YOURTRUTH sits down with author and constitutional lawyer Marjorie Cohn to discuss the case for a thorough investigation of the Bush administration’s crimes.
Tools of Action
Support the Resolution to Impeach Jay Bybee, Former Assistant Attorney General
Sign the Petition to Deny Amnesty for Torturers
Petition the UN to Establish an International Tribunal to Investigate Bush
Report Cheney and Bush's Confessions to Authorizing Torture as a Crime Tip to the FBI
"Prosecute Torture" Bumper Stickers
Convict Bush/Cheney Embeddable Tool Kit
Resources
I. Illegal War of Aggression
Video Montage of Bush Administration Officials saying WMDs Were in Iraq
CIA's Final Report Concludes No WMDs Found in Iraq
Iraq Had No WMDs After 1994
Video - Cheney Discusses Iraq as a Future Quagmire in 1994
UN Secretary General Says Iraq War is Illegal
II. Torture
Bush Defends Clandestine Secret Prisons
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Waterboarded 183 Times in One Month
Top Bush Advisors Approved Enhanced Interrogation Techniques
Video - ACLU Tortured Logic
Video - CIA Kidnaps Hundreds and Places Them in Detention Centers
III. Willful Killing
Video - Sleeping Civilians Shot in Fallujah Massacre
Video - American Soldiers Shooting Iraqis
Video - Apache Blasts Iraqi
IV. Guantanamo
Bush Lawyer Says Prolonged Indefinite Detention is Already Widespread
Obama Endorses Indefinite Detention Without Trials for Some
Video - Obama Promises to Close Guantanamo and Follow the Constitution
Obama Preserves Renditions as Counter-Terrorism Tool
Bagram: Obama's New Guantanamo
Obama Closing Guantanamo Bay Within the Year
V. Spying on Americans
Bush Surveillance Went Beyond Wiretaps
Obama Administration Quietly Expands Bush's Legal Defense of Wiretapping Program
NSA Acquires Massive Database of American's Phone calls
Obama to Defend Telecommunications Spy Immunity
Democrats Agree to Expand Domestic Spying and Grant Telecoms Amnesty
VI. Refusal to Execute the Law
Bush Challenges Hundreds of Laws
Obama Rejects Signing Statements
Obama Embraces Signing Statements
Investigate
Video - Obama Says Nobody is Above the Law
Video - Keith Olbermann Says Obama Must Investigate
Polls Report People Want An Independent Investigation into the Bush Administration Crimes
The Bush Administration May Testify on CIA Program
Video - Bush Tries to Pardon Himself
Prosecutor Probes CIA Interrogations
Additional Links of Interest
Marjorie Cohn's Writings
The Bush Administration's Most Despicable Act
Obama Expands Attacks on Pakistan
Radio Host Undergoes Waterboarding and Calls it Torture
List of Presidential Signing Statements
Crimes and Misdemeanors in the Bush Administration
The NSA Spied on American Journalists
Court Sides with Bush on Surveillance
Two Groups Sue over NSA Wiretap Program
Obama Sides with Bush on Extraordinary Rendition Lawsuit
Early Report Doesn't Recommend Charges for Torture Memos
U.S. Apache Helicopters Firing on Iraqis
The C.I.A.'s Secret Al Qaeda Plan
Transcript
Desperate for change in Washington, the American people turned out in force to elect Barack Obama President of the United States. With Obama focused on moving the country forward, there existed a very real danger that crimes committed in the Bush administration would go uninvestigated.
Attorney General Eric Holder recently defied Obama's wishes to turn a blind eye to the past and has just appointed a special prosecutor to probe CIA wrongdoings under Bush. The Washington Post reported on August 25 that the inquiry is far from a full-blown criminal investigation and he doesn't know whether prosecutions of CIA employees will follow. Unfortunately, the CIA's torture of detainees is merely the tip of the iceberg.
YOURTRUTH sat down with Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild, constitutional lawyer, and author of "Cowboy Republic" to hear why American citizens should demand the Bush administration be held accountable for their crimes.
I. Illegal War of Aggression
CLIP
In 1994, Dick Cheney sat down for an interview in which he questioned the intelligence of invading Iraq and removing Saddam Hussein from power.
CLIP
Fast forward to the arguments set forth by Bush administration officials in the months leading up to the 2003 Iraq invasion.
CLIP
II. Torture
CLIP
As the biggest watchdog of our freedoms, the American Civil Liberties Union works tirelessly to defend the rights of every American. After obtaining one of the Bush administration memos authorizing torture through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the ACLU released this video.
CLIP
III. Willful Killing
CLIP
IV. Guantanamo
CLIP
While President Obama looks like he will in fact close Guantanamo within the year, he has failed to address the release of the 600 prisoners held indefinitely at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. TIMES writer Tim Reid said that the prisoners, many held without charges for years, are packed into conditions far worse than Guantanamo.
Tina Foster, executive director of a legal advocacy group called the International Justice Network, points out that Obama "has adopted the Bush administration policy which allows the president to maintain a completely lawless enclave any place in the world besides the U.S. and Guantanamo Bay."
Obama is also expanding upon other Bush administration policies with regard to national security, including renditions and indefinite detentions of suspected enemy combatants.
CLIP
V. Spying on Americans
CLIP
In a controversial move during his campaign, Obama and his fellow democrats declared their support for a sweeping intelligence surveillance law. The law would provide amnesty for telecommunication corporations that cooperated with the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program. Since his inauguration Obama's stance on defending the telecom companies has not changed.
VI. Refusing to Execute the Law
Although Obama has publicly denounced the use of executive signing statements as an "abuse" of power, he has continued the practice since becoming President, but he promises to use greater restraint than his predecessor in the future.
Investigation
CLIP
Ignoring the last eight years to focus on the future is not a viable option. As the Nuremburg trials of Nazi war criminals show, a crime is still a crime, no matter when it was committed. Now that we know that officials at the highest levels of our government are guilty of felonies, the time to act is now. We cannot rely on hope alone to restore our nation's credibility and dedication to the rule of law.
