Conyers Backs Prosecution (And Other Measures), Releases Report His Staff Has Been Working on for Years

afterdowningstreet.org
by david swanson

Remember all those months in which Chairman John Conyers’ House Judiciary Committee staff refused to impeach but kept busy writing his next book. Well, here it is: a bitter sweet thing. It includes three recommendations, and the third one is pretty good:

3. The Attorney General should appoint a Special Counsel, or expand the scope of the present investigation into CIA tape destruction, to determine whether there were criminal violations committed pursuant to Bush Administration policies that were undertaken under unreviewable war powers, including enhanced interrogation, extraordinary rendition, and warrantless domestic surveillance. This criminal investigation should, for the first time, ascertain and critically examine the facts to determine whether federal criminal laws were violated. It may be appropriate for certain aspects of the factual investigation by the prosecutor to await pertinent reports by the Inspectors General or information developed by any Blue Ribbon Commission or Select Committee. As part of this process, the incoming Administration should provide all relevant information and all necessary resources to outstanding Justice Department investigations, including with respect to the U.S. Attorney removals, the politicization of the Civil Rights Division, and allegations of selective prosecution. Congress should also consider extending the statute of limitations for potential violations of the torture statute, war crimes statute, laws
prohibiting warrantless domestic surveillance, or for crimes committed against persons in United States military custody or CIA custody to ten years.

Reason: Among other things, documented incidents of grave abuse of detainees at various detention facilities including Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay and the extraordinary rendition of terror suspects to countries where they have been tortured, and the implementation of warrantless surveillance inside the United States, raise credible concerns that criminal laws may have been violated.1579 At present, the Attorney General has agreed only to appoint a special U.S. Attorney to determine whether the destruction of videotapes depicting the waterboarding of a detainee constituted violations of federal law.1580 Despite requests from Congress, that prosecutor has not been asked to investigate whether the underlying conduct being depicted ““ the waterboarding itself or other harsh interrogation techniques used by the military or the CIA ““ violated the law.1581 Thus far the Attorney General has similarly refused to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether the practice of extraordinary rendition and, in particular whether the extraordinary
rendition of Canadian citizen Maher Arar, violated the law. Similarly, there remains a serious question as to whether the warrantless domestic surveillance engaged in as part of the so-called “Terrorist Surveillance Program” prior to January 2007, violated the law.1582 It would seem that all or part of the above-described conduct meets the relevant requirements under federal regulations for the appointment of a special counsel (28 CFR 600.1),
in that (i) a criminal investigation is warranted (e.g., waterboarding and warrantless domestic surveillance appear to violate criminal laws); (ii) the investigation would present a conflict of interest for the Justice Department (e.g., some of the potentially culpable parties have worked for or with the Department); and (iii) appointment of a special counsel would be in the public interest (e.g., it would help dispel a cloud of doubt over our law enforcement system).

Here’s the press release:

Judiciary Chairman Conyers Issues Report Documenting Bush Abuses, Calling For Further Committee Investigation, Blue-Ribbon Panel, and Criminal Probes

(Washington, D.C.) — Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. released a nearly-500 page report documenting numerous abuses and excesses of the Bush Administration. The Report, titled “Reining in the Imperial Presidency: Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the Presidency of George W. Bush,” contains 47 separate recommendations designed to restore the traditional checks and balances of our constitutional system. Recommendations include calls for continued Committee investigation, a blue ribbon commission to fully investigate Administration activities, and independent criminal probes.

“Even after scores of hearings, investigations, and reports, we still do not have answers to some of the most fundamental questions left in the wake of Bush’s Imperial Presidency,” Conyers said. Pointing to allegations of torture and inhumane treatment, extraordinary rendition, warrantless domestic surveillance, the Valerie Plame Wilson-leak, and the U.S. Attorney scandal, Conyers continued, “Investigations are not a matter of payback or political revenge – it is our responsibility to examine what has occurred and to set an appropriate baseline of conduct for future Administrations.”

In addition to the set of recommendations, the report contains a Foreword by Chairman Conyers and detailed discussions of: the Administration’s legal approach to presidential power; the politicization of the Department of Justice; the Administration’s far-reaching assaults on individual liberty (including torture, extraordinary rendition, and warrantless domestic surveillance); the misuse of Executive Branch authority; the Administration’s retribution against its critics; and the Administration’s excessive secrecy, noncompliance with congressional oversight, and manipulation of pre-Iraq War intelligence.

The full report can be found Here.
(Source)