Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community

Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury

by BooMan
Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 12:55:14 AM EST

Two people are responsible for the torture and illegal seven-year detainment of Muhammad Saad Iqbal. Those two people are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. No one else needs to be held responsible. Bush and Cheney should answer for Mr. Iqbal's treatment in a court of law. If they want to implicate their accomplices, that's fine with me.

I cannot for the life of me imagine how any decent law-abiding American would makes excuses for Bush and Cheney in this matter, nor can I imagine why anyone lower than Bush and Cheney should take the fall for it. It's plain common sense that Iqbal should be able to not only sue the U.S. Government but to press criminal charges against the officials that ordered his mistreatment. Let Bush and Cheney use whatever legal defenses are available to them. A president and vice-president certainly have a lot of legal leeway when it comes to making decisions on national security or in the official duties of their office. Let them make their case before a judge and jury. Let us see if, unlike the editorial board of the Washington Post, a judge and jury think it is legal to abduct a man on a foreign street, send him to Egypt to be tortured, send him to Afghanistan to be tortured, send him to Cuba to be tortured, and then keep him in prison for six additional years without charging him with any crime. Take away seven years of a man's life, perforate his eardrums, ruin his spinal health, and set him free with a raging infection. Is this how we 'send a message' and 'create deterrence'? Really? Is this legal?

Am I partisan?

Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Something to do now (4.00 / 2)

There is a petition for a special prosecutor to investigate Bush / Cheney war crimes which will be sent to Eric Holder after his confirmation.

More info available in this diary.

Is it possible for the link to this petition be placed on the BT front page?

Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music. (George Carlin)

by tampopo on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 08:16:25 AM EST

Re: Something to do now (none / 1)

Thanks for posting this link with the petition I went to it (Democrats.com a great site) and signed it.

Here is what I posted in the additional comments section.

"This is not a question of if something should be done. If it is not done it sends a loud message to not only the adult world but the world of children who can grow up not only believing they could become President but also believing that if they do they will be above the law. A high and lofty goal methinks for all the youth of our nation and world."

by keyman12 on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 12:11:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury (none / 1)

No.

Simple answer to a simple question.

Now whether or not you will be pilloried as partisan is another kettle of fish entirely.

by Fraud Guy on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 01:06:45 AM EST

Re: Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury (none / 1)

Yes, you are partisan.

But not in this case. :o}

by Hurria (Muslawia@gmail.com) on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 01:29:25 AM EST

Re: Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury (none / 1)

Yes. You are a partisan in the cause of justice and you realize that justice was denied in the case of Mr. Iqbal. Like you, I believe that Messrs Bush and Cheney should pay for their misdeeds. Otherwise, America demonstrates that it is not a nation of justice but one of injustice. It stands, thus, for the mean and perverse. Why would anyone want to help us let alone imitate us? Monsters we have become.

Suppose you scrub your ethical skin until it shines, but inside there is no music, then what? Kabir

by Dongi 2 on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 01:44:35 AM EST

Re: Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury (none / 0)

Hell is too kind a place for the animals that enabled this.

Recommended by Hideo Kojima

by robertdsc on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 02:03:09 AM EST

Re: Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury (none / 1)

But, Booman, who will bring this case and when should it be brought? Should this not be addressed in Holder's confirmation hearings? Do you think they will address it? I want someone to ask Eric Holder if the DOJ intends to hold these guys (and the whole gang of them) responsible for the whole illegal torture/murder/spying gamut. Who will breach it first? Leahy? Feingold? Whitehouse? Anybody?

The Whole American Hog

by onealbear (bear@onealcompton.com) on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 02:14:55 AM EST

Obama? n/t (none / 0)

by Ed J on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 05:56:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury (none / 1)

Right on man, someone or some several should ask Holder this at the confirmation hearings, but my feeling is no one will. This nation seems so dedicated to the expedient and the easy that it wouldn't recognize honor and decency even with the help of an old testament type prophet. Our leaders have lost their moral compass and so the country drifts closer and closer toward absolute ruin.

The corruption on Wall Street is one sign of many that the culture is in peril.

Suppose you scrub your ethical skin until it shines, but inside there is no music, then what? Kabir

by Dongi 2 on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 07:08:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury (none / 1)

I'm all for pragmatism and moving on when it comes to politics and economics. But this isn't politics or economics, its about morality and Justice. I don't want the Obama admin to become bogged doewn in this, but neither should they simply ignore the past. I don't know what the best legal avenue for this would be, but the process has to be clearly about justice and not partisan revenge.

So perhaps the best route would be to Appoint a special prosecutor with extraordinary powers and let him/her take it from there - totally independent of the Obama admin.

"We reported back to hearts what we had seen, and told our footsteps all about where we had been."

by Frank Schnittger (Frankschnittger at hotmail dotty communists) on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 07:34:55 AM EST

Re: Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury (none / 1)

what is wrong with being a partisan? do you support a cause? do you emotionally feel? do you choose to be critical of a expressed position on a subject that you feel is antagonistic to your beliefs?
I could go on but there is no need.
of course you are a partisan! why would i continue to visit your blog and comment?
do you think for one minute that you would have such devoted followers if you presented the traditional pablum?
don't you dare to lose your partisan voice!

by billjpa (billjpa@aol.com) on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 08:36:30 AM EST

Re: Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury (none / 0)

Amen, brother billjpa, amen!

Suppose you scrub your ethical skin until it shines, but inside there is no music, then what? Kabir

by Dongi 2 on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 08:45:18 AM EST

Re: Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury (none / 0)

If one uses Cheney 1% percent doctrine there is a 99% percent chance your wrong. I think the illegal detention is against un-American. He should sue in civil court and take the depositions of Dick, W, Condi, Gonzo, and Ashcroft and Yoo. Because that is the only way we will ever find out the true extent of Dick's and W's Gulag.

by americanforliberty on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 11:41:11 AM EST

You're up against the likes of Charlie Rose (none / 0)

A couple nights ago I watched a rerun of a Charlie Rose hour with playwright Harold Pinter from a couple years ago. Pinter argued passionately for trying Bush and Blair for mass murder.

Rose visibly struggled to keep his cool, but was obviously stunned to his core at the very idea. He couldn't even address the substance of the charges, but defaulted back to talk of the need to protect America, even stooping to ask Pinter what he'd say to the families of those killed on Sept. 11.

Rose, to my mind, is one of the best and most even-handed interviewers on the mass media. He is kind of the avatar of the educated middle class. In this case, he's also the case in point regarding why prosecution will never be seriously considered: Americans have basked in their unearned self-adulation for so long that they are neurologically incapable of even imagining that we could be part of our own evil empire.

FDR's response to progressive demands: "I agree. Now go out and make me do it."

by DaveW on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 02:29:24 PM EST

Re: Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury (none / 0)

One quibble, BooMan: please don't use the Bush weasel-words "detained" and "detainee." They are prisoners, pure and simple, though charged with no crime.

And yes, you are partisan. So?

by Geov Parrish on Tue Jan 6th, 2009 at 02:50:10 PM EST

Bush & Cheney Should Face Jury | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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