What should be investigated?

[dkamin]

If you could have your wishlist of stuff to be investigated regarding the actions of this administration in the last 5 years, what would you choose? Specifics, not just "Iraq" or "corruption".

Any suggestions would be appreciated, I'm trying to compile a list of stuff for something I'm working on. Thanks.

[Cary]

1. Hmmmm.

1. Cheney's secret energy meetings.

2. The intelligence leading up to the war so that we have a clear, definitive understanding as to why we invaded Iraq and what we were trying to accomplish. If it turns out that Bush really didn't know what the hell he was doing, this needs to be made clear to the American people.

3. Presidential signing orders, and what the real story is on those. Again, the American public now and in the future needs to know.

It's very difficult to choose. We could go on and on. We have such an amazing mess and so much needs to be fixed. . . it all needs to be put out in the open and scrutinized. It's hard to believe how much damage they've managed to do in just 6 years.

I would expect Bush to look like he's aged another 10 years in 2008, or Nancy Pelosi hasn't done her job.

[MrCoffee]

5. spot on.

those are the top three on the hit parade.

[KKKarl is an idiot]

6. Lets add

4. NSA warrant less spying on Americans phone calls.
5. The data base of phone numbers the government is gathering. Who gave the phone companies the right to give to them?
6. The outing of Valerie Plame: How high was the person who ordered it?
7. The capture of foreigners because they were Muslim & supposed terrorists& taking them to secret locations in countries that support torture
8. Abu Gharib: What happened? Who gave the order?
9. Gitmo: Are we becoming a nation that has left it original rights & freedoms?
10. Katrina: What happened who is to blame? Investigated by an independent non-partisan committee.
11. The lack of progress with North Korea. How did we allow them to develop a nuclear weapon?
12. Afghanistan: How did we let Al Queida start the war again?
13. Where is Osama Bin Laden? Why did we not capture him while we had a chance?
14. The administration pandering to every wish of the Saudis.
15. The Saudis supposedly allowing insurgents to cross the border so they do not have to deal with these people causing problems in their country.
16. Profits made by the oil companies. How has the administration benefited
17. Why are we still give special tax credits to the oil companies?
18. The Mark Foley scandal. Why have we not done anything to the representatives who knew about Foley's activities. Why was the one democratic party member left out of a committee discussion.
19. Why did the troops not get all the armor the needed to do their job successfully?

The list goes on. It is very hard to think of all the things we could do investigations on. I think congress will also need to investigate congress & it's lack of ability to do it's job over the last 6 years. The more I think about the last 6 years it seems like a nightmare. What have we not heard yet?

[Vinca]

2. Calling all book publishers.

First on the list, Iraq. Specifically, did the Criminal-In-Chief cherry pick the intelligence information and provide only the intelligence that supported his insane need to invade a country to an unsuspecting Congress? No matter what anyone says, Dear Leader had access to information that was not available to Senators and Congresspeople. We all know this happened, but it needs to have an official stamp of acknowledgement followed by Articles of Impeachment.

[Sparkly]

3. The "missing" money in Iraq.

I think that could tie in/lead to a lot of other things.

[conscious evolution]

4. Anything and everything remotely

connected to bushco.If it is too large a burden for us then farm some of it out to international criminal courts.
Bushco and their cohorts must be exposed comepletely to the US and to the World.

[pat_k]

7. Nothing until "Impeachment Hearings" are underway. . .

The case for impeachment of Bush and Cheney for their war crimes and criminal surveillance program is Clear, Compelling, and Complete. It has been for years. It is time to introduce articles of impeachment and convene Impeachment Hearings to make the case finalize the articles.

Other committees can go forward with whatever investigations they wish, but those investigations cannot be allowed to interfere with or delay impeachment. If "oversight" investigations uncover additional impeachable offenses, members can introduce a resolution to add them.

We're not looking at another Watergate here, where "cover up" was the name of the game. Bush and Cheney are committing their high crimes and abuses in plain sight. They admit their crimes in their public statements.

The case for impeachment is simple. Feingold's Censure motiion could easily serve as a case for impeachment. When Bush and Cheney attempted to nullify the principle of consent -- the sole moral principle on which our Constitution is founded -- with their claims to Un-American and Unconstitutional unitary authoritarian power, they didn't excuse their crimes, they compounded them.

There is a reason that violators of Geneva are subject to the death penalty -- to give those with the power to inflict torture or wage a criminal war of aggression a compelling motive not to step anywhere near "the line."

Their claims to the power to "redefine" Geneva are rightfully rejected by other parties to the treaty, just as we would reject any attempt by any other party to arbitrarily redefine the conventions so they could torture Americans.

Their attempt to "redefine" Geneva in and of itself is an admission of their intent to violate Geneva with Malice Aforethought.

And, to those who assert that investigations are needed to "bring the public on board"-- your assertion doesn't fly. Any hearings that are not explicitly held for the purpose of examining their high crimes and labeled "impeachment hearings" will garner little or no attention from the broadcast media (other than C-SPAN, which few Americans watch). The only way to "bring the public on board" is to introduce articles of impeachment and to take them up in Impeachment Hearings.

Members of Congress who unnecessarily delay with unnecessary investigations, or who invoke some other rationalization for their refusal to call for impeachment and removal, should consider this:

Are you willing to tell those who are currently being tortured that they will just have to endure it for now because {rationalization of the day}.

Failure to stop war crimes when you have the power to do so, is itself a war crime. Now that you have the power to stop the Bush and Cheney's war crimes by impeaching (Reps) and removing (Senators), will you refuse to act, and thus become a war criminal yourself?

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/pat_k/13