The "Bushies" Next Stop?
January 13, 2009
In a measly 7 days at
noon on January 20th the reign of Bush-Cheney will officially end.
With the low approval
ratings of George Bush’s presidency doubtless no one in this country will
be in mourning. Further, a sense of universal relief marked by a
great shout of jubilation may surely signal the end of the Bush “imperial
presidency”
The Inauguration of Barack
Obama is an event of such colossal significance. The first black
man to be elected as President is significant enough. However the
coupling of this historical “first” to the near landslide election and
the high level of expectations may create a collective elation that will
indeed be unprecedented. Hopefully our exhilaration, surely to be
enjoyed fully by the new administration, will not be a cause for us to
lose focus on the incredible misdeeds by Obama’s predecessor.
George Bush and Dick Cheney
may without doubt be the most disingenuous and nefarious leaders in our
experience as a nation. Finally both men have recently admitted publicly
their complicity in war crimes committed in the name of the “War on Terror”.
They approved the use
of torture in the primary form of “waterboarding”; allowed the illegal
detention of prisoners both under our jurisdiction and other countries;
and who knows what other many violations of the Geneva Convention were
authorized by these two. Further they authorized the unlawful monitoring
of telephone calls of American citizens and it must be noted that these
invasions of privacy are expressly prohibited by the Constitution.
The violation of our civil
rights by the contravention of the protections outlined in the U.S. Constitution
is certainly worthy of investigation and possible conviction. Hopefully
the new Attorney General hopefully will relentlessly pursue this option.
More importantly, I would
hope that a newly inaugurated President Obama will recognize our responsibility
as a nation. Indeed as a world partner and signatory to the Geneva
Convention our government has an overwhelming obligation to punish all
those persons guilty of war crimes. I would also hope that this could
be accomplished without regard to the office held or functional level of
government.
Will I relish or celebrate
the conviction and subsequent punishment of George Bush and Dick Cheney?
Emphatically I must say I will not, no American should ever revel in the
trial, conviction and punishment of our former leaders! However,
that being said I would always want our reputation as a nation of laws
to be restored to our proper standing as democracy's beacon in the world
and I would assuredly celebrate that conclusion!
