FEIN: The rule of law

[kpete]

FEIN: The rule of law
Bruce Fein
Tuesday, January 20, 2009

President Barack Obama promised to restore the rule of law and to prevent future wrongdoing by high-level government officials.

To honor that promise, Mr. Obama should investigate, among others, former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former White House counsel and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and former White House political adviser Karl Rove. The crimes to be investigated should include complicity in torture, illegal surveillance, illegal detention, perjury, obstruction of justice and contempt of Congress. Prosecutions should follow if the evidence convinces a grand jury to indict.

The glaring failures to prosecute many who were not deterred by the criminal law created a climate of lawlessness that moved from national security to the domestic arena.

Unpunished lawlessness by government officials invites lawlessness generally.

Punishment is certainly not the only vehicle to prevent wrongdoing. To avoid rape, for example, a woman might consider wearing a burqa to avoid arousing a man's sexual appetites. But she would lose her freedom and self-expression. The best way to deter rape is to prosecute the rapist.

President Obama is fully capable of simultaneously investigating or prosecuting Bush administration officials, addressing how to close Guantanamo, and grappling with the nation's economic travails.

more at:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/20/the-rule-of-law/

[ORDagnabbit]

1. investigate and incarcerate!

[WhiteTara]

3. don't leave out the prosecute part!

I want their crimes spelled out!

[kentuck]

2. The crimes:

"The crimes to be investigated should include complicity in torture, illegal surveillance, illegal detention, perjury, obstruction of justice and contempt of Congress."

[gratuitous]

4. Fein is usually too conservative for my taste

But I have to say that he is at least consistent, and his call for the rule of law to be enforced even against his ideological fellow travelers bespeaks a certain integrity that is mostly missing on the right side of the political spectrum.

[ThomWV]

5. Kick