act on our behalf.
Someone above wrote a nice what-if, relating to the upcoming election, good breakdown. Now add in one other running candidate for the office of the President of the United States of America, Ralph Nader. Ralph Nader would not only seek indictments, he would reverse any bogas pardons granted by an unindicted capital-war criminal in office. We have set the precident in the USA, “no criminal (felons for sure fit here) may benefit from his/her crimes”, any pardons would be one of those organized crime RICO things easily defeated before their fair trials.
C. Rice etc, did not need to take an oath before the 9/11 ConMission prior to her testimony, nor did any other U.S. Government executive branch employee or director,,, they took the oath as they stepped into office, EVERYTHING THEY EVER SAY while in office, is under penalty of perjury, at all times.
(*1) Although the international law(s) has been declared abandon within the bush administrations united states of tyrany, AKA the USSA, they are still in effect elsewhere outside the borders of the ussa (I believe, I believe,,,), real international law violations ongoing today.
(*2) Arrest, the restraint on activity, also an actual ‘book em Danno’ put on the cuffs for the pRes, VpRes, Sec-o-State, -list the guilty chicken-hawk-NeoConz here- , for the evidence against these people would have had Mr. and Mrs. average American U.S. Citizen confined within minutes of notice by the nearest law enforcement official(s).
I appologize for any bastardization of the language, intentional and otherwise(mistakes) above.
If I told you what I really thought, I’d be arrested, yet these neoconz walk free with the ability to kill everyone within seconds of the thought to do so. For those inclinded to think in this way, that a god will eventually meet out “justice”, the bible is not real and being “fulfilled” as in prophecies, it has only been the blueprint for action by organized criminals for centuries. There will be coincidences, especially when written and distorted historic events are then compared. Consider the authorship source of both.
We all need to take steps to arrest George W. Bush. Here’s what I’m doing in Minneapolis:
An appeal to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman:
Charge George W. Bush with Murder in the third degree, conspiracy to raise oil prices and conspiracy to distribute drugs in Hennepin County
George W. Bush has committed horrible crimes against humanity. His war against a weak and defenseless country; his use of torture and kidnapping, his illegal incarcerations of foreign nationals and the shelling of Fallujah are crimes in violation of international law. As long as he is President he cannot be tried for these crimes in another country, but once he is a private citizen, then, like Kissinger, Pinochet and Donald Rumsfeld, he will be a hunted criminal with little refuge in any foreign country that believes in the rule of law. But those are matters for foreign countries and the international court.
He has violated and undermined the Constitution by illegally spying on citizens, by refusing to enforce laws passed by Congress, by invading a country without a Declaration of a State of War by Congress and by entering into agreements with foreign countries and not submitting those agreements to the United States Senate for their advice and consent. But these are matters for the U. S. Congress to enforce. Unfortunately, Congress is unwilling to hold the President accountable to the Constitution and has refused to begin impeachment proceedings against him.
But what concerns us as Minnesotans is whether George W. Bush’s actions have caused serious and grievous harm to the citizens of our state and whether that harm was incidental to the legitimate performance of his official duties as President or whether his actions were motivated by private and personal gain. As the highest elected law enforcement official in Hennepin County, it is Mike Freeman’s duty to enforce the laws of this state. If it can be shown that there is probable cause that George W. Bush caused harm to the people of Minnesota and that this harm was caused by his willful pursuit of personal gain, then it is the duty of Mike Freeman to bring charges against George W. Bush and hold him accountable to Minnesota law.
There are three areas in which the criminal acts of George W. Bush have violated Minnesota law.
First, his pursuit of a war against the government of Iraq was not done in legitimate defense of national interest but rather in pursuit of personal wealth. His administration lied about the threat of weapons of mass destruction, and they lied about a connection between Iraq and international terrorists. They knew Iraq did not pose a threat to the United States. The only reasonable explanation for George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq was that he stood to personally benefit from the war.
To fully understand the Bush family financial interests in war profiteering it is necessary to understand their history.
Great-grandfather Samuel Prescott Bush was president of Buckeye Steel Castings. He manufactured railroad couplings for railroads owned by the Morgans, Rockefellers and Harrimans. During World War I he was on the War Industries Board and chaired the section on forgings, guns, small arms and ammunition, and he got to work with people from Dupont, Remington, Winchester and Colt. Sam Bush founded and became the first president of the National Association of Manufacturers, an organization whose principal cause was defending industrial capitalism from the threat of unions. He became an indispensable part of the military-industrial complex, and he sent his son Prescott off to Yale where he could associate with the sons of his friends in the Skull and Bones fraternity.
Along with many of his college chums, Prescott joined Brown Brothers Harriman after college and started making serious money. The biggest buck to be made in the 1920’s was in re-arming Germany. Harriman & Co. set up Union Banking Corp with Prescott as Manager to trade with Nazi financier Fritz Thyssen. They bought a steamship line to ship Remington arms to Germany through a dummy corporation in Holland. Harriman & Co. bought Dresser Industries (manufacturers of oil pipeline equipment) in 1929 and Prescott became a Director, and he continued to run Dresser from the Board for the rest of his life. They, along with John Foster Dulles and others, bankrolled Hitler as a shrewd business strategy. Prescott became Managing Director of Union Bank in 1934 at the height of trade with Germany. In 1939 he took direct management of some of the slave labor camps in Poland to aid Nazi armament, according to Dutch intelligence sources.
In October of 1942, the U. S. government seized the assets of Union Bank and three other of Prescott’s industries: the steamship line, the Seamless Steel Equipment Corporation (suppliers of steel, wire and explosives to the Nazis) and the Silesian-American Company (the coal mining company he managed along with John Foster Dulles on behalf of the Nazi Economic Minister). This didn’t really close them down. Once the war started they simply changed sides and started supplying war material to the Allies.
During the War Bonesmen were active in forming the OSS and its later incarnation, the CIA. Prescott’s relationship with Dulles would become very useful during the Eisenhower years, with John Foster as Secretary of State and his brother Allen Dulles as Director of the CIA. Prescott and Dresser Industries were kept well inside the loop. Hans Gisevius, the German intelligence agent who acted as the go-between with Allen Dulles in Switzerland and Admiral Canaris in the German High Command after the war, acted as go-between with Dulles, Dresser Industries and Prescott Bush.
George Herbert Walker Bush, Prescott’s son, improved on the CIA connection to the point of becoming its Director in 1976.
After graduating from Yale, George H. W. Bush went to work at his father’s firm, Dresser Industries. Eventually, with money from Brown Brothers and Harriman (his dad’s parent company) he set up his own company, Zapata. It was really a CIA front. The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 was probably George’s operation as much as it was Allen Dulles’s. The CIA code name for it was Zapata. The boats left for the Bay of Pigs from an island that was leased to George H. W. Bush, and the boats were named Houston and Barbara.
He ran for Congress in Houston in 1964 by campaigning against the Civil Rights Act. He didn’t get elected that year, but he did get elected the next time he tried. When he was Chair of the Republican Party in 1972 he set up ethnic heritage groups within the Party. These groups were havens for ex-Nazis.
While Vice President under Reagan, Bush was Chair of the Special Situations Group responsible for defeating the Sandanistas in Nicaragua. He and Ollie North set up, financed and armed the Contras through an elaborate and highly secretive scheme that saw private planes flying cash to Iran, buying Soviet-made guns, flying guns to the Contras at a private CIA airstrip in Costa Rica, trading guns for marijuana and cocaine, then flying the drugs to a private U. S. airbase in Homestead, Florida, where the drugs were traded for cash.
George Bush was Vice President under Reagan from 1980 to 1988. He was elected President in 1988 and served one term until 1992. Dick Cheney was his Secretary of Defense. When Bush lost, Cheney went from being Secretary of Defense to being CEO of Halliburton, probably the largest supplier of goods and services to the Defense Department. The revolving door connecting the military to the industrial complex seemed to be well greased. A few years later Cheney came back through the door to be Vice President for George Bush the younger.
Why did George W pick Cheney. Well, actually, Cheney picked himself. Bush asked him to make a list of candidates for Vice President. Cheney did, then he sold W on the idea that he was the best man for the job.
What makes Cheney so special, so indispensable?
While Cheney was CEO of Halliburton he built up the company by buying other companies. One of the companies he bought was Dresser Industries. Halliburton spent $8 billion buying Dresser. When they bought it, Halliburton’s stock dropped by a third. Wall Street thought it was a bum deal. Why did Cheney pay so much? Was it a sweetheart deal because the owners of Dresser were his former and future bosses?
The popular image of Cheney is that he’s the brains behind Bush, that Bush is some kind of simpleton and Cheney is an evil genius. The Dresser deal looks like Cheney is still the loyal employee. He’s both the bag man and fall guy for the Bushs. He delivers the cash, and, when the Bushs get in trouble, he’s willing to stand up and take the hit for it.
During the 2000 presidential election Cheney admitted Halliburton did business with Libya and Iran, but he denied they had done business with Iraq, “I had a firm policy that we wouldn’t do anything in Iraq, even arrangements that were supposedly legal. We’ve not done any business in Iraq since U. N. sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990, and I had a standing policy that I wouldn’t do that,” he said on ABC-TV’s This Week on July 30, 2000. But Dresser was selling equipment through French subsidiaries to Iraq from early in 1997 through 2000. Halliburton didn’t buy Dresser until 1998, so, it was the Bush family’s company that was trading with the enemy and Cheney just continued the practice. Purchasing the company also covered up the trail.
George W. Bush, in the best traditions of his family, waged war against the people of Iraq so that Halliburton could assign oil leases and control the oil and so that Halliburton would get multi-billion dollar no-bid contracts to supply the military. More than 4000 Americans have lost their lives in Iraq. Of that number 60, as of March 29, 2008, are from Minnesota, which is the justification of this appeal to County Attorney Mike Freeman to arrest George W. Bush.
Because he has committed troops of the Minnesota National Guard to tragic danger and fatalities in Iraq for the sole purpose of enriching his family’s business, Halliburton, and, thereby, causing the death of Minnesota citizens, he is guilty of committing murder in the third degree: Section 609.195: MURDER IN THE THIRD DEGREE: whoever, without intent to effect the death of any person, causes the death of another by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is guilty of murder in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years on each count.
Through the sale of oil drilling equipment Dresser Company and the Bush family have had long time relationships with the Saudi royal family. The bin Laden family have been the principal contracting firm for the Saudi royal family, so it was natural for Osama bin Laden’s family to give George W. Bush $50,000 to get started in the oil exploration business in Texas. Bush returned the favor by grounding all aircraft after 9/11 except the plane that evacuated those members of the bin Laden family staying in the U. S. There was a touching video of Crown Prince Faisal visiting George W. Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. They were holding hands as they walked, evidence of a stronger relationship than the one Bush had with Tony Blair or Berlusconi.
As head of the Bush family, George W. Bush directs their investment in Halliburton. Halliburton directs the movement of oil out of Iraq, 25% of the world’s supply. The Saudi family directs the movement of oil out of Saudi Arabia, 40% of the world’s supply. It is reasonable to assume that when George W. Bush and Prince Faisal get together they talk about the supply and price of oil. After their last meeting in Saudi Arabia, supplies dropped and the price of oil rose dramatically. According to Minnesota State law that meeting looks suspiciously like a conspiracy to fix prices.
Because, through Halliburton’s control of Iraqi oil, he has acted in collusion with Saudi Arabia and OPEC to fix the price and supply of oil to distributors in Hennepin County, he is guilty of price fixing: Section 325.53: PROHIBITED CONTRACTS, COMBINATIONS, AND CONSPIRACIES: Subdivision 1. Price fixing, production control, allocation of markets, collusive bidding, and concerted refusals to deal. Without limiting section 325D.51, the following shall be deemed to restrain trade or commerce unreasonably and are unlawful: (1) A contract, combination or conspiracy between two or more persons in competition: (a) for the purpose or with the effect of affecting, fixing, controlling or maintaining the market price, rate or fee of any commodity or service; (b) affecting, fixing, controlling, maintaining, limiting, or discontinuing the production, manufacture, mining, sale or supply of any commodity, or the sale or supply of any service, for the purpose or with the effect of affecting, fixing, controlling, or maintaining the market price, rate, or fee of the commodity or service.
Finally, George W. Bush should be arrested and prosecuted for his collusion with the opium warlords in Afghanistan to distribute heroin in Hennepin County. The United Nations and all objective reports verify that during the last year of the Taliban reign in Afghanistan, their government had reduced the Afghanistan contribution to the world supply of opium and heroin to zero, and everyone agrees that since the opium warlords have taken back control of the rural areas of Afghanistan opium production in Afghanistan now contributes 90% of the world supply. The U. S. Army and the CIA worked in support of the opium warlords by granting them control over most of the opium growing areas of Afghanistan, getting them a respected place in the central government. The CIA even insured that an opium warlord would be in charge of the Department of the Interior—the government agency responsible for drug enforcement. This is the pattern the OSS (the early version of the CIA) used to overthrow Musolini’s government in Sicily. Through contacts with Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano, they got the Mafia in Sicily to cooperate with the Allies in the invasion of Sicily. The Mafia in America has always been a ready and willing patriot in any CIA off the shelf adventure. When Ollie North brought cocaine and marijuana in from Colombia, the Mafia was ready to pay cash for it and distribute it. Ollie North knew these contacts when he was working with the Hmong and Meo tribes in Laos during the Vietnam War. As part of the golden triangle these tribes produced large amounts of opium that CIA planes would then transport to Marseille, continuing the colonial tradition begun by French forces in Vietnam. George H. W. Bush was a part of all this because he was Director of the CIA when the golden triangle was active, and he was Vice President during the Contra War and probably in charge of the operation to fund the Contras through the illegal importation of cocaine and marijuana.
Opium poppies have grown in Afghanistan since ancient times. The British began to control the exporting of the drug early in the nineteenth century. The Opium War in China in the middle of the nineteenth century was a result of the Chinese government trying to forbid the British importation of opium. The British won the war and the Chinese were forced to allow the British to sell opium. Early in the twentieth century Sicilians and Italians found the opium through contacts in Beirut and had it manufactured into heroin in laboratories in Marseilles. The heroin was then smuggled into Europe and the United States.
The traditional route for smugglers was over the mountains from Afghanistan, through Iran, Iraq, Jordan and to Beirut, Lebanon. The lack of cooperation recently of the Iranian government in this smuggling conspiracy has created problems for the smugglers and international problems for Iran. But, thanks to the active cooperation of the CIA and the U S government, opium does make its way through the Middle East, to Sicily and laboratories to be refined into heroin and, finally, to the U S and Hennepin County.
Section 609.228 of the Minnesota penal code, GREAT BODILY HARM CAUSED BY DISTRIBUTION OF DRUGS, says, “Whoever proximately causes great bodily harm by, directly or indirectly, unlawfully selling, giving away, bartering, delivering, exchanging, distributing, or administering a controlled substance classified in schedule I or II may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than ten years or to payment of a fine of not more than $20,000, or both.
Is it possible that George W. Bush, as President of the United States, has immunity from prosecution? Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense 57 (Philadelphia, 1776), “In America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments the King is the law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other.” The Supreme Court said in an 1882 decision,
United States v. Lee, 106 U.S. 196, 220, 1 S.Ct. 240, 261, 27 L.Ed. 171, that:
No man in this country is so high that he is above the law. No
officer of the law may set that law at defiance with impunity. All the
officers of the government, from the highest to the lowest, are creatures of
the law, and are bound to obey.
It is the only supreme power in our system of government, and every
man who by accepting office participates in its functions is only the more
strongly bound to submit to that supremacy, and to observe the limitations
which it imposes upon the exercise of the authority which it gives.
We respectfully request that the Hennepin County Attorney enforce the laws of the State of Minnesota and bring formal charges against George W. Bush for Murder in the third degree, conspiracy to raise oil prices and conspiracy to distribute drugs in Hennepin County.
Ed Felien, Petitioner
An appeal to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman:
Charge George W. Bush with Murder in the third degree, conspiracy to raise oil prices and conspiracy to distribute drugs in Hennepin County
George W. Bush has committed horrible crimes against humanity. His war against a weak and defenseless country; his use of torture and kidnapping, his illegal incarcerations of foreign nationals and the shelling of Fallujah are crimes in violation of international law. As long as he is President he cannot be tried for these crimes in another country, but once he is a private citizen, then, like Kissinger, Pinochet and Donald Rumsfeld, he will be a hunted criminal with little refuge in any foreign country that believes in the rule of law. But those are matters for foreign countries and the international court.
He has violated and undermined the Constitution by illegally spying on citizens, by refusing to enforce laws passed by Congress, by invading a country without a Declaration of a State of War by Congress and by entering into agreements with foreign countries and not submitting those agreements to the United States Senate for their advice and consent. But these are matters for the U. S. Congress to enforce. Unfortunately, Congress is unwilling to hold the President accountable to the Constitution and has refused to begin impeachment proceedings against him.
But what concerns us as Minnesotans is whether George W. Bush’s actions have caused serious and grievous harm to the citizens of our state and whether that harm was incidental to the legitimate performance of his official duties as President or whether his actions were motivated by private and personal gain. As the highest elected law enforcement official in Hennepin County,