Conyers introduces bill to probe Bush policies

[Editor’s Note: Yet another attempt by Conyers to appear as if he’s not ignoring Bush’s abuses by putting forward a bill that he knows has no chance of succeeding. He’s broken his promise to impeach post-election, don’t let him get away with aiding and abetting Bush’s crimes.]
RawStory, Andrew McLemore — House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) unveiled a bill on Tuesday that would create a commission to investigate questionable policies of the Bush administration, including torture and wiretapping programs.

Named the National Commission on Presidential War Powers and Civil Liberties, the panel comprise “experts outside government service” who would review the Bush administration’s “claims of unreviewable war powers.”

The panel would have subpoena power and a budget of $3 million.

Talking Points Memo said it “sounds like a great idea,” but asks why the bill has only 10 co-sponsors, including Conyers, and wonders why it has garnered little support so far from Congressional leadership.

“I’d wager that it has a lot to do with the Democratic majority’s desire to turn the page on the Bush years and begin pressing on with an Obama agenda designed to showcase its ability to govern,” the article states.

President-elect Barack Obama has also revealed a plan for investigating President Bush’s alleged abuses of power that has already gained currency in Washington.

Obama’s plan does not rule out prosecution, but delays it until all facts can be ascertained.

Some in the Obama camp feel the commission would amount to “bullshit” and that Bush officials should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

As for Conyers’ attempt to hold Bush accountable, there is a constituency for it in the Senate and among Obama’s team, but it is unclear if that will result in approval.

“Does anybody think that this sleeper bill will get so much as a hearing in any of the three separate committees it’s been referred to?” TPM wrote.

Original Article

2 Comments

  1. I just want to say that everything Dennis says is absolutely true. It’s no coincidence either that the majority of military personnel are registered Republicans. Only brain-damaged people would vote Republican. Gore did the right thing by refusing to allow absentee ballots from military personnel be included in the 2000 recount. Too bad it wasn’t enough to keep Bush from stealing the election that night. If Bush had a shred of honor he would’ve graciously accepted Gore’s courageous concession retraction. Let’s hope Obama has him placed under arrest first thing next Tuesday.

  2. http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/01/mkultra-lawsuit.html

    Vets Sue CIA Over Mind Control Tests

    For two decades or more during the Cold War, the CIA and the military allegedly plied the unwitting with acid, weed, and dozens of psychoactive drugs, in a series of zany (and sometimes dangerous) mind-control experiments. Now, the Vietnam Veterans of America are suing the agency and the Pentagon for perceived abuses suffered under the so-called “MK-ULTRA” and other projects.

    Six veterans are suffering from all kinds of ailments tied to this “diabolical and secret testing program,” according to a statement from the vets’ lawyers, passed on to SpyTalk’s Jeff Stein.

    The experiments allegedly included “the use of troops to test nerve gas, psychochemicals, and thousands of other toxic chemical or biological substances, and … the insertion of septal implants in the brains of subjects in … mind control experiments that went awry, leaving many civilian and military subjects with permanent disabilities.” Subjects were tested without their consent, the veterans say. And when the trials were over, the government failed to “provide health care or compensation.”

    In a book published last year, former military psychiatrist James Ketchum describes an Army project — separate from the CIA’s efforts — that took place at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland. There, he saw test subjects “carry on conversations with various invisible people for as long as 2-3 days.” Others “salute latrines” and attempt to “revive a gas mask” that they mistake for a woman.

    The feds insist that MK-ULTRA ended, when it was exposed during Congressional hearings. But interest in chemical mind-control lives along, in some corners of the military-intelligence community. In a 2003 memo, then-Justice Department lawyer John C. Yoo suggesting that interrogation drugs could be used if their effects were not permanent or profound. Since then, evidence has accumulated that some detainees may have been drugged. “It’s coming back,” retired Colonel John Alexander told Sharon.

    Im glad to see more Americans/Residents take action and sue these abusive goverment agenecies.

    Sue Bush impeach!

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