When Promises Of Change End Up Being Worse Than More Of The Same
Bill Lindner
April 12, 2009
After assuring supporters during his presidential campaigning that he would work to ensure full accountability for past offenses in Bush administration surveillance lawbreaking and admitted torture and abuse of 'suspected terrorists,' President Obama is proving once again that those words were nothing more than lies and that he has no intention of fulfilling those promises.
Once again the Obama administration is reportedly invoking government secrecy in defending the Bush administration's wiretapping program involving a lawsuit by AT&T customers who claim the federal government illegally intercepted their phone calls and accessed their records -- egregiously claiming that the courts cannot judge the legality of the National Security Agency's (NSA's) warrantless wiretapping program while inventing radical authoritarian theories to defend it.
Justice Department lawyers are again trying to imply that disclosing the information sought by the defendants would cause exceptionally grave harm to national security when in reality, not disclosing the information only serves to save the federal government from national embarrassment.
On July 10th, 2008, then-President Bush signed the Unconstitutional -- illegally passed -- FISA Amendments Act of 2008, eviscerating the role of judicial oversight in government surveillance, retroactively giving sweeping immunity to the telecommunications companies involved in the illegal wiretapping. The scandal caused by the illegal, unconstitutional 'legislation' makes Watergate look like child's play and has opened the door for egregious governmental violations of human rights and liberties. The 110th Congress illegally and unconstitutionally passed a lot of 'legislation' aimed at decriminalizing many of the crimes committed by the Bush administration -- after the fact -- with their blessings.
The latest absurdity from Obama's Justice Department is a result of a 2006 lawsuit against AT&T alleging that the company allowed the NSA to intercept calls, emails and records of millions of customers without warrants or evidence of wrongdoing following then-President Bush's admittance in 2005 that he secretly authorized the illegal wiretapping in 2001, after the attacks of 9/11 -- despite the fact that he ordered the illegal wiretapping long before those attacks.
Congressional Complicity and Corruption
For years, out biggest problem in Washington has been the double-whammy involving a corrupt Presidential administration coupled with a corrupted, complicit Congress. That tradition appears to be continuing today.
Last year, while illegally trying to grant retroactive immunity to the telecoms who aided in Bush's illegal spying, supporters of the spying bill reportedly received twice the contributions from the Telecoms as those who were against it.
An analysis from Maplight.org, a nonprofit campaign finance watchdog group, found that lawmakers supporting the wiretap deal averaged roughly twice the donations from Verizon, Sprint and AT&T over the past three years as those who voted against it proving that for a price, Congress is more than happy to shred fourth Amendment rights and pass illegal laws to screw their constituents. The same type of Congressional bribery has also proven extremely advantageous to Wall Street.
Congressional complicity in the Bush torture program has been the reason for blocking torture investigations. The egregious Military Commissions Act of 2006, also illegally and unconstitutionally passed legislation, was designed to give Bush and those he ordered immunity for their harsh treatment of prisoners. Key members of Congress sanctioned the torture interrogation methods utilized under Bush's orders and would be implicated if there was a torture investigation.
Key Congressional Democrats, as well as Republicans, were briefed on the torture and illegal wiretapping program but did nothing to stop it, opting instead to approve it despite the fact that both programs are and were illegal. Illegally blocking judicial inquiries into the programs serves no other purpose other than intentionally impeding justice and protecting complicit Congressional leaders. Nancy Pelosi continued impeding any and all attempts at impeachment -- it was off the table -- because she played a large part in Bush administration crimes.
Hiding Brutal Torture Inflicted On 14 'High-Value' Detainees
A report (PDF) from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) documents in detail the brutal torture inflicted on 14 'high-value'detainees who ended up in our CIA 'black sites,' and demands that the U.S. investigate all allegations of ill-treatment and punish the perpetrators.
Scott Horton noted that the ICRC does not call for investigations and prosecutions easily, "only where the evidence of criminal conduct is manifest." Leon Panetta, Obama's handpicked CIA Director, continues insisting that no investigations, let alone prosecutions, be held under the assertion that actions of the CIA were deemed legal by Bush attorneys -- despite the fact that the torture techniques were declared legal by Bush's DOJ only after they were authorized.
An article by Mark Danner from The New York Review of Books describes the dangers of preserving the ongoing secrecy surrounding the Bush/Cheney crimes. Another article of his describes the treatment and torture of some of these 'high-value' suspected terrorists. As implicated by Danner, as noted by Glenn Greenwald, it's impossible for Obama to 'turn the page' on -- let alone reverse -- the profound crimes of the Bush/Cheney era while he simultaneously turns himself into the prime agent suppressing the facts surrounding those crimes and vigorously shielding the criminals from all investigations and accountability.
Obama's Promises Were Nothing More Than Deceptive Lies
Contrary to Obama's deceptive promises during his presidential campaign about working with the Senate to remove the 'legislation' granting Telecoms retroactive immunity and seeking full accountability for Bush's past offenses, Obama's actions are decidedly doing the exact opposite, impeding any attempts at holding the Bush administration accountable by engaging in the same tactics -- by inventing even more radical authoritarian theories -- utilized by Bush to hide his crimes.
In reality, Obama has, as noted by Glenn Greenwald, repeatedly done the exact opposite of what he vowed he would do: rather than seeking full accountability for past offense, he's been doing everything he can to block any accountability by claiming -- and misusing -- illegally gained secret powers that have caused so much controversy the past eight years while trying to keep information secret and immunized from judicial review.
Obama, like some Democrats in the Senate, deceitfully lied when trying to justify telecom immunity by assuring the public that Bush officials responsible for ordering the illegal surveillance -- as opposed to the telecoms who knowingly and willfully broke the law at great profit -- would still be subject to being held legally accountable despite the telecoms being illegally granted retroactive immunity by Congress.
Obama DOJ Asserts That Government is Unaccountable for Violating its Own Laws
The Obama administration blatantly lied while trying to get the telecom cases dismissed: first they used Bush's lies that the state secrets privilege requires the court to dismiss the issue entirely as it "would cause exceptionally grave harm to national security" which is an absolute lie since in this case national security refers to national political embarrassment and treason and secondly, Obama's DOJ perniciously claimed that the U.S. Government is completely immune from litigations for illegal spying -- that the Government can never be sued for surveillance that violates federal privacy statutes -- while admitting that the wiretapping is illegal.
Worse than the Bush administration's lies trying to keep illegal governmental activities covered up is the Obama administration's claims that the U.S. Patriot Act -- which, again, was passed illegally and unconstitutionally -- also renders the U.S. immune from lawsuits, claiming that the government cannot be held accountable for illegal surveillance under any federal statute. Obama's DOJ is asserting that the government shall be entirely unaccountable for surveilling Americans in violation of its own laws.
It sounds like Obama's DOJ is asserting that Obama is actually a dictator, not a president. When laws only apply to certain individuals, Democracy becomes a dictatorship. Setting the precedent that the government shall be entirely unaccountable when violating its own laws would do more harm to the U.S. than Bush did during the eight long years of his delusional dictatorship.
No One, Not Even The President is Above the Law
To this day, the NSA is still performing illegal, dragnet surveillance programs against the American people. Obama's Justice Department claims that only communications in which 'a participant was reasonably believed to be associated with al Qaeda or an affiliated terrorist organization' were targeted, and revealing details about the dragnet surveillance would require 'disclosure of highly classified NSA intelligence sources and methods.' Yeah, right. Revealing those details would end up embarrassing and implicating most of the federal government.
Ignoring the obvious and doing absolutely nothing about the crimes committed by the Bush administration would make Obama an accomplice to those crimes. It's disgraceful that Spain is investigating the torture committed by the Bush administration while the U.S. is not. Former VP Cheney continues flaunting his crimes and Obama does absolutely nothing about it.
No one, not even the President is above the law. Claims that courts cannot judge the legality of the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program are ridiculous and indicative of the probable illegality of the program and the true intentions of the Obama Justice Department. Those claims by Obama's Justice Department are absurd and worrisome, making one wonder just how much illegality the government is covering up.
It's a shame, not to mention highly discerning, that Obama is turning out to be another typical Washington politician owned by large corporations. Many of us thought he was better than that, but apparently we were wrong.
Since our corrupted federal government refuses to do anything about holding those who committed heinous crimes responsible for their actions, it may be time for an Article 5 convention -- if for no other reason than taking out the trash and cleaning house. This has gone on entirely too long already and it needs to stop...unless of course America's Democracy has been turned into a dictatorship as Obama's DOJ suggests.
Once again the Obama administration is reportedly invoking government secrecy in defending the Bush administration's wiretapping program involving a lawsuit by AT&T customers who claim the federal government illegally intercepted their phone calls and accessed their records -- egregiously claiming that the courts cannot judge the legality of the National Security Agency's (NSA's) warrantless wiretapping program while inventing radical authoritarian theories to defend it.
Justice Department lawyers are again trying to imply that disclosing the information sought by the defendants would cause exceptionally grave harm to national security when in reality, not disclosing the information only serves to save the federal government from national embarrassment.
On July 10th, 2008, then-President Bush signed the Unconstitutional -- illegally passed -- FISA Amendments Act of 2008, eviscerating the role of judicial oversight in government surveillance, retroactively giving sweeping immunity to the telecommunications companies involved in the illegal wiretapping. The scandal caused by the illegal, unconstitutional 'legislation' makes Watergate look like child's play and has opened the door for egregious governmental violations of human rights and liberties. The 110th Congress illegally and unconstitutionally passed a lot of 'legislation' aimed at decriminalizing many of the crimes committed by the Bush administration -- after the fact -- with their blessings.
The latest absurdity from Obama's Justice Department is a result of a 2006 lawsuit against AT&T alleging that the company allowed the NSA to intercept calls, emails and records of millions of customers without warrants or evidence of wrongdoing following then-President Bush's admittance in 2005 that he secretly authorized the illegal wiretapping in 2001, after the attacks of 9/11 -- despite the fact that he ordered the illegal wiretapping long before those attacks.
Congressional Complicity and Corruption
For years, out biggest problem in Washington has been the double-whammy involving a corrupt Presidential administration coupled with a corrupted, complicit Congress. That tradition appears to be continuing today.
Last year, while illegally trying to grant retroactive immunity to the telecoms who aided in Bush's illegal spying, supporters of the spying bill reportedly received twice the contributions from the Telecoms as those who were against it.
An analysis from Maplight.org, a nonprofit campaign finance watchdog group, found that lawmakers supporting the wiretap deal averaged roughly twice the donations from Verizon, Sprint and AT&T over the past three years as those who voted against it proving that for a price, Congress is more than happy to shred fourth Amendment rights and pass illegal laws to screw their constituents. The same type of Congressional bribery has also proven extremely advantageous to Wall Street.
Congressional complicity in the Bush torture program has been the reason for blocking torture investigations. The egregious Military Commissions Act of 2006, also illegally and unconstitutionally passed legislation, was designed to give Bush and those he ordered immunity for their harsh treatment of prisoners. Key members of Congress sanctioned the torture interrogation methods utilized under Bush's orders and would be implicated if there was a torture investigation.
Key Congressional Democrats, as well as Republicans, were briefed on the torture and illegal wiretapping program but did nothing to stop it, opting instead to approve it despite the fact that both programs are and were illegal. Illegally blocking judicial inquiries into the programs serves no other purpose other than intentionally impeding justice and protecting complicit Congressional leaders. Nancy Pelosi continued impeding any and all attempts at impeachment -- it was off the table -- because she played a large part in Bush administration crimes.
Hiding Brutal Torture Inflicted On 14 'High-Value' Detainees
A report (PDF) from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) documents in detail the brutal torture inflicted on 14 'high-value'detainees who ended up in our CIA 'black sites,' and demands that the U.S. investigate all allegations of ill-treatment and punish the perpetrators.
Scott Horton noted that the ICRC does not call for investigations and prosecutions easily, "only where the evidence of criminal conduct is manifest." Leon Panetta, Obama's handpicked CIA Director, continues insisting that no investigations, let alone prosecutions, be held under the assertion that actions of the CIA were deemed legal by Bush attorneys -- despite the fact that the torture techniques were declared legal by Bush's DOJ only after they were authorized.
An article by Mark Danner from The New York Review of Books describes the dangers of preserving the ongoing secrecy surrounding the Bush/Cheney crimes. Another article of his describes the treatment and torture of some of these 'high-value' suspected terrorists. As implicated by Danner, as noted by Glenn Greenwald, it's impossible for Obama to 'turn the page' on -- let alone reverse -- the profound crimes of the Bush/Cheney era while he simultaneously turns himself into the prime agent suppressing the facts surrounding those crimes and vigorously shielding the criminals from all investigations and accountability.
Obama's Promises Were Nothing More Than Deceptive Lies
Contrary to Obama's deceptive promises during his presidential campaign about working with the Senate to remove the 'legislation' granting Telecoms retroactive immunity and seeking full accountability for Bush's past offenses, Obama's actions are decidedly doing the exact opposite, impeding any attempts at holding the Bush administration accountable by engaging in the same tactics -- by inventing even more radical authoritarian theories -- utilized by Bush to hide his crimes.
In reality, Obama has, as noted by Glenn Greenwald, repeatedly done the exact opposite of what he vowed he would do: rather than seeking full accountability for past offense, he's been doing everything he can to block any accountability by claiming -- and misusing -- illegally gained secret powers that have caused so much controversy the past eight years while trying to keep information secret and immunized from judicial review.
Obama, like some Democrats in the Senate, deceitfully lied when trying to justify telecom immunity by assuring the public that Bush officials responsible for ordering the illegal surveillance -- as opposed to the telecoms who knowingly and willfully broke the law at great profit -- would still be subject to being held legally accountable despite the telecoms being illegally granted retroactive immunity by Congress.
Obama DOJ Asserts That Government is Unaccountable for Violating its Own Laws
The Obama administration blatantly lied while trying to get the telecom cases dismissed: first they used Bush's lies that the state secrets privilege requires the court to dismiss the issue entirely as it "would cause exceptionally grave harm to national security" which is an absolute lie since in this case national security refers to national political embarrassment and treason and secondly, Obama's DOJ perniciously claimed that the U.S. Government is completely immune from litigations for illegal spying -- that the Government can never be sued for surveillance that violates federal privacy statutes -- while admitting that the wiretapping is illegal.
Worse than the Bush administration's lies trying to keep illegal governmental activities covered up is the Obama administration's claims that the U.S. Patriot Act -- which, again, was passed illegally and unconstitutionally -- also renders the U.S. immune from lawsuits, claiming that the government cannot be held accountable for illegal surveillance under any federal statute. Obama's DOJ is asserting that the government shall be entirely unaccountable for surveilling Americans in violation of its own laws.
It sounds like Obama's DOJ is asserting that Obama is actually a dictator, not a president. When laws only apply to certain individuals, Democracy becomes a dictatorship. Setting the precedent that the government shall be entirely unaccountable when violating its own laws would do more harm to the U.S. than Bush did during the eight long years of his delusional dictatorship.
No One, Not Even The President is Above the Law
To this day, the NSA is still performing illegal, dragnet surveillance programs against the American people. Obama's Justice Department claims that only communications in which 'a participant was reasonably believed to be associated with al Qaeda or an affiliated terrorist organization' were targeted, and revealing details about the dragnet surveillance would require 'disclosure of highly classified NSA intelligence sources and methods.' Yeah, right. Revealing those details would end up embarrassing and implicating most of the federal government.
Ignoring the obvious and doing absolutely nothing about the crimes committed by the Bush administration would make Obama an accomplice to those crimes. It's disgraceful that Spain is investigating the torture committed by the Bush administration while the U.S. is not. Former VP Cheney continues flaunting his crimes and Obama does absolutely nothing about it.
No one, not even the President is above the law. Claims that courts cannot judge the legality of the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program are ridiculous and indicative of the probable illegality of the program and the true intentions of the Obama Justice Department. Those claims by Obama's Justice Department are absurd and worrisome, making one wonder just how much illegality the government is covering up.
It's a shame, not to mention highly discerning, that Obama is turning out to be another typical Washington politician owned by large corporations. Many of us thought he was better than that, but apparently we were wrong.
Since our corrupted federal government refuses to do anything about holding those who committed heinous crimes responsible for their actions, it may be time for an Article 5 convention -- if for no other reason than taking out the trash and cleaning house. This has gone on entirely too long already and it needs to stop...unless of course America's Democracy has been turned into a dictatorship as Obama's DOJ suggests.
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