The Constitution in Crisis
By Rep. John Conyers
The Huffington Post
Friday 04 August 2006
Six Years of Unchecked Abuses - Had Enough?
To view the full report:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/iraqrept2.html
Today, I am releasing the final version of my report, the
"Constitution in Crisis." The report, which is some 350
pages in length and is supported by more than 1,400
footnotes, compiles the accumulated evidence that the Bush
Administration has thumbed its nose at our nation's laws,
and the Constitution itself.
Approximately 26 laws and regulations may have been violated
by this Administration's misconduct.
Our Constitution established a tri-partite system of
government, with the notion that each branch of government
would act as a check on the other two. Unfortunately, for
the last six years, the Republicans in Congress have largely
viewed themselves as defenders of the Bush Administration,
instead of a vital check on overreaching by the Executive
Branch. By doing so, I believe they have acted to the
detriment of our Constitutional form of government.
We have seen so many transgressions by this Administration
that it is easy to forget last week's scandal amid this
week's new outrage. I am hopeful that compiling all of these
events of the last few years will help wake all of us up to
the gravity of these matters and the cumulative damage to
our country.
We have a mountain of reports that strongly indicate that
this Administration was well aware that Iraq had no weapons
of mass destruction, even as they told the Congress and the
American people the opposite in order to satisfy a
predetermination to go to war. The "smoking gun" of these
reports is the Downing Street Memoranda, contemporaneous
reports from the highest reaches of the British government
recounting meetings with their American counterparts,
meetings where the facts were being fixed around the policy
of going to war.
We have a mountain of statements from Administration
officials making claims designed to conflate Saddam Hussein
with Al Qaeda, and corresponding mountains of reports that
credible intelligence officials in our government disputed
such claims. We also have evidence showing that government
officials instituted policies which endorsed the use of
torture in violation of U.S. law and international treaties.
We have scores of sources indicating the Administration
engaged in a concerted effort to discredit and defame anyone
who came forward to expose these outrages, and have largely
done so without consequence. When Ambassador Joseph Wilson
dared to question whether Iraq had a nuclear weapons
program, Administration officials retaliated against him by
outing his wife as an undercover C.I.A. operative. When
General Eric Shinseki and others in the military dared to
dispute the Administration's wildly optimistic assessments
of what was needed to pursue the Iraq conflict, he was
summarily replaced. The pattern repeats itself with former
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Economic Adviser Larry
Lindsey. And Cindy Sheehan. And the list goes on and on.
The American people have paid the price for this strategy of
deception followed by, in the words of one anonymous
Republican official, "slime and defend." We have paid with
the lives of more than 2,500 of our sons and daughters in
uniform and in hundreds of billions of dollars of our taxes.
The Administration also appears to have used the war on
terror as an excuse to eviscerate the basic protections
afforded to us in the Constitution. There have been
warrantless wiretaps of law-abiding Americans, in clear
contravention of federal law, not to mention the creation of
a huge unchecked database of the phone records of innocent
Americans.
All the while, the Republican Congress sits idly by. Rather
than performing its constitutional duty as a co-equal
branch, it has chosen to stymie any and all efforts at
oversight. After six long years of deceptions, attacks and
yes, outright lies, I am convinced the American people have
had enough.
===================================
RE: We need a universal cause
SEND "THEM" A ROPE PROJECT.....COMING SOON!!!!
APFN MESSAGE BOARD CURRENT POSTINGS:
http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html#103462
ElvaSW@aol.com
wrote:
> There is more emergency information. I get from truthout.
Do you get Truthout?
> 50,000 websites wow.
>
> I tried sending and giving your information out to people
and it is too much for them to handle and also the 501(c)(3)
comes into play..And you know I tried the political issues.
The talk hosts on the radio, tv etc. have the power to reach
people, but then the people need issues in their hands.and
most people have become afraid and are silent and
controlled. I have become afraid.
>
> You are very knowledgeable.so I do not have to tell you
the problems around the world.
>
> We need a universal cause which is the warming of the
whole earth and it is serious. I keep trying to get people
to speak up. Your APFN is at the end of my email. I kept
changing and fixing and I left it out but put it back.
Thanking you for your help..
>
> How about a teamwork situation on the Global Warming?
There is another person I would like to ask. Very
knowledgeable and an author on Israel and the middle east.
>
> For years I have used family money and never asked for
anything. I do not know how much longer I can continue. My
family does not have time or care. I needed someone to edit
my writings. I do not like to talk about personal problems,
but I have been hurt.
>
> I need help on the Global Warming Crisis. Can you help and
do what ever you can to reach more people? Individual causes
will not work. My husband and my children and grandchildren
are not interested and they believe the media.
>
> Sincerely,
> Elva
>ElvaSW@aol.com
>
>
DREAMING: "When The Cow Jumped Over The Moon!"
http://www.apfn.net/pogo/L001I060718-moon-song.MP3