Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: If Obama doesn’t investigate Bush’s crimes, I will.

[deminks]

President-elect Obama this week said his team was in the middle of “evaluating” Bush administration policies to see whether a criminal investigation would be worthwhile. NPR reports that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) says that he understands Obama’s reluctance to pursue investigations but that he may take matters into his own hands:

“I think that there’s a lot that remains to look at, and I appreciate that President Obama doesn’t want to make it his purpose as a new president, with America in real distress in many directions, to go back and look at all this, but I think we in Congress have an independent responsibility, and I fully intend to discharge that responsibility,” Whitehouse said.

In a 487-page report out today recapping Bush’s “imperial presidency,” House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) recommends that “the incoming Administration finally begin an independent criminal review of activities of the outgoing Administration.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/13/whitehouse-investigate-bush/

And if Congress doesn't, a foreign power might.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. Go for it!

[EraOfResponsibility]

2. Right on, Sen. Whitehouse

Godspeed to you, sir.

[grannie4peace]

3. that's the way it should be , i think!

[LakeSamish706]

4. I think that this train of thought is going to gain ground as we move along. I will be....

very surprised if full investigations don't take place in the not to distant future. (Hopefully followed by criminal charges)

[MadMaddie]

15. As Obama's cabinet settles in and starts to peel back the

layers of crimes, lies and treason....I honestly believe an overwhelming number of Americans will demand prosecution.

[blm]

31. ALOT of this is up to Dems like us to grow the OPEN GOVERNMENT MOVEMENT and support accountability

by open government lawmakers.

Kerry and Gonzalez didn't have support in their own party for their investigations that uncovered so many serious crimes of BushInc and that worked out TRAGICALLY for this nation in the form of RW dominated media, Bush2, 9-11 and this Iraq war.

We can help change this attitude from our Dem lawmakers if we WANTED to.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. "may"

:grr:

[leftstreet]

6. "a foreign power might"

That would be interesting.

K&R

[sakabatou]

7. Go Whitehouse!

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. Justice Louis Brandeis

This takes some of the heat off of Obama and spreads the accountability
to Congress. I'm sure Whitehouse will get anything he subpoenas now from Justice.

Appoint Jonathan Turley as special prosecutor Sen. Whitehouse!



“Our government… teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.” - Justice Louis Brandeis

[wryter2000]

46. Ooooh, Turley

Great idea.

This is exactly what I've been thinking. Let Congress do the heavy lifting. That's the appropriate separation of roles, imho.

[LSparkle]

9. RIGHT ON! My new favorite Senator!

Wait a minute, my new CO-favorite Senator (with Bernie Sanders).

[bdamomma]

10. oh, that is my Senator!!!!

oh Sheldon go for it, I will be calling his office, and say I fully support whatever he does.

[yy4me]

27. Can you send him over the border to MA? We could use him

here. I worry about what will happen when Senator Kennedy retires. Kerry is a goos man but we could use an immediate replacement, one who understands what it is all about and is not afraid to say so.

Good going, RI

[spanone]

11. and President Obama would probably encourage him

[Cetacea]

26. Yes.

[John Q. Citizen]

51. What leads you to that conclusion? What if The Senator discovers evidence of a felony?

Do you believe the Obama administration would prosecute high ranking members of the bush administration? Including bush? He was just dining with him and his dad last week. would he take this on or try to avoid and divert it?

I would hope they would take it on. And for the Senator to say that suggests that the Senator wonders if they would take it on.

I'm not yet convinced the Obama admin. would take it on, and I'm not going to assume that it is a given.

I am going to keep pushing the new administration to do more faster to get justice for all the victims. And I hope you will do so too, any way you can.

So what leads you to believe that President Obama will put bush in jail if bush committed crimes?

[bdamomma]

12. kick

[Laelth]

13. k&r

Only 7 days left to impeach Bush. Time is running out on that option ... but there is no statute of limitations on treason. I'd love to see him tried, convicted, and imprisoned.

:dem:

-Laelth

[pacalo]

14. Oh my.

THANK YOU, SEN. WHITEHOUSE & REP. CONYERS!!!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

16. RI Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is a former USA .

He is what RI picked up when they reluctantly voted out Lincoln Chafee (R) (whom everyone loved) for the good of the country in order to get a Democratic majority. RI is small, but it has 2 GREAT Senators in Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse.

[mod mom]

40. My guess is he was a mighty fine USA (from watching him during hearings!)

[burrowowl]

17. GO Whitehouse!!!!!

[pleah]

18. K&R I like hearing that!

Go, man go!

[Left Coast2020]

19. THIS INVESTIGATION TRAIN IS DEFINATELY GAINING SPEED

KEEP IT GOING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bertman]

20. This is VERY GOOD NEWS!!! Now let's just hope that we don't have a

NATIONAL EMERGENCY in the next seven days.

[wildbilln864]

21. Stay safe Senator Whitehouse.

We should all write him and express our appreciation support fr his stance on this. :patriot:

[chill_wind]

22. K&R.

[Hubert Flottz]

23. I can't wait to watch my senator, Jay Rockefeller, tear into...

his own full blown bushCo criminal investigation, like some crazed fantastic four avenger/vigilante, and uphold the rights of the "seriesly" shit on and the down-trodden. :sarcasm:

I'll bet Jay and Di-Fi will have the entire gang rounded up in a jiffy...

[Norrin Radd]

24. kr

The US is in distress because of these crimes.

[NewJeffCT]

25. Good for Whitehouse, but

I hope a foreign power doesn't lead the investigation - they'd likely get ignored by the media.

[WI_DEM]

28. Whitehouse, if you do this I may support you one day for the White House.

[2hip]

29. Music to my ears! nt

[Iwillnevergiveup]

30. A brilliant, competent man

and certainly patriotic.

K&R:patriot:

[Uncle Joe]

32. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, deminks.

[Starry Messenger]

33. Well that is excellent news. Rec.

[bdamomma]

34. if anyone wants to call Senator Whitehouse to show him support.

go here:

http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/cgi-bin/newmemberbio.cgi?lang=&member=RIJR&site=congressmerge

[marimour]

35. thats great!

[malaise]

36. Fabulous

Congress is supposed to lead these investigations. Go Senator Whitehouse - what an appropriate name - Whitehouse investigates the White House crimes.

[bdamomma]

47. hmm..consider this team to investigate.

Conyers, Waxman, Kucinich and Whitehouse, sounds good to me.

[Blackhatjack]

37. Cheney has arrogantly challenged anyone in Congress to do anything...

If Congress is to retain even a shred of power reserved to it as a co-equal branch by the Constitution, Congress must act to hold accountable those who engaged in criminal wrongdoing during the Bush Administration.

This is not discretionary or elective. It is required.

Otherwise Cheney will be proven right ... they can do anything they like and Congress' impotence will confirm they are above the law and unaccountable to the people they serve.

[Golden Raisin]

41. The Congress of the last 8 years

relinquished and abrogated their position and rights as a co-equal branch. At every step of the way they cowered, remained silent or worst of all, abetted. They couldn't (or wouldn't) even get Bush administration members to honor Congressional subpoenas and show up for Committee hearings when summoned. They were very accomplished at holding lots of hearings and meetings and talking, talking, talking, talking, talking, but doing nothing while Bush and Cheney publicly raped the Constitution almost on a daily basis. It remains to be seen whether Congress will now, post-Bush/Cheney, stand up for and reclaim their Constitutional rights and execute their responsibilities. I'm not holding my breath.

[solara]

38. YES!!!!!!!!!!!

:kick:

Kickety Kick :hi:


INDICT and IMPRISON :patriot:

[wiggs]

39. If we're in an era of "change" then this statement would mean that

Whitehouse means it and that something will happen. Over the last 8 years, this kind of statement -- even by a democrat -- has really meant that we'll have hearings and write letters and make public threats IN ORDER TO GIVE THE APPEARANCE OF OPPOSITION. I'll need to see real action and consequences before I believe congress will pull the trigger on oversight of it's own or of another branch of government.

Too much water under the bridge to believe this statement, unfortunately.

[katty]

42. great-go for it!

[Fearless]

43. Do it!

[L. Coyote]

44. This is like a fire alarm that's been ringing for 8 years. It's about time.

[wryter2000]

45. Way to go!

IMHO, Congress should be doing the investigating while Obama concentrates on other things to get the country on track.

[bahrbearian]

48. How did he vote on Dennis Kucinich articles of impeachment ?

[KoKo]

57. He couldn't vote on it, though, because Whitehouse is a Senator...

[bahrbearian]

66. And as a Senator I'm sure he voiced no opinion

That works.

[WinstonSmith4740]

49. We ALL need to email Whitehouse!

Not only to offer him the encouragement and support he will need to pursue this course of action, which, by the way, is the correct way to handle this. If Obama sought to pursue this himself, he'd be guilty of being an "imperial president" also. We also need to BEG Senator Whitehouse to stay the hell out of airplanes!!

[alllyingwhores]

50. What's to investigate? The asshole emperor and his evil controller are both on video admitting to...

sanctioning both illegal domestic spying and torture (with their only defense being that they have a legal opinion from one of their thirty-something sycophants). CHARGE THE MOTHER F__KERS ALREADY OR SHUT THE F__K UP!

At this point, it's a little hard to believe that this will go anywhere beyond a special commission looking into the possibility of a special commission to review the.....

Isn't Biden on record as saying they would investigate once in office?

[trashcanistanista]

52. SHELDON!!!!!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Dragonfli]

53. Call him and request he ask Eric Holder

how he will uphold the rule of law with respect to the crimes of the outgoing administration.

The confirmation
hearing starts this Thursday at 9:30 AM

You can reach any Senator tollfree by calling either 800-828-0498 or
800-473-6711 and asking to be connected to them by name.

Whitehouse specifically lambasted
Mukasey about the idea that we shouldn't look backward (the evil
talking point) at the "Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice"
hearing of July 9, 2008 as follows from this YouTube clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xye-zsfeEs&feature=related

"In the eight months you have been in office, have you had occasion
yet to determine whether waterboarding is torture."

When Mukasey said no, he had not bothered, Whitehouse said.

"I detect a very pronounced reluctance to look backward into the
problems at the Department of Justice."

And he continued at length on this subject adding,

"It is highly inadequate to have this only look going forward
approach that I detect. It is very important I think that we also be
prepared to look backwards, find out exactly what went wrong and
clean it up."

To put this in context, at Mukasey's original confirmation (July 18,
2008, 2nd day, afternoon session), he had expressly demanded to know
if Mukasey considered waterboarding to be torture saying.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/transcript_mukasey_hearing_day_two_101807.html

(transcript of entire 2nd day)

WHITEHOUSE: "So is water-boarding constitutional?"

MUKASEY: "I don't know what's involved in the technique. If
water-boarding is torture, torture is not constitutional."

WHITEHOUSE: "If water-boarding is constitutional is a massive hedge."

MUKASEY: "No, I said, if it's torture. I'm sorry. I said, if it's
torture."

WHITEHOUSE: "If it's torture? That's a massive hedge. I mean, it
either is or it isn't. Do you have an opinion on whether
water-boarding, which is the practice of putting somebody in a
reclining position, strapping them down, putting cloth over their
faces and pouring water over the cloth to simulate the feeling of
drowning -- is that constitutional?"

MUKASEY: "If it amounts to torture, it is not constitutional."

WHITEHOUSE: "I'm very disappointed in that answer. I think it is
purely semantic."

But at the end Mukasey had promised him,

MUKASEY: "I'm going to pledge to undertake to review the practices."

So you can understand how outraged Whitehouse was when Mukasey tried
to play totally dumb on this same subject eight months later.

Obama has already stated himself that waterboarding is torture. Bush
and Cheney have now both admitted to authorizing waterboarding. So it
MUST be prosecuted. This is not optional. And no attorney general of
the people can have any other response and still uphold the law and
the Constitution they are sworn to protect and defend

[bobd0]

54. K&R

[bdamomma]

55. I have saved this thread for awhile

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6417049&mesg_id=6417049

[KoKo]

59. Thanks for that re-post. I remember Whitehous came to Senate all fired up

but as hearings with on with Leahy it seemed he lost some of his energy. I began to think as the jr. Senator he had been told to "tone it down" because sometimes he looked so frustrated when it seemed he wanted to make a comment or ask a more biting question. I would listen to Leahy bloviate in outrage and yet the questioning by other Dem Committee members seemed to be more subdued than initially. I almost felt like things had been "shut off" in both the House and Senate. Now, in hindsight it seems that the "will" to do what they told us they'd do after the '04 elections had dissipated. Remember when some of us thought they were threatened?

[waiting for hope]

56. I love watching Whitehouse

Whitehouse on the Senate floor:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFWIHbf50EI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPT9JxTBxok&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgzwr4PnTbA&feature=related

And who could forget Gonzales?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zsdn4J2FVNU&feature=related

K&R!

[LynneSin]

58. This is me but I'd love to see Whitehouse in the White House

Just for the campaign slogans alone!

[bdamomma]

65. oh my goodness, RI'ers would go crazy if that ever happened.

[Danger Mouse]

60. I think it SHOULD come from the House or Senate rather than Obama himself.

That being said, Obama should throw his full support behind any investigations.

[tclambert]

61. Congress has responsibilities?

I thought they gave all that up eight years ago.

If Bush and Cheney are going to pay for their crimes, perhaps we should ask the French if they could re-open Devil's Island.

[democrank]

62. Imperial presidency indeed.

We`re behind you, Senator Whitehouse.

[jillan]

63. I had a good feeling about him since the first time I heard him speak on the Senate floor.

You can just tell he is not one to put up with bullshit.

[machI]

64. Its about time n/t