Schumer & Pelosi signal support for prosecution of Bush officials

I think it would be a really bad idea for the Democrats to start down the road of prosecuting the previous Administration for war crimes or anything like that. There are a LOT of Americans who like President Bush and think he did a good job. So his approval rate was something like 30% of the population - that is still 90 MILLION people!! Now if only 10% of that group of people is really hard-core conservatives who feel that their country is going in the wrong direction and they personally need to step up and DO something about it - how many is that? Let's see, that would be 9 million and I can guarantee that ALL of them are armed. Last question, out of a group of 9 million armed people what are the chances that a few of them are crazy enough to try something crazy??

Now let me say that I am NOT one of the 9 million and I am NOT armed. But just looking at the numbers tells you those people are there. I hope that the new Administration has smart people advising them and that they go slow and careful on things that will really antagonize the far right.

This is a dangerous time and emotions are very high on both sides of the left-right divide. It is not the time to be an extremist on either side. My sincere hope is that both the left and right can step back a little, work on issues that they can somewhat agree on, and leave the really contentious stuff for later.

I realize that many on the left feel that "this is their time" and that they are winning. Therefore they need to go for the kill and crush what remains of the right. I just hope they realize the danger in pushing to far too fast.

What would be the perfect prosecution would bring most of the Bush administration, generals, some soldiers, guantanamo staff, foreign prisons staff, the banking system heads down... all going to jail or death penalty.

That would be great.

And the complete story of 9/11.

Could this be just a vain attempt to get everybody riled up about Bush so that people can get their mind off the economy and the fact that Congress is moving very slowly in doing anything about the economy?

If there so called stimulus plan was so wonderful in helping us, don't you think they would be working day and night to get it passed as soon as possible instead of speaking about Bush?

Originally posted by Mdv2
The US would be a Banana Republic if it would not prosecute those who have committed crimes against humanity. Just because he has been president he should be allowed to go unpunished? What a ridiculous logic is that. According to your way of thinking, Hitler should have gone unpunished too, because 'in Germany they don't prosecute former chancellors'.

A crime is a crime, no matter who commits it and no matter what position he or she formerly occupied.

Ok...I'll bite, under what law do we determind whether he commited a crime or not?

Also, hmmm how many presidents, chancellors, dictators, prime misters, kings, emperors etc should we apply all this too? Off the top of my head I can pick well over 1/2 the world leaders who have blood on their hands.

Also since We the People voted him into office, maybe you should prosecute We the People…good luck hehe

BTW Hilter wasn't punished, and punishment only happens to the looser.


[edit on 25-1-2009 by Xtrozero]

Originally posted by Vitchilo
What would be the perfect prosecution would bring most of the Bush administration, generals, some soldiers, guantanamo staff, foreign prisons staff, the banking system heads down... all going to jail or death penalty.

That would be great.

And the complete story of 9/11.

I could put this right on the rest of the world too, and if we did we would not have a population problem...hehe, but then be careful what you wish for since something even worst might fill all that vacuum created, or are you to naive to think otherwise.

Originally posted by Xtrozero

BTW Hilter wasn't punished, and punishment only happens to the looser.

Who lost the last presidential elections, anyway. Glad to see you on board.

Originally posted by whaaa

Who lost the last presidential elections, anyway. Glad to see you on board.

Still the same government and country. Well I hope so....

And Bush didn't lose either.....



[edit on 25-1-2009 by Xtrozero]

Originally posted by Xtrozero

Originally posted by whaaa

Who lost the last presidential elections, anyway. Glad to see you on board.

Still the same goverment and country. Well I hope so....

And Bush didn't loose either.....

[edit on 25-1-2009 by Xtrozero]

"loose" Do you mean "lose"??

Technically you are right he didn't lose. His policies, his Party, his candidates, and his mind set lost.

I'm willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt for awhile. There will be plenty of time to trash him if and when he fails.

Oh yeah, it's spelled......government...not goverment. Spell check much?

[edit on 25-1-2009 by whaaa]

Originally posted by whaaa


[edit on 25-1-2009 by whaaa]

I guess I was a little quick in my post, as you were too.

If Bush is prosecuted then we must do the same to Obama as well. He has already started murdering innocent's in Iraq and Afganistan. Under his administration he has murdered a mother and father in Iraq the other day and wonded the child of the family.

Bush is gone folks... Its time to start blaming Obama for all the ills of the world...

reply to post by itguysrule



WOW, this is not about politics, that is what I don't get, it seems everyone wants to make this completely about the "left or right" - IT IS NOT!

It is about morals, it is about values, it is about our consitution! Nothing more!

It is that the last President, truely did BAD things, he had first lied then admitted to them.

The list is long, and I won't go into it all - but it is frustrating, that people think "the left" just hate him to hate him!

The man completely shredded our consitution - BUT what else he did...was BROKE international laws - besides our own. Yes I am very mad over that, I am mad, that I thought we had a country that was based on moral values, and we don't want our soliders tortured!

That is the biggest thing to me, the fact we have tortured people, what that sets up ...is the fact, that other countries will feel it is just fine to torture our soliders now. Jeez, the U.S. has gotten away with it, nothing happened to the people that caused it, the U.N. didn't step in and do anything....so we can torture too.

It completely breaks the Geneva Convention and now, we have to repair what has been done, in how other countries look at us, and how we can go forward - telling other countries "you have to follow International Law", but we don't!

An example has to be made of the Bush adminstration, all of them, have to come up on trial for us to go forward with other nations trying to keep peace and International Laws in place and followed!

i agree ,,, go get em,,, throw him and cheneys -ss's in jail

however,,, this is gov't investigating gov't

and we just saw the verdict in the propoganda case,, i bet this would be just the same

Ok - so I'm not a Pelosi fan -
I think she dropped a few balls awhile back -
But this is a very good thing.

Originally posted by Vitchilo
What would be the perfect prosecution would bring most of the Bush administration, generals, some soldiers, guantanamo staff, foreign prisons staff, the banking system heads down... all going to jail or death penalty.

That would be great.

And the complete story of 9/11.

Wow - the complete story of 9/11! How really wonderful would that be?!
Do you think it can happen?
Truth.
What an exciting concept.

reply to post by questioningall


You seem to be reading a lot into my post that wasn't there. I am not arguing whether or not any particular person needs to be prosecuted for war crimes or any other crimes. News reports say that just this week US forces launched an attack in Pakistan that killed 16 civilians. This attack was after the 20th so it had to be approved by President Obama. So now is he a war criminal too?? What is the magic number of deaths that makes someone a war criminal - is it 1 or 10 or 1000 or a million.

Anyway, the main point of my previous post was simply this: There are still many millions of people who do not think Bush is a war criminal. Prosecuting him and his administration as war criminals is going to absolutely inflame some of those people. That could be the action that moves the current war of words between the different political camps to a war of real bullets. I think we, as a country, need to avoid that kind of conflict at all cost.

Originally posted by Xtrozero
Ok...I'll bite, under what law do we determind whether he commited a crime or not?

International law - Geneva convention article 3, section 1.

Also, hmmm how many presidents, chancellors, dictators, prime misters, kings, emperors etc should we apply all this too? Off the top of my head I can pick well over 1/2 the world leaders who have blood on their hands.

To all who disrespect our democratic values and principles and are a treat to Western security. Unless you reject our Western values, you cannot agree with torturing. People who support torture are not any better than the terrorists we are fighting for that same reason.

BTW Hilter wasn't punished, and punishment only happens to the looser.

Gotta agree with that, best recent example is Saddam. Hitler wasn't no, but if the allies would have had the chance, he certainly would, like the other criminals were punished in Nurnberg.

Monday, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak told CNN's Rick Sanchez that the US has an "obligation" to investigate whether Bush administration officials ordered torture, adding that he believes that there is already enough evidence to prosecute former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

"We have clear evidence," he said. "In our report that we sent to the United Nations, we made it clear that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld clearly authorized torture methods and he was told at that time by Alberto Mora, the legal council of the Navy, 'Mr. Secretary, what you are actual ordering here amounts to torture.' So, there we have the clear evidence that Mr. Rumsfeld knew what he was doing but, nevertheless, he ordered torture."

Asked during an interview with Germany's ZDF television on Jan. 20, Nowak said: "I think the evidence is on the table."

At issue, however, is whether "American law will recognize these forms of torture."

A bipartisan Senate report released last month found Rumsfeld and other top administration officials responsible for abuse of Guantanamo detainees in US custody.

It said Rumsfeld authorized harsh interrogation techniques on December 2, 2002 at the Guantanamo prison, although he ruled them out a month later.

The coercive measures were based on a document signed by Bush in February, 2002.

Could someone clarify what exactly this 'bipartisan Senate report' is?

[edit on 27-1-2009 by Mdv2]