after bush

What's CIA Director Hayden Hidin'?

Outgoing CIA Director Michael Hayden is going around town telling folks he has warned President-elect Barack Obama "personally and forcefully" that if Obama authorizes an investigation into controversial activities like waterboarding, "no one in Langley will ever take a risk again"

Posted in after bush, torture, war crimes

Forgive and Forget?

Last Sunday President-elect Barack Obama was asked whether he would seek an investigation of possible crimes by the Bush administration. "I don't believe that anybody is above the law," he responded, but "we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards."

I'm sorry, but if we don't have an inquest into what happened during the Bush years - and nearly everyone has taken Mr. Obama's remarks to mean that we won't - this means that those who hold power are indeed above the law because they don't face any consequences if they abuse their power.

Posted in after bush

Holding Bush Accountable

President Obama, on his first day in office, can make a number of changes that will mark a clean break with the Bush presidency. He can, and should, issue an executive order revoking any prior order that permits detainee mistreatment by any government agency. He should begin the process of closing Guantánamo, and he should submit to Congress a bill to end the use of military commissions, at least as presently constituted.

Posted in after bush, impeachment, war crimes

In The Shadow of Nixon

In May 1994, Hunter S Thompson wrote in a poison-pen eulogy for the recently deceased President Richard Nixon that he represented "that dark, venal and incurably violent side of the American character that almost every country in the world has learned to fear and despise." Amidst a time when most of the mainstream press was playing up the rehabilitated post-Watergate Nixon, Thompson pointed out - with his usual wit and insight - that this man had undermined the constitution and led to one of the most sordid

Posted in after bush

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 14, 2009
12:07 PM

CONTACT: American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

Linda Paris, (202) 675-2312; media@dcaclu.org

ACLU Calls for Clean Break With Bush’s Human Rights Legacy

Human Rights Summit Brings 11 Advocacy Groups Together to Send a United Message to New Administration

WASHINGTON - January 14 - Today, the American Civil Liberties Union joined 10 other advocacy groups in calling on President-elect Obama to take swift action to restore basic human rights damaged under the Bush administration.

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The ACLU conserves America's original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Links:

Posted in after bush, Human Rights

No Soul, No Regret: George W. Bush's Non-Mea-Culpa Tour 2009

George W. Bush the wise and somber presidential veteran.

Posted in after bush

Obama Signals His Reluctance to Look Into Bush Policies

WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama signaled in an interview broadcast Sunday that he was unlikely to authorize a broad inquiry into Bush administration programs like domestic eavesdropping or the treatment of terrorism suspects.

But Mr. Obama also said prosecutions would proceed if the Justice Department found evidence that laws had been broken.

Posted in after bush, domestic spying, obama, torture

Protesters Hopeful of Guantanamo's Demise

MONTREAL - Demonstrators in Montreal and around the world marked the seventh anniversary of the opening of the infamous prison at Guantanamo Bay on Sunday with rallies demanding its closure.

The marches came as U.S. President-elect Barack Obama stepped back from a campaign pledge to shut down Guantanamo - where Canadian Omar Khadr has been held for over six years - within 100 days of taking office.

In a TV interview that aired Sunday, Obama acknowledged that his promise to close down the widely opposed military prison will be more difficult than he expected.

Posted in after bush, guantanamo, protest

History Cannot Save Him

WASHINGTON -- As he leaves office, President Bush is passing on to his successor two wars and a growing economic debacle. What a way to go!

Because of Bush's policies, the U.S. also is complicit in the Israeli attack on the Palestinians on the Gaza Strip by providing a "made-in-America" high-tech arsenal for the assault and blocking a ceasefire for nearly two weeks, a move intended to help the Israelis consolidate their hold.

Posted in after bush

Eights Years of Madoffs

Three days after the world learned that $50 billion may have disappeared in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, The Times led its front page of Dec. 14 with the revelation of another $50 billion rip-off. This time the vanished loot belonged to American taxpayers.

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