things "straight" reporting did not allow me to say

Could prove to be an interesting week in Congress!

 And some legal counsel for the White House, and the CIA might be sweating bullets.

 On the other hand, why did this take SO long to happen??  

 My guess is that it is because they have to give Rodriquez a way to pursue immunity - and beat BuZh&Co at the "must retain government secrecy" hype.

This appointment - should it actually happen this session - might take up considerable time and be of real use to Bush to wind out the clock.

This is a slap to Mukasey at any rate - and one for the Inspector General.

 It's "rumored" that The Agency is not too pleased with people in the intel community speaking of "secrets"!!

All this will end up in David Addington's lap.

Any other speculations??  Anyone following the story - and its implications.  I breathlessly await Thursday's hearings. If it is good as the Judiciary Committee's hearings, it should be smashing to watch.  A pundit wrote on TPM Muckraker wrote that this could be the next big TV reality show, as the writer's strike drags on.

And I think this will be great for the impeachment effort this week as well. Sorta implies WAR CRIMES right off.

by ladybroadoak (38 articles, 20 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 391 comments) on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 10:47:59 AM
 

Good question ...

"... why did this take SO long?"

Why hasn't this investigation not only take so long, why haven't many of them even started?

I don't have an answer to these questions but I do have suspicions as to why many of the alleged crimes committed by this gang of thieves we refer to as our government haven't been investigated. And that's just it, I believe that nearly every aspect of our government is now filled to the gills with corrupt individuals. If a true honest investigation were to proceed it would expose a nest of collaboration that spans all levels of our so-called "people's government".

I have come to believe that it took generations to complete, but our system of government, because of its inherent frailty, was been systematically taken over those with the power to infiltrate and place "their people" in positions of government to the point that this government does not serve the interests of the people as much as the interests of those that control the government.

There are numerous cases to point at to back this assertion. This case itself is an example. It's been dragging on for some time now. Who's to say that it won't keep dragging on until some deal is formed where Rodriguez after being granted immunity falls on the sword and the case fades into history?

The one case that really pulls the curtain back on the extent of the corruption is Sibel Edmonds. If one were to listen to Waxman's lame excuse as to why he hasn't granted an open hearing on the allegations Ms. Edmonds has, along with why he won't impeach, why he signed H. R. 1955, why he doesn't know crap about 9/11, you'd have to be convinced that this government is so completely damaged as to be unrepairable through anything but armed revolution.

http://jamartell.blogspot.com/2008/01/gotcha-moment-for-rep-henry-waxman.html

by Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1442 comments) on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 12:07:03 PM
 

if you take a look

you'll notice that my last OpEd article IS on Sibel Edmonds and the reactions to that story.

There's been speculation that the two stories are related in this way: it's running away from real war crimes prosecution that has the administration on the run. The last thing this adminstration needs is to have their activities investigated by outside authorities, by anyone really knowledgable about international law, in which it is in clear violation.

At the time of Sibels' disclosures there was rampant speculation that she was a MOSSAD agent, merely releasing her story now to destablize Pakistan; a sort of toxic pigeon who was flown onto the world stage at just the right moment. The release of her photos of the "paymasters" changed that speculation.

But it illustrates a very worrisome point - people are just very very afraid.

People do not understand the US' legal requirements under Geneva. And they continue this way to their peril. Geneva is a statement of agreement for all nations to abide by law and avoid massive damage to all peoples.

The conspiracy "theorists" just add to the toxic mess that's been created for a very long time. But let me explain.

Nothing saddens me more than the absolute refusal to push for impeachment, a process whereby to get good evidence - subpoenas with more bite to them is available.

I have been furious with John Conyers, Waxman, and Pelosi for a very long time. But petty political partisanship by most Americans has placed the US in a very bad position vis a vis international law. And yet I see so-called "progressives" and now the liberal/rePUG "libertarian" supporting Ron Paul doing the very same nonsense - not sticking to the enforcement of the rule of law.

The law is ONLY as good as our determination to see it enforced! To see Congress as the ONLY avenue to redress our wrongs is part of the big problem overtaking America. The checks and balances part of the framers' original Constitutional intent has been subverted, but not JUST by Congress itself.

I think the impeachment momentum is building; there are still vast hurdles to be overcome as the mainstream media is not going to make this easy as the Bush adminstration has made abundantly clear: "you are either with us or against us" .. both to the international community and the domestic (can you say HOMELAND? ) base.

Without a citizen base on which to rely, the best lawyers in the world don't stand a chance of enforcing prosecution of those violating international crime.

It's made a lot more difficult because of all the euphemisation - torture is referred to as enhanced interrogation techniques, or just one example - kidnap is referred to as "rendition" for another. In such an "Orwellian" world, how is justice to be accomplished?

Read the release of this particular story on any mainstream press outlet and you will notice something omnious - not ONCE do you see one of the majors refer to this torture activity as CRIMINAL - have a close look at Conyers' letter, the very reason I posted here in FULL. Do you see a reference to criminal activity - no, we see a call to end "conflict of interest"!!

People simply do not know what's criminal. That's why I continue to write; to lift that veil.

This euphemisation resulting in a failure to see the legal implications cuts across a wide strait of American criminality.

For those of us in the know, it isn't JUST the Bush administration, - the Clinton administation violated international law on a regular basis, with virtual impunity so the "process" has been going on for a very long and may help people understand why this apears to have an "mysterious" element of bipartisan coverup.

Quite simply, the whole thing IS a bipartisan coverup.

People SWORN to uphold the oath to serve the Consitution do not. Why is this any different for the Congress than it is for CIA? Or someone in the Department of Justice? and how does that apply to us as citizens who must hold their feet to the fire? Not just on "convenient" days, but on all days.

The "movements" for real truth and legal accountabilty both suffer from an infiltration of agents - there are wheels within wheels in the impeachment AND The 9/11 truth communities, agents paid to stop the proliferation of any "resistance movement". Who is a person to trust these days??

That same phenomena applies outside and INSIDE The DC beltway. There has been such rampant lawlessness that finding a bedrock of safetyy in all this has become a near impossibility.

This move to get immunity from prosecution by those in the CIA is perhaps the most hopeful sign we have seen in a very long time as it represents a clear way forward and I assure everyone that John Conyers has been made aware of this. Legal hacks, such as Mukasey (the unimpeachable haha legal authority) cannot then trot out their ridiculous excuses - protecting the nation against "threats" with no legal standing - the procedures required to get back on track since the imposition of the Patriot Act are being established and the bloodless coup (and it was a bloodless coup!) deposed.

This is perhaps why now the insistence on a special prosecutor being appointed is so very encouraging -- someone who is not to be coerced by the Department of Justice must be appointed.

In my opinion, the DoJ was subverted entirely by Clinton. How many people even here in OpEd News want to face THAT fact. Bush bashing is FAR easier, less controversial and less threatening than facing the truth about America and its present "system" -- and pointing conspiratorial fingers at some imaginative "enemy" far easier than insisting on accountability -- whether pointing to Congressional failure or to say that "outside forces" have brought America to this state?

The adminstration knows this, the intel community knows this and we have been stuck in a "quagmire" of ignorance for a very very long time as they have "played" on it.

I cannot tell you the number of fights I have had on groups in the past few years who would rather shoot the messenger than look at what I have to say!! IT's uncomfortable for people to look at - so me, personally, I become the problem rather than have people look at what was done to me! The rule of law and respecting legal developments designed to protect HUMAN RIGHTS is the most task of our age.

It saddens me deeplly to watch, year after year, to watch the decay in America take deep root. When legal lines on POWER must be drawn, they simply are NOT. I fought the United States, in court for eight years only to watch it be subverted - the rule of law for refugees in Canada was undone by the Clinton administration and not one international human rights group raised an outcry. So I have learned a great deal more than the average person has as to how "the sytem" does work. I more than share your frustrations - I live them.

I am very very grateful to the Presidential scholars who have finally gotten their message across to John Conyers.

This letter DID take a bloody long time to get written, and it still smacks of "tea party", rather than tea dumping time in Boston harbor!! But it IS a beginning - at long bloody last.

Things will take what seems like an inordinate amount of time to be exposed, but we must take heart that the momentum has shifted .. now it's up to us to work to implement the impeachment process, building its momentum and turn our backs on all those "leaders" who don't want lead us to the legal remedies. We must get over false "patriotism" and partisanship, absolutely. That includes refusing to fund those presidential candidates who "wave" the Constitution but do nothing to insist its implementation and legal remedies be carried out!!

I'm not going to sit and write another blasted essay on the comments thread as to what I see as very clear dangers in the days ahead - but the guideline is THIS: remove the obstacles as you see them (Nancy Pelosi must GO!!), insist on the rule of law at every turn and if thwarted, get "outside counsel" based on those who can interpret the law correctly AND prepare for a war crimes tribunal. Nothing less will do to expose the toxic secrets. And also don't make assumptions as to who the "Enemy" is until you see if they uphold the rule of law - plenty of military people want to see the law obeyed and some apparent "patriots" do not.

Only these steps and assumptions will stop the corruption and the further (d)evolution of a justice system which serves only the high and powerful.

Not once did the Founders think that enforcement of the Constitution would be EASY - but what they did suggest to us is that WE must be the enforcers. and that is how the rule of law gets enforced. Many in positions of legal authority are counting on us to help them.  Otherwise, unless we are brought down by a nuclear holocaust - we will find ourselves torn to shreds by those who take the law into their own hands.  Those who would do so grow more strident every day.

by ladybroadoak (38 articles, 20 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 391 comments) on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 4:53:27 PM