Rep: Punish Those Who Lie Us Into War

[unhappycamper]

Rep: Punish Those Who Lie Us Into War
February 09, 2009
Daily News

U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., has introduced legislation that would impose fines or prison time on presidents or executive-branch officials who "knowingly and willfully" mislead Congress to gain authorization to use U.S. military forces.

Jones, who has repeatedly and publicly regretted his vote to support the war in Iraq, said that he doesn't know how far the Executive Accountability Act of 2009 will get when it comes to gaining passage. But even if all the bill gets is a springtime hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, Jones says, he thinks that is progress.

"We're saying, 'Mr. President, be sure,'" Jones said in an interview. "Be sure that if you are going to ask us to commit our boys and girls to risk their lives, that all the facts are on the table. ... Make sure there are no questions. ... Mr. President, you better be sure."

Jones' 3rd District is dotted with military bases, including Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Havelock and Camp Lejeune and New River in Jacksonville. He thinks of the young men and women serving on those bases and others, he said.

And he rejects the notion that a bill requiring the president to tell the truth about a potential war is an extreme measure.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/rep-punish-those-who-lie-us-into-war.html?col=1186032310810

[RJ Connors]

1. I just don't get why we need all these extra judicial bills an such

as we already have plenty of existing criminal statues that cover what the previous administration did. Seems to me this is just posturing to give the appearance of doing something with the fact being that no one has to balls to get an indictment.

[unhappycamper]

2. Walter is the guy that coined "Freedom Fries".

I guess he's looking to get re-elected. :shrug:

[TellTheTruth82]

3. The problem is proof

Bush can easily point to the CIA paper that said Iraq had WMD. All he has to do is say he believed it. After all, many other world leaders believed they did. How do you prove that he didn't believe it - the very definition of a lie. If you can't prove he didn't believe it, the only result is that he is wrong, and then you've wasted a lot of political capital on something. Now this only addresses the issue of WMD, and there are potentially other issues that he can be hit on, but this one is just too slippery to llve through a court of law.