Crimes Against the Constitution

On the morning of 9/11, as my friend Gil was telling me over the phone what was going on, I ripped open our armoire, turned on the TV, and after getting through the initial shock and thinking "holy crap," thought, "I don't trust Bush to handle this." Despite his rhetoric to govern as a "passionate conservative," he had already shown Americans in his first 8 months in office that he was a hard-right nut-job. Despite those thoughts, as that horrible morning unfolded, I hoped beyond hope that president Bush would swing to the center in an effort to keep Americans of all stripes united as we went to war.

However, within months Mr. Bush's actions solidified my initial gut reaction. He couldn't be trusted.

For a few of us, the Patriot Act and the run-up to war with a country that didn't attack us were the two main pillars of thought that the Bush administration (and their Fascist-Republican enablers in the congress) were out of control, circumventing the Constitution and ready to commit war crimes in the name of justice. Many of us balked. But our yells were drowned out by those still fearful over the attacks of 9/11 (including way too many on our side of the political spectrum).

Through the rest of 2001 and 2002, those of us who thought the government's actions didn't smell right were called crazy liberal commies. But now, well after the damage has been done, we have been proven right.

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and several members of their administration and White House staff wiped their asses with the Constitution and then shredded it beyond recognition. In an effort to piece her back together, the Obama administration has started releasing memos that, without a doubt, prove that the Bush-Cheney crew violated the first and fourth amendments at the very least, and are guilty of horrendous war crimes at most.

They should have been impeached long ago. Any "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed by Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton pale in comparison to the Bush administration. But since that process is no longer an option, it is time to open up the flood gates and let the criminal investigations start in earnest. Torture, extraordinary rendition, wiretapping...the list goes on and on. These criminals should be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law - both domestic and international.

And yes, by "international" I mean trial before the War Crimes Tribunal...and whatever punishment would come from a guilty verdict there.

An excellent piece on this subject from Monday's Rachel Maddow Show below.

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