FAX to Senators Lugar, Bayh, and Representative Hill:
How Bush and Cheney are Destroying America.
New York Times Editorial
Posted January 1, 2008
On December 31, 2007, the New York Times posted an editorial that was one of the most blistering indictments of the Bush and Cheney administration yet to appear in the mainstream media. This is clear from the opening paragraph of the editorial:
There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country. Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men in some of the most trusted posts in the nation plotted to cover up the torture of prisoners by Central Intelligence Agency interrogators by destroying videotapes of their sickening behavior. It was impossible to see the founding principles of the greatest democracy in the contempt these men and their bosses showed for the Constitution, the rule of law and human decency.
I can only ask of my members of Congress, both the House and Senate, as I have been asking for the past several years: At what point will you stop enabling this administration, and bring an end to the abuse of power that has drawn us into an illegal war, trashed our institutions by using rendition and torture on prisoners, and demonstrated at every turn their utter contempt for the rule of law. This administration believes it is above the law. And for that, both Bush and Cheney should be impeached and removed from office immediately, to send a message to all future presidents and members of Congress that we are a nation of laws, not men and women.
Out of panic and ideology, President Bush squandered America’s position of moral and political leadership, swept aside international institutions and treaties, sullied America’s global image, and trampled on the constitutional pillars that have supported our democracy through the most terrifying and challenging times. These policies have fed the world’s anger and alienation and have not made any of us safer.
In the years since 9/11, we have seen American soldiers abuse, sexually humiliate, torment and murder prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq. A few have been punished, but their leaders have never been called to account. We have seen mercenaries gun down Iraqi civilians with no fear of prosecution. We have seen the president, sworn to defend the Constitution, turn his powers on his own citizens, authorizing the intelligence agencies to spy on Americans, wiretapping phones and intercepting international e-mail messages without a warrant.
NYTimes Editorial: Looking at America
Update: Apparently not all the lights have been turned out yet at the Justice Department?
Dateline January 2, 2008: WASHINGTON – The Justice Department opened a full criminal investigation Wednesday into the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes, putting the politically charged probe in the hands of a mob-busting public corruption prosecutor with a reputation for being independent.
