As President Obama tries to steer something approaching a "middle course" on investigating the criminal actions of the Bush administration, the rhetoric used can be informative. Neither the president nor his spokespeople are using the word "torture" to describe the torture techniques used. Instead, they prefer "harsh interrogation."

The problem is that "harsh interrogation" connotes something perfectly legal, while it seems obvious that the methods used were not, by any legitimate stretch of the imagination, legal. Of course, Bush administration officials tried to rationalize the methods, and Dick Cheney is all over Fox TV saying that they were at least effective and kept America safe (meaning the ends justified the means). But we need a new phrase, one that paints a more accurate picture.

Enter the New York Times.  read more »

A “new” video has surfaced, showing Dick Cheney talking about his decision not to invade Baghdad when he was Secretary of Defense. In 1991, we “liberated” Kuwait from the invasion by Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein, and the coalition forces stopped after ridding Kuwait of Iraqi forces.

At the time, Cheney said, “… if we had gone to Baghdad we would have been all alone … It would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq.” He went on to ask, “Once you got to Iraq and took it over … then what are you going to put in its place?” He continued by worrying that Syria and Iran would claim parts of Iraq and that Turkey’s “territorial integrity” would be threatened.

He even said, “It’s a quagmire.” Those are Dick Cheney’s exact words.  read more »

I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby is going to prison.

Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice, crimes committed during the special prosecutor’s investigation of the “outing” of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. For his crimes, Libby has been sentenced to spend thirty months in prison.

The argument in the press now is whether George W. Bush should pardon Scooter Libby. Those who favor a pardon claim that the investigation didn’t find any “real” crime, that nobody has accused Libby of being the original source of the “outing,” and that Valerie Plame Wilson is doing quite well, thank you.

But nobody is asking why Scooter Libby lied.

This is a key question, first because anyone who lies to the FBI and to a grand jury must be covering up something serious, and second because what Libby is covering up could, if uncovered, lead to an unprecedented situation.  read more »

Just yesterday I wrote on Daily Gotham about my new Congressional Rep, Yvette Clarke, becoming the fifth Congress Critter to officially call for impeachment of Dick Cheney. Clarke has signed on to Dennis Kucinich's bill, HR 333, which are articles of impeachment against Cheney. For the full text of HR 333, go here.

Back in February I began advocating the impeachment of George Bush based on the exact articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon, an arguement widely discussed by former Congresswoman Liz Holtzman, who was part of the House committee that DID impeach Nixon. If anyone can be said to be an expert on impeaching a president, Liz is one of them.

George W. Bush pesonally authorized about 45 wiretaps without any court approval. He has also publically admitted that he has done this.  read more »