Yesterday, under a Freedom of Information request filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Department of Justice released nine of the 100-some requested documents from the Bush DOJ.

According to the quasi-legal ramblings of John Yoo, who worked in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, the President of the United States, by virtue of being the Commander-in-Chief, has the unilateral power to declare that the country is at war.

Further, when we are "at war", the President can - at his word - suspend the Constitution of the United States.

That means that he could also suspend the Congress, and replace civil law with martial law.

At his word, the U.S military could invade your home (and take your precious guns) either secretly, when you were at work or sleeping, or by kicking down your door  - and killing you if you resisted.

Members of your family could be abducted, tortured and held indefinitely, with no need for any charges to be filed, or any legal process - other than the order of the president.

You may find this incredible. But it actually happened. From shortly after the attacks of September 2001, until hours before he left office, George W. Bush was dictator of the United States. They prefer the title "Unitary Executive".

We're not "just" talking about waterboarding a few presumed "bad guys".

We're talking about listening and reading everything you say and write. About scanning all of your purchases and bank accounts. About shutting down all media or just selected outlets. About soldiers on the streets of American cities, enforcing the will of a single man - the President of the United States.

All of you who claim to be upholders of freedom, all you quasi-patriots, all of you who support the military, should be outraged that your hero, George W. Bush, reserved the right for himself to use those armed forces to rule you like slaves.

Where is the outrage from all you phony "Conservatives"?

Will none of you stand up for your country and demand that Bush and Cheney face impeachment?

 

With the Justice Department now back in the hands of the law, the evidence of the Bush administration's assault on the Constitution is finding its way into daylight.

These documents reveal the administration's utter disregard for the American people.

Newly disclosed memos from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel sanctioned the use of military force against U.S. terrorists, curbs on free speech and the transfer of terrorism suspects to countries known to commit human rights abuses. They also condoned illegal wiretapping, domestic spying, and suspension of the legal process for "suspected terrorists."

Bush defenders will say that he and his thugs were only acting in our best interests. That all of these blatantly illegal acts were necessary to "protect" us.

They will say that Bush & company believed they were acting legally.

If that were the case, why did they attempt to withdraw these illegal programs only days before leaving office?

Why did they repeatedly include language in these documents that would leave them escape hatches if they were prosecuted? For example, the memo that says detainees could be transferred to countries that commit human rights abuses if U.S. officials didn’t intentionally seek their torture?

Don't tell me that they thought they were acting legally. The very real and present danger to the United States during the Bush years was the Bush White House.

Two things need to be kept in mind when reviewing these documents.

The first is that Bush and Cheney repeatedly said that the so-called "war" on terror would last indefinitely. Indefinitely. Our rights were to be "suspended" indefinitely.

Second, recall Bush's famous remark, "You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists." That threat was meant for U.S. citizens.

We are responsible for investigating and trying Bush, Cheney and key members of that administration for all of their attempts to evade the law.

We do NOT need "truth commissions" to explain and forgive.

We need to re-assert the rule of law, with no conditions.

In the last two days, George Bush has, by his own definition, surrendered on two fronts in his “War on Terror”.

When Bush spoke before the Israeli Knesset a few weeks ago, he compared Barack Obama’s call for unconditional talks with Iran to Nazi appeasers:

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," said Bush.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American Senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

After Iran fired several medium and long-range missiles in a show of its willingness and ability to return force if attacked, Bush caved. Now, we will sit down and talk.

Until the missile launch, the administration had insisted it would not speak with the Iranians until they ended their nuclear enrichment program. Iran has made no such commitment, in fact has been vehement in its refusal to do so.

Today, Bush has agreed in principle with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, to set a “time horizon” for the withdrawal of American troops, because the Iraqis want their country back.

When Obama or others have called for such a timeline, they were labeled as surrender monkeys. John McCain, up until today was ridiculing Obama for suggesting such an approach.

What it amounts to is that Bush and McCain have no clue what to do now that American military forces, by their heroic efforts, have exposed the fact that the “War on Terror” is unwinnable.

After the slaughter of as many as a million Iraqis and more than 4,000 Americans, the forces of fundamentalist Islam are stronger than they were on 9/11. After our invasion, they came to Iraq, tied down the greatest military in the history of the world, and then snuck out the back door.

They are now re-taking Afghanistan, and when we “surge” there, they will go somewhere else, perhaps even back to Iraq.

They will never be defeated by force. Barrack Obama knows this.

John McCain wants to keep on fighting, slaughtering innocent civilians, glorifying the extremists and wasting U.S. lives and dollars.

It is time to admit that the “War on Terror” was nothing more than a cover for *** Cheney to deface the Constitution, and to hold the members of this administration accountable for their crimes.

 

 

The proof continues to emerge that the Bush administration has screwed with the legal justice system in this country from top to bottom.

In the first report from a series of investigations growing out of last year’s scandal over the firings of nine United States attorneys, the Justice Department's inspector general has found that under Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales, the Department has illegally used political litmus tests in the hiring of Justice lawyers.

This is not about ideological struggles - overturning Roe v Wade or prayer in the schools. The conservatives and evangelicals who believe that are fools.

This is about criminality, pure and simple, and avoiding the legal consequences of a criminal administration.

This is about tainting elections with voter suppression and charges of "voter" fraud, and then throwing them to the stacked courts to subvert the will of the voters.

This is a systematic attack on the U.S. Constitution and nothing less. This is an attempt to take over the country by a handful of the most arrogant and venal men in all of history.

This was part of Karl Rove's master plan for owning this country through securing a "permanent Republican majority".

And they almost got away with it.

They almost got away with it by scaring the hell out of the more easily distracted members of the American public, and branding those who challenged them as unpatriotic and even "terrorists."

The Republican Party will pay for their hubris.

The Democrats will get swept in with a huge majority this fall, and then we need to watch them with equal vigilance.

The Democrats caved in today, and granted immunity to the phone companies that conspired with the Bush administration’s illegal wiretapping of American citizens.

As always when your rights are compromised, national security is the rationale. “We have to spy on you to protect you from those who would take away your rights! And hate liberty!”

“Oh yeah, and we’re trying really hard to save you from certain death - unless you’d rather we didn’t…”

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court was set up in 1978 as a response to President Nixon’s usage of federal resources to spy on political and anti-war groups in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. FISA was short-circuited by the Bush administration, supposedly as a reaction to 9-11, without informing you, me or the Congress.

This was blatantly illegal of course, but absolutely necessary to preserve the rule of law.

Bottom line; the government scrapes every phone call, every email, every text, IM and probably your snail mail too. The real problem the government spies have is finding something incriminating in the billions and billions of communications they are intercepting.

On the converse, if they want to nail you for something… well, just watch what you say about illegal government wiretapping.

The U.S. Supreme Court today summarily informed George W. Bush that even though he is “Mr. President” and D*I*c*k* said it was OK; he cannot just toss people in a dungeon and throw away the key.

 

Just because the President says there’s a “war on terror” does not mean the Constitution is suspended.

 

This is a huge victory for the U.S. Constitution, and you and me, who don’t happen to be the President.

 

It’s also a victory for those who have been deprived of their basic human rights - including, undoubtedly, some prisoners who are guilty of very serious crimes. The keenness of the Bush administration to score political points by appearing tough, and frightening voters by exaggerating the threat of terrorism, has likely set these prisoners free because of the appalling abuses they have suffered.

 

In spite of the stream of legal subterfuges employed by the administration to circumvent habeas corpus, there was never any doubt that the Constitution does not allow the executive branch to deny the most basic rights of people it holds captive, regardless of their citizenship or the depravity of their acts.

 

The Court ruled – again – that they must be charged, they must be made aware of those charges, they must have the right to address those charges and confront their accusers, and they must be given a trial.

 

Justice Anthony Kennedy: "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times. Liberty and security can be reconciled; and in our system they are reconciled within the framework of the law."

 

Thanks to the hubris of Bush and Cheney and their legal charlatans like Alberto Gonzales, a bunch of potentially violent people are very likely to be set free.

 

Once again, Bush has proven himself to be the best tool of the terrorists.

 

[New information] 

U.S. abuse of detainees was routine at Afghanistan bases